Union Of India Through The Deputy Salt ... vs The Estate Investment Company Pvt.Ltd. ... on 30 April, 2026
55. The learned ASG's reliance upon a judgment of the
learned Single Judge of this Court in the case of "Union of
India v. Alark Laxman Desai" is also misplaced. By an order
dated 25th March 1996 passed in Civil Appeal No.6743 of
1996, the Hon'ble Supreme Court had directed the parties
to approach the Competent Authority under the Code for
adjudication on the issue of title of the land. The question
that arose before the Court was whether such a direction,
requiring the parties to avail the statutory remedy before
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the Competent Authority, had the effect of foreclosing their
right to subsequently challenge any order passed by the
Competent Authority by way of a civil suit under section 20
of the 1966 MLRC. This Court answered the said question
in the negative and held that the direction to approach the
Competent Authority did not extinguish or foreclose the
parties' right to institute a civil suit under section 20 to
challenge any order that may be passed by the Competent
Authority. In arriving at this conclusion, this Court
observed as follows: