A JOSHEPH Vs. M C MOTTAYANDI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants are the defendants, having lost in both the Courts below. The plaintiffs/respondents filed a suit in O.S.No. 479 of 1984 on the file of District Munsiffs Court, Sattur, for declaration and recovery of possession of property in Survey No. 642/2-A (new S.No. 267), measuring an extent of 1 acre 47 cents.

(2.) The case of the plaintiffs is that they are the grand-sons of one Periyanna Nadar, that in a partition that took place in the year 1909, the property in S.No. 642 was kept in common, while other properties were divided, that in a subsequent oral partition in the year 1959, the suit property was allotted to the father of the plaintiffs, that ever since the said partition, the plaintiffs and their father have been in continuous possession and enjoyment, and that in the year 1982, the suit property was wrongly included in the name of the 2nd defendant/2nd appellant, and so the plaintiffs applied to the Deputy Director of Land Records, for rectification of mistake, and after due enquiry and inspection, the mistake was rectified and Patta in respect of the suit property was issued in the name of the plaintiffs, by order dated 6.9.1984, and that in the meantime, taking advantage of the mistake committed by inclusion of the second appellant's name and others as Pattadars, in respect of the suit property, the defendants trespassed into the suit property and constructed a hut therein.

(3.) The case of the defendants is that their fore-fathers were in possession and enjoyment of the suit property. The plaintiffs have no right in the suit property, as it was a Government land, and defendants alone had been in possession and continuous enjoyment of the same, and as such, they could claim adverse possession also.