SOVALATA BEHERA Vs. GANGADHAR MOHARANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Appellants, by filing this Appeal under Sec. 100 of the Civil Procedure Code (for short, 'the Code') have assailed the judgment and decree dtd. 6/4/2013 and 18/4/2014 respectively passed by the learned District Judge, Kendrapara in R.F.A. No.36 of 2010.

(2.) For the sake of convenience, in order to avoid confusion and bring in clarity, the parties hereinafter have been referred to, as they have been arraigned in the Suit. It may be mentioned here that these Appellants were the Defendant Nos. 2 and 4 and the Defendant No. 4 is the mother of Defendant Nos. 2 and 3.

(3.) The Plaintiff's case, in short, is that he is in possession of the land since the time of his ancestors to the knowledge of the Defendants and others in the village as the settled rayat. His father used to pay municipality tax, electricity dues etc in respect of the house over the suit land and after him, he is paying the same by obtaining the receipt thereof. In the year 1999, due to super cyclone, the house got raised to the ground and for the same, the Plaintiff had received the compensation. It is the further case of the Plaintiff that being in continuous possession of the suit land to the knowledge of the Defendants and general public for more than the statutory period, he has acquired title over the suit land by way of adverse possession. Considering this aspect, the Tahasildar had declared him to be the settled Rayat in a proceeding under sec. 9 of the Orissa Land Reforms Act (hereinafter called as 'the OLR Act') in OLR Case No.62 of 1988 vide order dtd. 27/5/1989, which has, however, been illegally reviewed.