The BRICS TimesIndia’s top court expressed regret over an ongoing case, stating that even today, the justice system struggles under colonial-era land dispute burdens. The three-judge bench observed that 78 years after independence, Indian courts are still entangled in disputes over land grants from British and Portuguese rule.
India’s judicial system remains entangled in disputes stemming from British and Portuguese colonial rule. The Supreme Court expressed regret, noting that 78 years after independence, Indian courts continue to face the heavy burden of resolving land grant conflicts dating back to colonial times, even though India is now a free and sovereign nation. The remark was made in the case of Divyagna Kumari & Others vs. Government of India.
A bench comprising Justice Suryakant, Justice Deepankar Datta, and Justice N. Kotishwar Singh dismissed appeals filed by descendants of Portuguese-era land grantees in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The appeals challenged the collector’s 1974 decision, which had canceled agricultural concessions for non-farming purposes under the 1919 Organizacao Agraria (OA).
“Those who once exploited this country”
The Supreme Court remarked that perhaps the most striking fact in this case is not that the court is addressing a dispute that began just over half a century ago. The deeper irony, the bench added, is that even 78 years after independence, the judiciary is still resolving land rights conflicts established by colonial powers that once exploited India’s property and resources.
When did the dispute begin?
The protracted legal battle over land in Dadra and Nagar Haveli started after the state administration, through the collector, canceled Portuguese grants in 1974. These territories were liberated from Portuguese rule in 1954 and incorporated into the Indian Union under the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution in 1961. Justice Suryakant observed, “The surprising fact is not that this court is called upon to settle a dispute over half a century old. Truly, the deeper irony is that even after 78 years of independence, the court is engaged in resolving conflicts related to land rights inherited from colonial powers.”
