Vidya Devi v. State of Himachal Pradesh and Others

The appellant, an illiterate widow, owned land in Himachal Pradesh that the State took over in 1967–68 to build the Nadaun–Sujanpur road, without initiating acquisition proceedings or paying compensation. After some other landowners obtained orders directing acquisition of their land, she approached the High Court in 2010. The High Court dismissed her petition, holding that disputed questions of fact had to be decided in a civil suit, and her review petition also failed.

The Supreme Court held that the right to property, though no longer a fundamental right, is a constitutional right under Article 300A and has been recognised as a human right. The State may take private property in exercise of its power of eminent domain only for a public purpose, on payment of reasonable compensation, and under the authority of law. Taking possession without legal sanction violated Article 300A, and the plea of oral consent was baseless.

A welfare State cannot be permitted to perfect its title to its citizens' land by invoking adverse possession. Nor did delay defeat the claim: the wrong was a continuing one, the appellant was an illiterate widow, and there is no period of limitation for a constitutional court to do substantial justice where the State has taken land without any sanction of law.