JUDGMENT

N. V. RAMANA, CJI.

The present appeals have been preferred against the judgment dated 07.05.2010 passed by the Bombay High Court in a Public Interest Litigation, being PIL No. 47 of 2008.

2. The matter pertains to rights and ownership over the subject land admeasuring 5 acres and 20 gunthas in CTSNo. 229 (in short 'subject land'). The dispute regarding title was originally between one Gonsalves family (appellants in C.A. No. 10764 of 2010) and the State of Maharashtra (respondent no. 3). Esteem Properties Pvt. Ltd. (appellant in C.A. No. 10425 of 2010) is the successor-in-interest to the Gonsalves family.

3. Before we analyze the case, the facts necessary for the disposal of the case are as follows: From 1819 onwards, the land belonged to the Khot of Kurla, as per a grant made to them by the East India Company under a Deed. The appellants' purported predecessor-in-interest became the absolute owners of the subject land by way of a Deed of Exchange dated 12.03.1894, wherein the title of the land vested in the ancestors of the Gonsalves family.

4. On 25.11.1953, in an enquiry under the Salsette Estate (Land Revenue Exemption Abolition) Act, 1951 for all the land belonging to the