Nemo Dat Quod Non Habet

A Specific Performance Decree Cannot Resurrect Acquired Land: Karnataka High Court Holds the Military Land Register Conclusive Against a 1995 Agreement to Sell

In Union of India v. Mohsin Sharieff, a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court reversed a writ order that had restored a private buyer's name to the revenue records of land acquired in 1943 for the Yelahanka Air Force Station. Reading the acquisition file as one continuous chain and applying the nemo dat principle, the Bench held that a decree to which the Defence authorities were not party could not create title.