It is further submitted that as the father of the petitioner was a licencee and was temporarily permitted to use the Railway land measuring Ac.1.38 dec. only for agricultural purpose under "Grow More Food" scheme and as the licence has come to an end since 1992-93, the occupation of the land by the petitioner is unauthorized and illegal. Moreover, as the temporary licence had been granted in favour of the father of the petitioner on year to year basis upto the year 1992-93 and the same being neither heritable nor transferable, the present petitioner is a rank trespasser and his occupation of Railway land is wholly unauthorised and unlawful.
The word 'licence' is defined under Section 52 of the Indian Easements Act, which reads as under:
"Where one person grants to another, or to a definite number of other persons, a right to do, or continue to do, in or upon the immovable property of the grantor, something which would, in the absence of such right, be unlawful and such right does not amount to an easement or an interest in the property, the right is called a licence."
The aforesaid definition of the word 'licence' makes it clear that no interest in the immovable property is created by grant of licence. It is only a permissive occupation given to the licencee to use the immovable property for a particular purpose. A licence being matter purely personal between the grantor and the grantee, the same is neither heritable nor transferable.
It is well settled in law that the licence is a personal right granted to a person to do something upon the immovable property of the grantor and does not amount to the creation of an interest in the property itself. It is purely a permissive right and is personal to the grantee. It creates no duties and obligations upon the person making the grant and is therefore revocable except in certain circumstances expressly provided in the Act itself. The licence has no other effect than to confer a liberty upon the licencee to go upon the land which would otherwise be unlawful.
Orissa High Court
Balaram Barik vs Unknown on 26 September, 2014
THE HONOURABLE SHRI JUSTICE I. MAHANTY AND THE HONOURABLE SHRI JUSTICE S.C. PARIJA
Citation;AIR 2015(NOC)522 orissa
