Indian man, 108, dies just as top court takes up his 1968 land dispute case
The case, first filed five decades ago, went through delays in the local and state courts for years
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Your support makes all the difference.A 108-year-old man from India’s Maharashtra state pursued a case for over five decades before his petition finally came up for hearing in July this year in India’s top court. However, before he could attend the hearing the man passed away.
Sopan Narsinga Gaikwad’s case came up for hearing in the Supreme Court on 12 July. However, his legal battle began in 1968 when he purchased a piece of land and went through a long course of judicial delays and even a pandemic.
According to the details reported by Indian media, Mr Gaikwad found out that the plot of land was already mortgaged to a bank in lieu of the loan taken by the original owner. The person had then defaulted. Mr Gaikwad then went to a local trial court demanding that the loan money was recovered from the previous owner and he should be declared the sole owner of the property.
The matter was heard in the trial court for 14 years, after which the court pronounced judgement in Mr Gaikwad’s favour in 1982. However, the opposite party moved to Bombay High Court to appeal the decision.
His petition remained pending in front of the Bombay high court for 27 years, before being dismissed in 2015. Mr Gaikwad since then hadn’t returned to court as, because he lives in a rural area and due to the pandemic, he had not found out about the last judgment in the case.
His lawyer set about an appeal, but Mr Gaikwad died before the hearing.
“Unfortunately, the man, who pursued his case right from trial court to Supreme Court was not alive to hear that his matter has been agreed to be heard,” said his lawyer Mr Kadam.
“He had expired before the court took up the matter on 12 July but the information about his demise from the rural area came just after the hearing. He will be now represented through legal heirs,” he said.
The judges have sought response from the opposite parties in eight weeks.
“We have to take note of the fact that the petitioner is 108-years-old and moreover the High Court had not dealt with the merit of the case and the matter was dismissed due to non-appearance of the advocates,” Justice Chandrachud, one of the judges in the bench hearing the case, said.
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