Ouster

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.