Yerikala Sunkalamma & Anr. v. State of Andhra Pradesh, Department of Revenue & Ors.
Background
The appellants' family traced its claim to a 3.34-acre plot in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, through a chain going back to a 1943 mortgage, a 1970 court-auction sale, and a subsequent registered sale deed to the appellant's father, who held a Pattadar Passbook and paid land revenue on it for years. In 1995, the State allegedly dispossessed the family without notice or compensation to build a District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) building, claiming the land was government-assigned land subject to resumption for public purpose. The trial court decreed title in the appellants' favour, but the Andhra Pradesh High Court reversed that decree, holding the appellants had failed to rebut the State's case that the land was assigned government land.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court undertook a detailed review of the distinction between a "Pattadar" (a landholder with a government-issued title deed, the Patta) and a mere "allottee" of government land, and traced decades of Andhra Pradesh High Court full-bench rulings on compensation for resumed assigned lands. It held that possession of a Pattadar Passbook and payment of land revenue for decades vested the appellants with "property" protected under Article 300-A of the Constitution, which bars deprivation of property except by authority of law. The Court held that even where the State validly resumes assigned land for a public purpose under the terms of the original grant, the assignee is entitled to compensation equal to the full market value of the land, not a token amount: no condition in a patta can operate as a "clog" defeating that right. Rather than restoring title or possession after 30 years of litigation, the Court directed the State to pay the appellants Rs. 70 lakh as compensation within three months, and ordered the judgment circulated to all High Courts and State Chief Secretaries because of its broader guidance on Section 80 CPC notices in government suits.
Lesson Learnt
Long-term possession of land under a Pattadar Passbook, with revenue paid to the government, creates a protected property right, even land the government calls "assigned" or resumable cannot be taken back without paying its full market value as compensation, not merely a nominal sum tied to the original grant.