Indian Easements Act, 1882

The petitioners, legal heirs of a deceased licensee, challenged the continuation of summary ejectment proceedings under Section 41 of the Presidency Small Cause Courts Act, 1882, after the licensee's death. They argued that the cause of action was personal and should abate with the licensee's demise, relying on earlier…

The plaintiffs, owners of two houses, had an easement allowing the defendants to discharge water through three morries on the defendants' roof onto the plaintiffs' land. The defendants later added two storeys, blocked the original morries and opened nine new morries, directing a larger volume of water onto the plaintif…

The plaintiffs, Hindus, sued the Sikh defendants for ejectment from two rooms of the southern Dharamshalla of the Martand shrine and for a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with Hindu religious ceremonies and from holding Dewans in the open space of the shrine. The defendants claimed titl…

The Indore Development Authority (IDA) allotted a 7‑acre parcel of land to Mangal Amusement Park Ltd. for a children's amusement park under a document labeled a "license" for 15 years, with a provision for renewal. The State of Madhya Pradesh later changed the land‑use from "commercial" to "regional park" and directed …

The Lucknow Nagar Mahapalika entered into a one‑sided agreement with M.I. Builders to construct an underground shopping complex on Jhandewala Park, a historic public park, without inviting tenders or obtaining required statutory approvals. The High Court held the agreement illegal, arbitrary and violative of the U.P. M…

The dispute arose when the landlady, Ashalata S. Guram, sought possession of a flat occupied by her former tenant S.P. Rao, who had allowed Sita Ratna Rao to stay as a licensee under a purported leave‑and‑licence agreement. After a series of decrees and appeals, the Small Causes Court held that Rao was in possession on…

The appellants entered into a licence agreement with the respondents to construct a cinema theatre, which was renewed for five years in 1991 with a condition to surrender possession after expiry. The licencee died in 1994, after which the respondents remained in possession. The appellants filed a suit for mandatory and…

The landlord filed an eviction suit under the Kerala Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1965, and the tenant claimed Kudikidappukaran status under the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963. The Rent Controller referred the status question to the Land Tribunal, which held the tenant was only a tenant, not a Kudikidappukara…

The respondent (landlord) sued the appellants (father and son) for mandatory injunction to vacate a shop premises, alleging that a deed of licence executed in 1981 had terminated. The trial court and first appellate court found the appellants to be tenants, but the High Court reversed, treating the deed as a licence to…

The appellant and respondent owned adjoining properties in Chennai, where the appellant opened windows and a ventilator that overlooked the respondent's land. The respondent's mother sued in 1976 for an injunction to close the openings, but the trial court dismissed the injunction claim without deciding any easement ri…

P.S. Sahni occupied a flat in Shyam Cooperative Housing Society under a written agreement dated 11 June 1969 that was labeled a "leave and licence" and expressly stated that the licensee would not claim tenancy. The Society and the licensor terminated the licence on 10 March 1972, after which Sahni refused to vacate an…

The New Bus Stand Shop Owners Association occupied shops in a building owned by the Corporation of Kozhikode under licences issued pursuant to Section 215 of the Kerala Municipalities Act, 1994. The State of Kerala contended that these licences were in substance leases, requiring a higher stamp duty under Entry 33 of t…

The Supreme Court examined the termination of licences granted by the Paradeep Port Trust (the Board) for manual and mechanically operated iron‑ore storage plots. The appellants claimed an indefeasible right to renew their licences and alleged that the Board’s decision violated constitutional principles. The Court held…

The case concerned a 16‑feet‑by‑103‑feet passage in a Chennai property. The plaintiff (Dr. S. Kumar & Ors.) claimed exclusive right to use the passage based on a sale deed dated 31 May 1988, while the defendant No.2 (S. Ramalingam) relied on an earlier sale deed dated 1 April 1976 that reserved a right of way for her. …

The plaintiff B.K.N. Pillai sued P. Pillai for eviction, alleging that the defendant was a licensee. The defendant initially pleaded that he was a lessee, but later sought to amend his written statement to add an alternative defence that, if he were a licensee, his licence was irrevocable under Section 60(b) of the Ind…

The appellant, originally a monthly tenant, executed a written "leave and licence" agreement with the respondent (licensor) granting the appellant use of workshop premises for five years at a fixed licence fee, subject to numerous restrictions such as limited hours of use, prohibition of residential use, and the licens…

The appellants, who were occupying a flat in Bombay as a gratuitous licensee, were evicted by a decree of the Small Causes Court under s.41(1) of the Presidency Small Causes Courts Act, 1882 (as amended by the Maharashtra Act of 1976). They appealed, arguing that the term "licensee" in the statute should be limited to …

The plaintiff allowed the defendant to use a plot of land in Assam for two years (June 1963‑June 1965) to raise a temporary structure, with the understanding that the structure would be removed and possession returned after the period. The defendant failed to vacate and also claimed he was a prospective purchaser under…

The appellants (the Gala family) claimed a right of way over a 20‑ft road (the disputed rasta) situated on the respondents' land, asserting that the easement was acquired by prescription, necessity, or a 1994 sale deed. The trial court initially decreed in their favour, but the appellate courts set aside that decree, h…

Delta International Ltd., the successor to Dewar's Garage, entered into a 1970 leave‑and‑license deed with ESSO allowing Shyam Sunder Ganeriwalla to operate a petrol station on premises it leased from Mallika Investment Co. The deed expressly stated it was a licence and not a lease, and any sub‑lease required the landl…

Ram Sarup Gupta purchased a property that had been occupied by Bishun Narain Inter College and its associated school under a license granted by the former owner, Raja Ram Kumar Bhargava. The school had constructed permanent buildings on the land and incurred expenses, claiming the license was irrevocable under Section …

Pradeep Oil Corporation was granted land by the Government under the Government Grants Act to erect petroleum storage tanks and related structures. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi assessed property tax on the tanks, treating them as "buildings". The corporation argued the grant was a lease, making the corporation li…

The original plaintiff, allotted an A‑schedule building under a 1948 settlement deed, used a B‑schedule pathway that lay within the Ashramam’s property to access his building. After the defendants attempted to block the pathway, the plaintiff filed a suit for declaration of an easement (by grant or necessity) and a per…

The respondent Jagdish obtained a right of way over the appellants' land under Section 131 of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code, which the Tahsildar approved. The appellants challenged this by filing a civil suit for a declaration that no easement existed and that the Tahsildar's order was illegal. The trial court d…

The original owner sold two adjoining parcels to the appellants and the first respondent, each deed describing a specific area and granting a right of ingress and egress over an open passage. The first respondent later executed a Release Deed relinquishing all rights except passage, but subsequently erected structures …

The Kerala Corporation of Calicut owned a building that it let to K. Sreenivasan as a licensee for a lodging house and restaurant. When Sreenivasan defaulted on the licence fee, the licence was terminated on 13 January 1989, but he continued to occupy the premises. The Estate Officer, under the Kerala Public Buildings …

The plaintiff, Praful Manohar Rele, sued the heirs of Narayan Keshav Ghosalkar for possession of a house, alleging that they occupied it as gratuitous licensees whose licence had been validly terminated. The defendants counter‑claimed that they were tenants and sought eviction under the Bombay Rent Act. The trial court…

The appellant's husband was a tenant of a shop under the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958. After the landlord served a notice of termination, the tenant died while still in possession as a statutory tenant. The widow and heirs claimed the right to remain in possession and the protection against eviction provided by the Act…