• Encroaching a private road having ownership of five persons

State Odisha
District Cuttack

We have one private road having ownership of five family who use it . In our previous revenue settlement, this road was physically present but not in map. Since it was used as road physically by these five family, this road was marked in map in 1981 settlement to give a legal status. This road is four ft wide in between two buildings which are 60 year old.


Now one person having plot adjacent to end part of this road now blocked the road on the claim that during measurement , this road is his property and constructung RCC pillar of building and telling that road is within our existing building .
 But road is physically present since 60year or so
What I feel, when this road is marked in 1981 settlement map as per physically present,it is marked in map by a deviation of one or two feet by Amin of that time since road is only four feet

My building is old one. Road is only four ft wide and physically existing since 60 year.

Pl guide how to move.

I want that this road should be open for all
Asked 5 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu

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26 Answers

File civil suit in court to obtain stay. And for immediate releif, complain to police of wrong restrain and blocking of road.

Use settlement map to prove that it is road for passage and not a private property.

Yogendra Singh Rajawat
Advocate, Jaipur
23085 Answers
31 Consultations

File n temporary injunction suit against the construction. It will be stopped.

Then file a police complaint against that person for encroachment 

Rahul Jatain
Advocate, Rohtak
5365 Answers
4 Consultations

You can file a suit for mandatory injunction against the person obstructing the road.

You an even claim easement rights on the basis of usage of the road for the past 6 decades or so.

You may discuss with your local advocate and file the suit as suggested

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
90173 Answers
2505 Consultations

1. The papers you and your neighbors have is enough to have a good case of this road to be treated as common road. 

2. So to stop this neighbour from carrying out further construction  to remove the structure already made immediately file a civil suit for declaration and for mandatory injunction. 

3. Seek temporary injunction in interim term as well. 

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
23659 Answers
538 Consultations

Only the other affected parties apart from private parties should approach court under easement laws for the said remedy

Prashant Nayak
Advocate, Mumbai
34657 Answers
249 Consultations

Issue legal notice to adjacent flat owner to remove encroachment done  on road 

2) if he refuses take legal proceedings to direct removal of encroachment on the 4 feet road 

 

 

3) 

you can claim easmentary right of prescription as you have been using said pathway for over 30 years

4) if you are using this pathway more than 20 years then you can claim Easement by prescription. To claim relief on the strength of easement by way of prescription, it must be shown that the person claiming it has been using a defined pathway for the statutory period of 20 years as of right, peaceably, continuously, openly

5) under section 35 of easement act you can obtain permanent injunction restraining your neighbour from obstructing your right of passage

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
99971 Answers
8159 Consultations

1. You may file a suit before court claiming right to way by of claiming easement over it. Since the way is used from 60 years and it is also in map therefore you may file suit and claim interim relief.

Shubham Jhajharia
Advocate, Ahmedabad
25513 Answers
179 Consultations

As per Easement Act if road is used for more than 12 years for public or society purpose than he can't block the way or path. but if he gives path or road from parking as like previously with new pillar constructing then there should be not issue.

Ganesh Kadam
Advocate, Pune
13008 Answers
267 Consultations

1. The remedy in your hands is to file a suit for declaration of title to the road.

2. Also seek injunction to restrain him from making the construction during the pendency of the property.

3. Consult a lawyer with all documents of the property.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30843 Answers
982 Consultations

Simply you have to exercise easementary right and claim the access to the road by the families. File swimsuit in this regard in the district court and getting stay order encroachment by the person

Vimlesh Prasad Mishra
Advocate, Lucknow
6851 Answers
23 Consultations

Dear Sir,

It is called easement right and you can file suit and get immediate stay order on such constructions and if raised then get them removed. The evidence available and affidavits are sufficient. 

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Easementary Rights

An easementary right is almost like a privilege, depriving which the owner of one tenement has a right to enjoy regarding that tenement in or over the tenement of another person, by reason of which the latter is obliged to suffer or abstain from doing something on his own tenement for the advantage of the former. Easementary right must possess the following essentials:

  1. Dominant and survient tenement
  2. Easement should accommodate the dominant tenement
  3. Easementary rights must be possessed for the beneficial enjoyment of the dominant tenement.
  4. Dominant and survient owners must be different persons.
  5. The easementary rights should entitle the dominant owners to do and continue to do something or to prevent and continue to prevent something being done, or in respect of , the survient tenement; and
  6. The something must be of a certain or well defined character and be capable of forming the subject matter of a grant

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS :

A. RIGHT OF WAY

There are two classes of right of way

  1. Public rights of way which exist for the benefit of all people. These are Highway, navigating way. Its origin is in dedication, express or implied.
  2. By way of -Private rights of way which is vested in particular individuals or to owners of particular tenements; and its origin is found ingrant or prescription or to certain classes of persons or certain portions of the public, such as the tenement of a manor, or the inhabitant of the parish or village.

An easementary right of way is created by - Express grant or by immemorial custom, necessity or by prescription, or by statute or through private dedication. The term "general right of way" is applied to private rights of way on which there are no restriction except the necessary qualification, which nature or the law requires regarding all private rights of way. Actual significance of the term general right of way lies in its use in contradistinction to the special limitations expressed or inferred upon the user of any particular right of way over and above the limitations thus imposed by general law.

Apart from statute, the determination of the question who may use a right of way depends upon the nature and extent of the right. If the right is created by grant, the persons or classes or persons entitled to use it may be expressly limited by the terms of the instrument, a grant of this kind being construed, not strictly, but in accordance with the apparent intention of the parties. As a general rule the persons or the classes of persons who may use the right must be ascertained by construing the instrument having regard to the general circumstances surrounding the exception of the grant. The most important of these circumstances are the nature of the place over which the right is granted, and the nature of the dominant tenement, and the purposes for which that tenement is, in the contemplation of the parties, intended to be used.

A person who is enjoining the right of way by more than 20 years without any obstruction by the person in whose land a person pass thru, but one exception for this is; if such person having another way then he cannot claim easementary right by way of prescription1.

REMEDIES

It does not matter whether the way was created by express grant or by way of reservation, or is claimed under the doctrine of prescription. The nature of the remedy is the same.

The person claiming for an easementary right of way has the remedy to sue for an injunction - to restrain obstruction of the way or for getting damages. Whether any particular interruption amounts to an unlawful interference or not depends upon the nature of the right of way and of the place, and also on the circumstances of the case. If he suffers no damage by obstruction, nominal damages will be awarded only, and an injunction will be refused. A person who purported exercise of a right of way makes on excessive user of the survient tenement commits a trespass and may be restrained from doing at the instance of the survient owner. The factor for deciding the excessive user depends on the scope of the right, based on the true construction of an express grant or based on the user, established by the prescription as the case may be.

B. RIGHT OF LIGHT& AIR:

The right to light is basicaly the right to prevent the owner or occupier of an adjoining tenement from building or placing on his own land anything which has the effect of illegally obstructing or obscuring the light of the dominant tenement.

The easementary right to light is a right to be protected against a particular form of nuisance, and an action for the obstruction of light which has in fact been used and enjoyed for twenty years without having any interruption , or written consent cannot be sustained unless the obstruction amounts to an actionable nuisance.

The right of light is an easement and may be acquired.

  1. by way of - either grant or by covenant, which may be express or implied.
  2. as per the provisions of the India Easement Act, and by Presciption under the Prescription Act in England. These acts necessitate an enjoyment without interruption for a period of twenty years to confer the right.
  3. by way of reservation on the sale of the survient tenement. If the vendor of a land desires to reserve any right in the nature of easement and for taking the benefit of his adjacent land which he is not parting with, he must do it by express words in the deed of conveyance, except in the case of easement of necessity.

The interference complained of amounts to a nuisance or not cannot be determined by the fact - whether the diminution is enough materially to lessen the amount of light previously enjoyed, nor it can be determined by the fact that how much light is left, without regard to what there was before, but it can be properly decided by the fact - whether the diminution (i.e. difference between the light before and the light after the obstruction) really makes the building to a sensible degree less fit than it was before, for the purposes of business or occupation as per the ordinary requirements of mankind.

So far as the easementary right to access of air is concerned, it is co-existence with the right to light. In this regard it is pertinent to note that the owner of the house cannot by prescription claim an entitlement of the flow and uninterrupted passage of current of wind, neither the owner of the house is entitled to right of uninterrupted flow of breeze as such, rather he can claim only such amount of air which is sufficient for sanitary purposes. He cannot be allowed to sustain his unjustifiable claim in this regard.

REMEDIES

Regarding the cases of easementary right of light the Courts generally do not interfere by way of injunction where the courts find that the obstruction of light is very slight and where the injury sustained is trifling, except in such rare and exceptional cases. Here again it is necessary to understand that no damage is substantial unless it materially diminishes the value of the dominant heritage, or interferes materially with physical comfort of the plaintiff, or prevents him from carrying on his accustomed business in the dominant heritage as beneficially as he had done previous to instituting the suit.

In India the Court has discretion: It may or may not issue an injunction depending on the fact- where the injury is such that pecuniary compensation would not afford adequate relief.

In some cases a mandatory injunction will also be granted. Court will grant such injunction where a man, who has a right to light and air which is obstructed by his neighbor's building, brings his suit and applies for an injunction as soon as he can after the commencement of the building, or after it has become apparent that the intended building will interfere with his light and air. But the court should be satisfied that a substantial loss of comfort has been caused and not a mere fanciful or visionary loss.

If plaintiff has not brought his suit or applied for an injunction at the earliest opportunity, and has waited till the building has been finished, and then asks the Court to have it removed, a mandatory injunction will not generally be granted.

 

Kishan Dutt Kalaskar
Advocate, Bangalore
6243 Answers
500 Consultations

Hi,it is advisable to file a civil suit for permanent injunction in court and to obtain stay order to restrain him from blocking the road ..

Hemant Chaudhary
Advocate, Gurgaon
4632 Answers
67 Consultations

You should proceed under the easement act and file a case for peaceful entry and egress from the property.

Rahul Mishra
Advocate, Lucknow
14114 Answers
65 Consultations

- In legal terms, a private road is a road not open to the general public without permission,

- Since, the said road is using by the five family , hence you can file a suit against your uncle under The Indian Easement act ,  for claiming path to your land from his property.

- Further, as you are using the said road for the last 60 years , hence now you can get order from the court on the ground of adverse possession as well. 

- As per Easement Act if road is used for more than 12 years for public or society purpose than he can't block the way or path. 

- Further , you can also file a suit for Mandatory injunction against that person ,for restrain him from interfering in the peaceful use of road .

Mohammed Shahzad
Advocate, Delhi
15840 Answers
243 Consultations

If it rural land than revenue court , otherwise civil court, lower court 

Yogendra Singh Rajawat
Advocate, Jaipur
23085 Answers
31 Consultations

District court of civil jurisdiction

Prashant Nayak
Advocate, Mumbai
34657 Answers
249 Consultations

you  Should file case in district court 

consult a local lawyer 

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
99971 Answers
8159 Consultations

You can file the suit in the munsif court itself. 

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
90173 Answers
2505 Consultations

1. You have to file same before civil court having jurisdiction over your area. 

Shubham Jhajharia
Advocate, Ahmedabad
25513 Answers
179 Consultations

District courts.

Temporary injunction suit 

Rahul Jatain
Advocate, Rohtak
5365 Answers
4 Consultations

1. In the court of civil judge, senior division.

2. Consult a local lawyer.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30843 Answers
982 Consultations

File a case against your neighbor in Court for land encroachment. If you have the survey papers or any related when you bought the land, submit a copy of it as a proof, Seek appropriate local lawyer advice and proceed further.

 

 

 

Mohammed Mujeeb
Advocate, Hyderabad
19371 Answers
32 Consultations

district court. 

Mohammed Mujeeb
Advocate, Hyderabad
19371 Answers
32 Consultations

District court 

Mohammed Shahzad
Advocate, Delhi
15840 Answers
243 Consultations

1. File a suit for permanent injunction against person Building the pillar to restrain him from blocking the road and removing all the construction done to block the road. 

2. The suit should be filed Before civil court(lower court)

Mohit Kapoor
Advocate, Rohtak
10686 Answers
7 Consultations

If it is in a city then file a case in the district court.

Rahul Mishra
Advocate, Lucknow
14114 Answers
65 Consultations

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