Constructions made over years on disputed land can't be razed: Supreme Court

In this case, the state government, despite issuing show cause notices in 1957 about the disputed lands in Vikhroli in Mumbai, made no attempt to take over possession of the land at any point of time and on the contrary permissions were granted to Godrej and others from time to time for the construction of buildings on the disputed land.

Holding that unusually long period and “undoubtedly” much more than a reasonable time had elapsed between 1957 and 2006 for enabling the State to take a decision on the show cause notice, the bench said, “Therefore, following the law laid down by this Court, the show cause notice must, for all intents and purposes be treated as having become a dead letter and the seed planted by the State yielded nothing”.  

The bench said in its opinion, the failure of the State to take any decision on the show cause notice for several decades (assuming it was served) is indicative of its desire to not act on it.