Gurudwara Sahib vs Gram Panchayat Village Sirthala & Anr on 16 September, 2013
It does not follow from the language used in
the statute. The large number of decisions of this Court and various
other decisions of the Privy Council, High Courts and of English
courts which have been discussed by us and observations made
in Halsbury's Laws based on various decisions indicate that suit
can be filed by the plaintiff on the basis of title acquired by way of
adverse possession or on the basis of possession under Articles 64
and 65. There is no bar under Article 65 or any of the provisions of
the Limitation Act, 1963 as against a plaintiff who has perfected
his title by virtue of adverse possession to sue to evict a person or
to protect his possession and plethora of decisions are to the effect
that by virtue of extinguishment of title of the owner, the person in
possession acquires absolute title and if actual owner dispossesses
another person after extinguishment of his title, he can be evicted
by such a person by filing of suit under Article 65 of the Act. Thus,
the decision of Gurdwara Sahib v. Gram Panchayat Village
Sirthala [Gurdwara Sahib v. Gram Panchayat Village Sirthala,
(2014) 1 SCC 669 : (2014) 1 SCC (Civ) 630] and of the Punjab and
Haryana High Court cannot be said to be laying down the correct
law. More so because of various decisions of this Court to the
contrary.