Noida: After a 16-year-long legal battle, a local court has rejected a civil appeal filed by Noida Authority and allowed a resident to legally occupy a family plot he inherited from his grandfather.The dispute began in 2000 after the Authority claimed rights over the plot, which the Dadri resident claimed belonged to his family for generations.Dadri resident Hansraj had filed a civil petition with the additional chief judicial magistrate court in 2000 for a permanent injunction, stating that he is the owner and occupant of the land in question. He said his grandfather had inherited it as ancestral property through an oral partition by his brothers and used it as his residence during his lifetime. Later, he executed a will in favour of his grandson, following which Hansraj became the bona fide owner of the property. The subordinate court had ruled in favour of the petitioner in 2010, which was challenged by Noida Authority.The counsel for Noida Authority argued that the petitioner had not explained how his grandfather acquired the property in question and had claimed himself to be the owner and occupant of the property based on a will he filed. The trial court ignored this fact and erroneously granted the claim decree, the counsel said.Having heard the arguments of both sides, the court said, “The plaintiff has clarified that the said property developed as a populated area, which was vested with his ancestors’ property at the time of the abolition of the zamindari system.” Judge Satyendra Singh said that the petitioner’s established possession of the property is sufficient to grant the relief in question. “In light of the grounds advanced in the appeal, there is no error in the impugned judgement of the additional chief judicial magistrate nor can he be denied the relief of a permanent injunction,” the judge noted while ratifying the 2010 order of the subordinate court and dismissing Noida Authority’s appeal.
