JUDGMENT :

The appellant by filing this appeal under section 100 of the Code of Civil Procedure (for short ‘the Code’) has called in question the judgment and decree dated 23.11.2012 and 06.12.2012 respectively passed by the learned Additional District Judge, Bhubaneswar under R.F.A. No. 15/33 of 2010.

2. By the aforesaid judgment and decree, the learned lower appellate court has refused to interfere with the judgment and decree passed by the learned Civil Judge (Jr. Division), Bhubaneswar in Title Suit No. 918 of 2001 (415/95). The present appellant having filed the suit as the plaintiff, the trial court had dismissed the same. The lower appellate court on being moved by the aggrieved plaintiff has in the final round confirmed those judgment and decree impugned in the first appeal.

3. For the sake of convenience, in order to avoid confusion and bring in clarity, the parties hereinafter have been referred to as they have been arraigned in the trial court.

4. Facts necessary for the purpose of this appeal are as follows :-

The plaintiff is a Church Institution under the name “St. John in the Wilderness”, At/P.O. Jatni and represented through Calcutta Diocesan Trust Association (Pvt.) (for short CDTA), a registered company having its registered office located at Bishop’s House, 51, Chowrangee Road, Calcutta represented by its Chairman. The plaintiff-institution of Christian Community has filed the suit seeking declaration of its title and confirmation of possession in so far as the suit land is concerned.

The Church building with its campus is over the land under Plot No. 89 belonging to Khata no. 1509 admeasuring Ac. 6.625 decimals. The suit land stands recorded in the name of the South Eastern Railways, (in short, S.E. Railways)-the defendant no.1. It is the case of the plaintiff that the Church was originally an Angelican Church established by the Britishers during the British Rule in India as back as during 17th Century. It is stated that prior to the enactment of Indian Church Act, 1927 and its coming into force on 22.12.1927; all the Churches were considered to be the properties of ‘Crown’ and were directly regulated by the laws of England. On coming into force of aforesaid Act, Indian Church Trustees, a statutory body (for short, ICT) recognized under the provisions of the said Act stood conferred with the right, possession and control of all the Indian Churches; the maintenance of such Churches, were however being done by the Central Government. In course of time, Government notification came on 23.03.1948 and it was to the effect that the maintenance and expenses of such Churches came to be borne by the Church Authority instead of Government of India. The statutory body namely, ICT later divested the property in favour of CDTA on 12.03.1953. Subsequent to this, the CTDA executed a power of attorney authorizing Bishop Rev. Ruben Senapati of Cuttack to look after the properties of said Trust in the State of Orissa. However, it is stated that without any justification and for no such reason during the settlement operations in the year 1962, the property was wrongly recorded in the name of the S.E. Railways, the defendant no. 1. The plaintiff-Church all along has remained in possession of the properties which is the subject matter of the suit to the knowledge of all concerned uninterruptedly and without any disturbance from any quarter including the defendant no. 1. In January, 1994, some Railway Officials and Employees when came over and gave open threats to the Church Authorities on the basis of the said erroneous recording of the land in question; the plaintiff-Church apprehending tress-pass in view of that threat and causation of nuisance thereby filed the suit for declaration of title, confirmation of possession over the suit land with other consequential reliefs.

5. The defendants filing the written statement first of all raised the technical objection that the suit is barred by limitation. It is stated that they are the own