Possession rights established through prior court judgments prevail over unresolved title disputes, and municipal decisions regarding land development must adhere to judicially recognized ownership.

JUDGMENT :

Mehta, J.

1. Heard.

2. Leave granted.

3. This appeal with special leave preferred by the appellants interdicts the final judgment and order dated 24th April, 2019 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi¹[Hereinafter, referred to as the “Division Bench”.] in Letters Patent Appeal No.369 of 2016, wherein the Division Bench reversed the judgment and order dated 3rd March, 2016 passed by the learned Single Judge of the High Court of Delhi²[Hereinafter, referred to as the “Learned Single Judge”.] in W.P. (C) No.5382 of 2014, and, inter alia, upheld the decision of the Layout Scrutiny Committee³[For short “LOSC”.] dated 19th May, 2014 and so also of the Standing Committee dated 17th July, 2014.

I. BRIEF FACTS

4. The dispute centers around a parcel of land admeasuring 1600 sq. yards⁴[Hereinafter, referred to as the “subject land/subject plot”.], situated in the erstwhile village Yusuf Sarai Jat, now falling within the territory of Green Park Extension Colony, New Delhi.⁵[Hereinafter, referred to as the “colony”.] The subject land forms part of a larger tract of land which was originally under the ownership and control of a coloniser, namely, Urban Improvement Company Private Limited.⁶[Hereinafter, referred to as the “coloniser”.] It is stated that the coloniser surrendered the land to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi⁷[Predecessor of the present respondent; Hereinafter, referred to as the “MCD”.] along with a layout plan for the development of the colony. As per the original layout plan sanctioned on 3rd September, 1958, the subject plot of land was reserved for a High School, whereas the adjoining areas were earmarked for primary school and park. Thereafter, the coloniser submitted a revised layout plan, which was duly sanctioned by the MCD on 30th May, 1969, whereby the reservation of the land for a High School was deleted, while the lands earmarked for the primary school and the park were maintained. The principal reason for the deletion of the High School from the layout plan was that the area mandatorily required for establishing a High School was approximately 4000 sq. meters (roughly 4783.96 sq. yards), whereas the available land area measured only 1600 sq. yards. The decision of de-reservation was not questioned before any forum and has long since attainted finality.

5. The coloniser sold the subject land bearing Khasra Nos.5, 6 and 14 to five persons⁸[Hereinafter, referred to as the “erstwhile owners”.], namely, Mr. Govind Ram (700 sq. yards), Mr. Vasudev (250 sq. yards), Mr. Jagdish Lal Batra (250 sq. yards), Mr. Prem Nath (150 sq. yards) and Mr. Pearey Ram (250 sq. yards), vide duly registered sale deeds dated 18th June, 1975.

6. Alleging that the MCD was trying to interfere with possession and use of the subject land, the erstwhile owners instituted five separate civil suits before the competent civil Court, seeking perpetual injunction against the MCD. All the said suits were contested by MCD and were decreed vide separate judgments dated 1st October, 1988, whereby the civil Court directed that the MCD shall not interfere with the possession of the plaintiffs over the subject land, except in accordance with due process of law. The relevant extracts from the said judgment⁹[Suit No.444/78] are reproduced below: -

“2. The case of the plaintiff in brief is that he is the owner of property comprising one room, boundary wall on a piece of land measuring 14 biswas falling in Khasra No.6 in village Yusuf Sarai Jat, Green Park Extension, New Dehi (hereinafter