2 judges of the Supreme Court gave the verdict in the case filed before their birth, what was the case?

A land case continued in the courts for seven decades. It went through the tenure of every Prime Minister of the country. Now it has reached its last stop. The most interesting thing is that both the judges hearing this case were not even born when this controversy first came to light.

This entire matter is related to a sale deed done 70 years ago in 1957. In fact, on June 4, 1957, the father of a man named Sharafat Ali bought 15.5 bighas of land in Naseerpur Kalan village of Haridwar. Sharafat Ali was a minor at that time, so the land was purchased in his father’s name.

When this case came to the court for the first time, its proceedings were filed in the form of mutation. But later it was brought under the purview of UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 and Consolidation Framework. During this time, generation after generation of Sharafat Ali fights legal battles.

Headlines

• Now the Supreme Court has given its verdict in the land dispute case stuck in the court for 7 decades.
• When the dispute first came to light, the appellants were minors.
• The lower court and the High Court had given verdict against the appellant
• The age of both the judges who gave the verdict is less than the interval of the trial.

High Court ruled against it, then SC overturned it

Sharafat Ali also died while fighting the case. Their four generations, one after the other, remained entangled in this case for 70 years. During this time, the lower court and the High Court have given verdict against Sharafat Ali’s family. Both the courts had said in their judgment that the appellants had failed to prove the execution of this sale deed.

Sharafat Ali’s family reached the Supreme Court against the decision of the lower court and the High Court. Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice N.V. Anjaria’s bench heard this case. The Supreme Court rejected the findings of the lower court and the High Court and declared this sale deed valid.

The matter of mutation and consolidation kept dragging on

After purchasing the land, when the time came for mutation in the name of the buyer, the seller had raised objection to it. But after a few days this objection was withdrawn. This cleared the way for rejection of the filing in the name of the buyer. But, the buyer’s family got a shock when the process of consolidation started in the village. The family found that their name as the owner of the land purchased during consolidation was missing from the records. The name of the seller is still registered as the owner of the land.

However, the Consolidation Officer, on the basis of documents and mutation records, registered the names of the appellants as the actual owners of the land. But the people who had sold the land had objected to it and challenged it. On this, the Consolidation Officer ordered a fresh decision and gave the decision in favor of the seller. On this the buyer side reached the court.

Can delayed justice be considered justice?

It is a serious question on the justice system that any citizen has to go to the courts for 70 years for his rights. Sharafat Ali’s family has definitely got justice from the Supreme Court after 7 decades, but can the delayed justice really be considered as timely justice? To ensure that such situations do not arise again, the court and the government will have to work seriously on speedy disposal of pending cases and judicial reforms.