VIDYA DEVI v. THE STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH & Ors.

Constitution of India – Arts.136, 142 and 226 – Land of the appellant (an illiterate person, widow from rural area) was taken over by the Respondent-State in 1967–68 for the construction of Nadaun-Sujanpur Road, without taking recourse to acquisition proceedings or following due process of law – Appellant approached the High Court in 2010 – State took the plea of delay and laches by the appellant in moving the Court – Held: Rejected – Delay and laches cannot be raised in a case of a continuing cause of action, or if the circumstances shock the judicial conscience of the Court – Condonation of delay is a matter of judicial discretion, which must be exercised judiciously and reasonably in the facts and circumstances of a case – It will depend upon the breach of fundamental rights, and the remedy claimed, and when and how the delay arose – There is no period of limitation prescribed for the courts to exercise their constitutional jurisdiction to do substantial justice. VIDYA DEVI v. THE STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH & ORS. 751 Allowing the appeals, the Court HELD: 1.1 The Appellant was forcibly expropriated of her property in 1967, when the right to property was a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 31 in Part III of the Constitution. Article 31 guaranteed the right to private property, which could not be deprived without due process of law and upon just and fair compensation. To forcibly dispossess a person of his private property, without following due process of law, would be violative of a human right, as also the constitutional right under Article 300 A of the Constitution. [Paras 10.1 and 10.2][755-G-H; 756-C]