Constructive Possession
2 articles
Delhi High Court: Absence From a Property Is Not Ouster — Partition Decreed on Admissions
In a first appeal from a preliminary decree of partition, the Delhi High Court held that a co-owner who had not lived in a family flat since 1993 remained a co-owner in constructive possession, because the party in physical occupation never pleaded facts showing hostile, exclusive possession to his knowledge. The court also held the partition suit was within limitation, since the cause of action accrued only when the co-owner's share was expressly denied in 2018 — and that these questions could be resolved on admitted pleadings under Order XII Rule 6 of the Code of Civil Procedure, without a trial.
13 min readDelhi High Court: A Partition Suit Cannot Outrun a Registered Sale to a Bona Fide Purchaser
Deciding a first appeal under Section 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, the Delhi High Court upheld the dismissal of a partition suit filed by two sons against their stepmother, half-brother and a third-party purchaser over a Delhi plot. The sons could not rebut the presumption of validity attaching to a registered power of attorney and a registered agreement to sell, and having admittedly parted with possession, could not maintain a suit for partition without also seeking possession — a procedural threshold the case treats as inseparable from any substantive claim to family property.
13 min read