Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has dismissed a petition challenging a land acquisition from 1947-48, slamming it as an “abuse of the judicial process” and imposing exemplary costs of Rs 2 lakh. The court found the petitioners’ claims contradictory, speculative, and designed to take undue advantage of lost records.

The petitioners, claiming to be businessmen, purchased a plot in Valvan, Pune, in 1993 from a 93-year-old woman, Kashibai Deshpande. They approached the court in December 2022, challenging acquisition notifications issued by the government in 1947 and 1948 for railway staff housing. The court noted that the challenge was brought after an “extraordinary delay of 77 years” without any justification.

A bench of Justices MS Sonak and Jitendra Jain, on February 21, observed that the petitioners had made “mutually inconsistent and contradictory averments” regarding possession and acquisition status. The court pointed out that, at different places in the petition, they claimed ownership by title, adverse possession, and also sought restoration of possession.

“There is absolutely no explanation for this inordinate delay,” the court said, adding that the petitioners, who bought the land in 1993, “could possibly know nothing about what transpired” between the railway authorities and the original owners.

The court was particularly critical of the petitioners’ reliance on vague claims and lack of proper verification. It noted that they had filed the petition without credible evidence, apparently hoping to take advantage of lost records.

“This kind of speculative litigation must be nipped in the bud,” the judges remarked. “Such frivolous petitions are at the cost of genuine litigation that calls for judicial attention.”

During the hearing, the court spent nearly two hours examining the case and found that the entire objective was to “take chances with the judicial process.” The judges observed that the petitioners seemed confident that “they had nothing much to lose” by pursuing such a claim but could potentially gain if the litigation succeeded.

Dismissing the petition, the court imposed exemplary costs of Rs2 lakh, directing the petitioners to pay the amount within eight weeks to Sassoon Hospital and B.J. Medical College, Pune.