44 years too long to maintain a legal action: Karnataka High Court dismisses 'stale' petition

Saying that forty-four years was too long a time to maintain a legal action, the Karnataka High Court recently said that it cannot be expected to exercise its jurisdiction on such “stale” or “virtually dead” claims..A Bench of Chief Justice NV Anjaria and Justice KV Aravind dismissed a petition filed by a man seeking an award for his land that was acquired in 1978.The Court held that with passage of such protracted time as in the present case, a litigant’s right to relief must effectively be considered lost.“Forty-four years is too long a time to maintain legal action. With passage of such protracted time, the right to relief is lost. The jurisdictional Article 226 of the Constitution is not liable to be exercised to entertain the stale and a virtually dead claim,” the order stated..The Bench dismissed an appeal filed by one Vinod Kumar K, who had had challenged a single-judge order that dismissed his petition seeking a direction to the authorities to initiate proceedings and pass an award under Section 11 of the Right to Fair, Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The single judge had dismissed Kumar’s plea on the ground of unexplained delay. When quizzed by the Division Bench in appeal, Kumar’s counsel said that while the land was acquired in 1978, the petitioner had realised only in 2018 that the compensation was yet to be paid.The Court, however, refused to entertain the plea, adding that even after realising in 2018 that the compensation had not been paid, the appellant had approached the Court only in 2021..It, however, granted Kumar liberty to make a representation to the competent authority seeking compensation in accordance with law..Advocate D N Manjunath appeared for Kumar, the appellant.Advocate Niloufer Akbar for the respondent State government..[Read Order].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.