Aurangabad: When a land dispute was taken to the court on Aug 10, 1967, plaintiff Jag Narayan Yadav was seeking a legal claim over three kattha of land. Nearly six decades later, when the verdict finally came, the person who had begun the battle was no longer around to hear it.A Bihar court on Monday delivered its judgement in a 59-year-old land ownership dispute, leaving members of the third generation of the litigants to witness the conclusion of a case that had outlived most of those who had initiated it.The case saw addition in the list of litigants over the years, with names of plaintiffs being added as the legal proceedings continued. They included Vasudev Yadav, Shyam Narayan Yadav and Subedar Yadav, who joined the legal battle as successors of the original litigants.The case was filed when Aurangabad was still part of the undivided Gaya district. The district itself came into existence in 1973, several years after the suit had already entered the judicial system.The judgement was pronounced on Monday by Sub-Judge VIII-cum-ACJM VII Sandeep Kumar Singh at the Aurangabad civil court in Title Suit No. 96/67 (renumbered 78/24). The suit related to three kattha of land under Khata No. 31 and Plot No. 1488 at Khakhra Tola in Nepwa village under Muffasil police station area.Advocate Satish Kumar Snehi (40), who currently represents plaintiff Subedar Yadav, said court records showed that the defendants entered appearance in the case on Dec 9, 1967. The value of the disputed property was revised from Rs100 to Rs300 in 1971, while recording of evidence began on May 22, 1972. The present estimated value of the land is around Rs30 lakh.Over the course of the trial, the court framed issues on five different occasions, reflecting the complexity of the dispute and the prolonged legal proceedings. An advocate associated with the case said several judges heard the matter over the years, with at least 15 judges being transferred during the pendency of the case.The dispute revolved around tenancy rights over the land. Both sides based their claims on settlement records linked to Rani Saiyda Khatun’s zamindari estate but relied on separate settlement documents — one dated Jan 25, 1946, and the other April 21, 1945. The zamindari system was abolished in Bihar in 1954.According to Snehi, the plaintiffs produced 12 witnesses during the trial, while the defendants — Mugeshwar Yadav, Ganpat Yadav, Dhanpat Yadav and Vishunpat Yadav — examined six witnesses over the long course of hearing. Like the plaintiffs, the names of the defendants also saw changes over the years as the case continued through successive generations.After nearly 59 years of legal proceedings, the court finally ruled in favour of the plaintiffs, recognising their claim over the disputed land.For the family of the successful litigants, the judgement brought closure to a battle that had travelled through generations.Subedar Yadav (60), one of the surviving plaintiffs and grandson of the original litigants, said the family had always believed that “justice may be delayed, but the court would eventually deliver it”.
