IMPORTANT POINT
Mere possession, howsoever long, is not necessarily adverse to the true owner. The requirement of acquisition of title by adverse possession is that such possessions are in denial of the true owners’ title.

JUDGMENT :

Abhay Manohar Sapre, J.

1. This appeal is directed against the final judgment and order dated 14.11.2007 passed by the High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore in RSA No. 23 of 2005 whereby the High Court partly allowed the appeal filed by the appellant herein.

2. A few facts need mention hereinbelow for the disposal of this appeal.

3. The appellant is the plaintiff and the respondents are the defendants of the civil suit out of which this appeal arises.

4. The civil suit leading to this appeal was filed by the appellant(plaintiff) seeking declaration of his title in relation to the properties described in Schedule ‘A’ attached to the plaint, being the land admeasuring 20 Guntas in Sy. No.17/3; western portion of 32 ½Guntas in Sy.No.29/1; and 11 Guntas in Sy. No.34/3, all situated at Karagund Village, Javagal Hobli, Arasikere Taluk, Hassan District, Karnataka. Out of the aforesaid land, 1 Gunta of land in Sy. No.17/3 and a portion of Sy. No.29/1 were mentioned in Schedule ‘B’ to the plaint and perpetual injunction was sought in that regard.

5. The other particulars of the property described in the plaint need not be elaborated for the reason that now the dispute in these proceedings is confined to the part of the aforementioned land admeasuring 1 Gunta in Sy. No.17/3 (hereinafter referred to as “the suit land”).

6. According to the appellant (plaintiff), the entire land mentioned above, which also included the suit land, fell to his share in the year 1980 after the death of his father by a partition amongst his brothers. However, in 1983, the appellant noticed that the suit land, i.e., 1 Gunta in Sy. No. 17/3, was encroached upon by the defendants.

7. The appellant, therefore, made an application to the survey department to get the land measured. On measurement, it was noticed that the defendants had encroached upon the portion of the appellant’s share to the extent of 1 Gunta of Sy. No. 17/3.

8. The matter was accordingly resolved with the intervention of local Panchayat and pursuant thereto, the defendants restored the possession of the encroached portion of the suit land to the appellant.

9. Thereafter the appellant filed a civil suit in the year 1992 against the respondents for declaration of his ownership right over the entire land including the suit land and for grant of permanent injunction in relation to the suit land. In the alternative, the appellant also sought the relief of possession of the suit land in case, he is held to be not in possession of the suit land.

10. The respondents, in substance, defended their possession over the suit land and alleged that they have perfected their ownership title over the suit land on the basis of their adverse possession over the suit land for a long period of time.

11. The Trial Court, while partly decreeing the suit, by judgment and decree dated 14.01.1999, declared the appellant (plaintiff) as the owner of larger part of Schedule ‘A’ property but observed that the defendants had perfected their title by adverse possession over 1 Gunta of land in Sy. No.17/3 and, therefore, the prayer seeking permanent injunction against the defendants as regards Schedule ‘B’ property was rejected.

12. The appellant (plaintiff) felt aggrieved and filed first appeal before the first Appellate Court. The respondents (defendants) filed their cross objections. By order dated 10.09.2004 in R.A. No.11 of 1999, the first Appellate Court, in substance, upheld all the findings of the Trial Court but modified the decree to some extent regarding the measurement of the suit land.

13. The appellant (plaintiff) felt aggrieved and filed second appeal in the High Court of Karnataka. By impugned judgment, the High Court partly allowed the appeal and declared the appellant (plaintiff) to be the owner in respect of the land admeasuring 19 Guntas in Sy. No. 17/3 and 11 Guntas in Sy. No. 34/3 but dismissed his claim as being the owner of the suit land admeasuring 1 Gunta in Sy. No. 17/3 and instead declared the defendant