P&H: Restores Trial Court Decree, Upholds Perpetual Leases; Suit Against Mutation Barred By Limitation
High Court has restored a trial court decree in a family land dispute upholding perpetual lease rights created before subsequent sale deeds and ruling that a suit filed to challenge a 1971 mutation was barred by limitation.
The case concerned two agricultural land parcels. Plaintiffs claimed that leases executed in favour of their brother were sham, arguing that once sale deeds were executed giving equal ownership to all three brothers, the leases lost effect. They also uestioned civil court decree as collusive. The defendants maintained the leases were valid, possession was with the lessee, the mutation recorded and the challenge was time-barred.
Two legal issues dominated: whether the defendants could be treated as lessees over the entire 32 kanals and whether the plaintiffs’ suit was within limitation. The High Court also considered an application to bring on record an additional registered lease...
