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Satya Pal Anand v. State of M.P. & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 6673 of 2014, order of 25 August 2015)Decided 25 Aug 2015
Civil Appeal No. 6673 of 2014
Justice Dipak Misra · Justice V. Gopala Gowda

Background

This is a split decision, not a final judgment. Satya Pal Anand challenged a 2001 Deed of Extinguishment by which a cooperative housing society unilaterally cancelled his late mother's registered property allotment, after which the property was sold to third parties by two sale deeds. The High Court declined to interfere in its writ jurisdiction.

Decision Breakdown

This is a split decision, not a final judgment. Justice Dipak Misra held that the High Court had rightly declined to exercise writ jurisdiction, while noting that the principle in the earlier ruling in Thota Ganga Laxmi needed reconsideration by a larger bench. Justice V. Gopala Gowda disagreed, quashed the extinguishment deed and the two later sale deeds, directed the occupants to hand over possession to the appellant and awarded him Rs. 10 lakh as compensation. Because of this difference of opinion, both judges directed the Registry to place the matter before the Chief Justice of India so that an appropriate bench could be constituted.

Lesson Learnt

There is no final ruling yet on whether the cancellation deed and the later sales should be undone. The appeal must be heard again by a differently constituted bench.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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