Skip to main content
UploadLanguage (EN)Support
BusinessMobileSocial MediaMarketingTechnologyArt & PhotosCareerDesignEducationPresentations & Public SpeakingGovernment & NonprofitHealthcareInternetLawLeadership & ManagementAutomotiveEngineeringSoftwareRecruiting & HRRetailSalesServicesScienceSmall Business & EntrepreneurshipFoodEnvironmentEconomy & FinanceData & AnalyticsInvestor RelationsSportsSpiritualNews & PoliticsTravelSelf ImprovementReal EstateEntertainment & HumorHealth & MedicineDevices & HardwareLifestyle
Uploaded byRounakLahiri
1,250 views

Recovery of possession Part-I

1) In India, forcible possession of property is illegal and the owner must recover possession through legal means. 2) Under Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act, a person dispossessed of immovable property without consent and not through due process of law can file a suit to recover possession within 6 months of dispossession. 3) For a suit under Section 6, the plaintiff must prove settled possession and unlawful dispossession. Settled possession requires intention to use the property and intention to exclude others from it.

Law◦
ROUNAK LAHIRI, BA LLB 1 RECOVERY OF POSSESSION n India, persons are not permitted to take forcible possession. Even the owner of a property i.e. landlord has no right to re-enter by showing force or intimidation. He must have to proceed under the law and taking of forcible possession is illegal. Under Section 5 of the Specific Relief Act, a suit for recovery of possession can be filed by a person who is entitled to the possession of the specific immovable property in the manner provided by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. IMMOVABLE PROPERTY:- Immovable Property includes land, building, hereditary allowances, rights to ways, lights, ferries, fisheries or any other benefit to arise out of land, and things attached to the earth I
ROUNAK LAHIRI, BA LLB 2 or permanently fastened to anything which is attached to the earth but not standing timber, growing crops nor grass. Sopan Sukhdeo Sable and Others v. Assistant Charity Commissioner and Others (2004) 3 SCC 137 has observed that: No injunction can be granted against the true owner and Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act cannot be invoked to protect the wrongdoer who suppressed the material facts from the Courts. Section 6 in The Specific Relief Act, 1963 Suit by person dispossessed of immovable property.— (1) If any person is dispossessed without his consent of immovable property otherwise than in due course of law, he or any person claiming through him may, by suit, recover
ROUNAK LAHIRI, BA LLB 3 possession thereof, notwithstanding any other title that may be set up in such suit. (2) No suit under this section shall be brought— (a) after the expiry of six months from the date of dispossession; or (b) against the Government. (3) No appeal shall lie from any order or decree passed in any suit instituted under this section, nor shall any review of any such order or decree be allowed. (4) Nothing in this section shall bar any person from suing to establish his title to such property and to recover possession thereof. The objects of Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 are: (a) To discourage people from taking the law into their own hands, however good their title may be;
ROUNAK LAHIRI, BA LLB 4 (b) To provide a summary, cheap and useful remedy to a person dispossessed of immovable property otherwise than in due course of law. nder Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963, the burden of proof is strict and is upon the plaintiff, because, he has to prove: settled possession and dispossession. If the plaintiff is not yet in a settled possession, and is rather still in a process of trespass, and his possession is still not settled, then if the opposite party/defendant, dispossesses him (that is, the plaintiff), then it will not be called dispossession for the purpose of Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963. Supreme Court of India Maria Margadia Sequeria ... vs Erasmo Jack De Sequeria (D) ... on 21 March, 2012 Possession is important when there are no title documents and other relevant records before the Court, but, once the documents and records of title come before the Court, it is the title which has to be looked at first. U
ROUNAK LAHIRI, BA LLB 5 Under Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963, even an owner can be made a defendant by a trespasser if the owner has dispossessed a trespasser who was in a settled possession of the property. For ‘Settled Possession’ there have to be two elements: Firstly, the animus, that is, the intention to put the object to its natural use and the intention to exclude the others from interfering with that property; Secondly, the corpus, that is, the person concerned having such control over the property that, he can at any point of time put the property to its natural use, and also he is having such control upon the property that he can exclude others from interfering with that property.
ROUNAK LAHIRI, BA LLB 6 Important: If X is in possession of a property and if he is dispossessed from that property without his consent and not in due course of law and it can be proved that X was in a settled possession and his dispossession was unlawful, then by virtue of Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963, X can file a suit for repossession of the property, he has been dispossessed from, within a period of 6 months from the date of his (X’s) unlawful dispossession. If the period of 6 months has lapsed then X can seek protection under Section 5 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 read with Article 64 of the Limitation Act, 1963. However, if X is the owner of the property and thus, has the title to the property, and if he has been dispossessed unlawfully from the property, then, X can seek protection under
ROUNAK LAHIRI, BA LLB 7 Section 5 read with Article 65 of the Limitation Act, 1963. Section 5 of Specific Relief Act, 1963 Recovery of specific immovable property.— A person entitled to the possession of specific immovable property may recover it in the manner provided by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. Article 64 of the Limitation Act 1963 Possession of immovable property based on previous possession and not on title, when the plaintiff while in possession of the property has been dispossessed, the period of limitation is 12 years. The time from period begins to run is the date of dispossession.(Madras High Court- G.K.Parthasarathy vs K.Gopal on 28 January, 2016). Article 65 of Limitation Act, 1963 Possession of immovable property or any interest therein based on title, the period of limitation is 12 years. The time from period begins to run when the possession of the defendant becomes adverse to the plaintiff.