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Smriti Debbarma (Dead) Through Legal Representative vs Prabha Ranjan Debbarma & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 8Decided 4 Jan 2023
Civil Appeal No. 878 of 2009
Sanjiv Khanna · J.K. Maheshwari · M.M. Sundresh

Background

In 1986 Smriti Debbarma, acting as attorney for Maharani Chandratara Devi (the sixth wife of the late Maharaja of Tripura), sued for a declaration that the Maharani owned the "Khosh Mahal" land and building in Agartala, relying on a 1951 Deed of Patta and a 1952 Ekrarnama by which a relative, Bidurkarta, acknowledged he held the land for her. The Maharani died in 1988 and Smriti Debbarma continued the suit as her heir under an unprobated will. The defendants, Bidurkarta's family and several people who had bought plots from M/s Hotel Khosh Mahal Limited, said the hotel company, not the Maharani, owned the property under a 1948 Patta, had been in possession for decades, and had been receiving rent from Indian Airlines since 1968. The trial court decreed the suit in 1996, but the Gauhati High Court reversed it in 2006, holding the plaintiff had not proved her title.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the High Court. It found the plaintiff had failed to prove that the land described in her 1951-52 documents was the same land on which Hotel Khosh Mahal stood: the documents did not mention any building, the court-appointed surveyor's 1995 report said the boundaries and area did not tally, and the plaintiff had only enlarged her schedule of land after that report: an afterthought. The 1948 Patta in favour of the hotel company was a registered document over thirty years old enjoying a presumption of genuineness under Section 90 of the Evidence Act, the company was recorded as owner in 1974 revenue records challenged only in 1994, the plaintiff had received no rent since 1968 yet waited 18 years to sue, and she was not in possession when the suit was filed. Applying Sections 101 and 102 of the Evidence Act, the Court held that in a suit for title and possession the burden lies on the plaintiff to prove a better title; a person in peaceful possession has a right against everyone except the true owner, and weaknesses in the defendants' case cannot substitute for the plaintiff's own proof.

Lesson Learnt

If you sue to recover property from someone in possession, you must positively prove your own title and identify the land precisely. You cannot win simply because the other side's paperwork is also imperfect.

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

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