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Possession can be taken as indicative of ownership only in cases where there is no title deed or where the title to a property is ambiguous. It can never hold sway in the face of clear title of ownership produced by another person, held the Supreme Court in Maria Margarida Sequeria Fernandes and Ors vs. Erasmo Jack de Sequeria (Dead) through legal representatives.
The suit property was given to the Respondent for caretaking, and such caretaking went on for more than two decades, which encouraged him to chance his arm and claim ownership.
The Supreme Court, while rejecting the claim of ownership through long possession, pointed out that no one can supplant a true owner of the property as established by documents.
Possession can be a defence against the world at large but not against the true owner.
The Court also dismissed the feeble attempts to gain ownership through the plea of family settlement, holding that such settlement could not be inferred.
(The author is a New Delhi-based chartered accountant)
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