Leading Supreme Court Judgment on use of title acquired by Adverse possession as sword

 We hold that a person in possession cannot be ousted by another
person except by due procedure of law and once 12 years' period of

adverse possession is over, even owner's right to eject him is lost and
the possessory owner acquires right, title and interest possessed by
the outgoing person/owner as the case may be against whom he has
prescribed. In our opinion, consequence is that once the right, title or
interest is acquired it can be used as a sword by the plaintiff as well as
a shield by the defendant within ken of Article 65 of the Act and any
person who has perfected title by way of adverse possession, can file a
suit for restoration of possession in case of dispossession.
REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO.7764 OF 2014

RAVINDER KAUR GREWAL  Vs MANJIT KAUR 

ARUN MISHRA, J.
Dated:August 07, 2019.
Citation: AIR 2019 SC 3827,2019(6) MHLJ 87,(2019) 8 SCC 729

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Whether plea of adverse possession can be used as sword?

Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Gurdwara Sahib v. Gram Panchayat Village Sirthala reported in (2014) 1 SCC 669 has held that suit for declaration of ownership of land on the basis of adverse possession cannot be sought by the plaintiff, however, claim of ownership by adverse possession can be made by the defendant in defence, if arrayed as defendant in a proceeding against him. In other words, plea of adverse possession cannot be used as sword but always can be used as shield (defence).

Uttaranchal High Court

Mr. Jitendra Chaudhary vs Mr. Arvind Vashisth on 9 May, 2014

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