# Long Possession Is Not Adverse Possession: Supreme Court By Saurabh Garg, founder·6 min read·Published 2026-09-16 **Short answer:** On 10 September 2026 the Supreme Court held that long possession alone does not make a person an adverse possessor. Hostility to the true owner has to be proved, with a date on which the possession turned hostile, and the Court said the appellants had pleaded no such date. In the same judgment it held that entries in revenue records are maintained for fiscal purposes, are evidence of possession, and do not confer title. Both halves matter to an owner who lives abroad and has let someone occupy the property for years. # Long Possession Is Not Adverse Possession: the Supreme Court, 10 September 2026 **On 10 September 2026 the Supreme Court held that long possession alone does not make a person an adverse possessor. Hostility to the true owner has to be proved, with a date on which the possession turned hostile, and the Court found the appellants had pleaded no such date. In the same judgment it held that entries in revenue records are maintained for fiscal purposes, are evidence of possession, and do not confer title. Both halves matter to an owner who lives abroad and has let someone occupy the property for years.** ## The fear this answers Ask an owner in Dubai or New Jersey what keeps them up about the flat in India and the answer is some version of the same sentence. My cousin has been in it for fourteen years. The caretaker's family has lived on the plot since my father's time. At what point does it stop being mine. The Supreme Court has now put the answer in plain terms, and the answer is that the clock people imagine does not run on its own. ## What the Court decided The case is *Bhag Singh (D) Thr. Mahant Kashmir Singh v. Basant Kaur (D) Thr. LRs. and Others*, 2026 INSC 983, Civil Appeal No. 1718 of 2016, decided by Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Shree Chandrashekhar. The dispute was over 4 Kanals 18 Marlas of agricultural land in the revenue estate of Muktsar, Punjab. One side held a registered sale deed dated 13 May 1965. The other said the land had been dedicated for Dharam-Arth, religious and charitable purposes, and that failing the dedication, title had been perfected by adverse possession. A revenue entry recorded the possession. The trial court and the first appellate court accepted the dedication. The High Court reversed them on 22 March 2011. The Supreme Court affirmed the High Court and dismissed the appeal. On possession, the Court said: > Long possession may furnish evidence of physical occupation, however it does not, by itself, establish that such possession was adverse in law. And: > Unless the element of hostility is affirmatively established, the plea must necessarily fail. The Court then pointed at what was missing from the pleadings. Neither the pleadings nor the evidence disclosed the point of time at which the possession became hostile to the true owners. Long and uninterrupted occupation does not amount to adverse possession without an open and conscious assertion of ownership against the owner. On the revenue entry, the Court said: > Entries in revenue records are primarily maintained for fiscal purposes and are admissible as evidence of possession, but they do not confer title to immovable property. ## What it means if you own from abroad Read the two holdings together, because they cut in opposite directions and you are on both sides of them. The first protects you. A person living in your property with your permission is a permissive occupant, and permission is the opposite of hostility. For a limitation clock to start running against you, the occupant has to break with you in the open and claim the property as their own, and they have to be able to say when. A relative who has held the keys since 2009 because you asked them to has started no clock. The Court declined to infer hostility from duration, which is the exact inference an absent owner fears. The second removes a comfort you may have been relying on. A khata, a mutation entry, a jamabandi line in your name is a fiscal record. It is evidence that you are in possession. It is not your title. Your title is the registered deed and the chain behind it. We covered the same point when the Court held in a separate matter this month that [mutation does not extinguish title](/guides/nri-mutation-does-not-extinguish-title-supreme-court-sep-2026), and this judgment states the converse: the entry does not create title either. ## What this does not change The judgment restates settled principle. It does not change the limitation period for adverse possession, and it does not create a new registration or reporting duty for you. An occupant who has made an open, hostile claim and can prove the date it started is in the same position after this judgment as before it. It is also a judgment on agricultural land in Punjab decided on its own pleadings. What travels is the reasoning on hostility and on revenue entries, not the result. ## What to do with it - Keep the permission in writing. A leave and licence agreement, a caretaker letter, a WhatsApp thread with a date on it. Permission defeats hostility, and a document is how you prove permission years later. - Do not treat the khata or the mutation entry as your proof of ownership. Keep the registered sale deed, the chain of title and the encumbrance certificate. - If someone in your property has started claiming it, act on the date they started, not on the date you found out. ## FAQ **Can a caretaker who has lived in my property for twenty years claim it?** Not on the strength of the twenty years. The Supreme Court held on 10 September 2026 that long possession may show physical occupation and does not by itself establish that the possession was adverse in law. The occupant has to prove hostility to your title and the point in time it began. Occupation you permitted is the opposite of hostility. **Does a khata or a mutation entry in my name prove I own the property?** No. The Court said entries in revenue records are maintained for fiscal purposes, are admissible as evidence of possession, and do not confer title to immovable property. Your title rests on the registered deed and the chain behind it. **What did the Supreme Court decide in this case?** It dismissed an appeal over agricultural land at Muktsar, Punjab, and affirmed the High Court. The appellants had claimed the land was dedicated for religious and charitable purposes and, failing that, that they had perfected title by adverse possession. The Court found neither claim proved, because the pleadings and evidence disclosed no point at which the possession became hostile to the true owners. *Saurabh Garg, founder, 66 MG Road* ## Sources - Supreme Court of India, *Bhag Singh (D) Thr. Mahant Kashmir Singh v. Basant Kaur (D) Thr. LRs. and Others*, 2026 INSC 983, Civil Appeal No. 1718 of 2016, judgment of 10 September 2026, Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar JJ: [https://indiankanoon.org/doc/171933578/](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/171933578/) - Full text of the judgment as reported: [https://www.advocatekhoj.com/library/judgments/index.php?go=2026/september/bhag-singh-d-through-mahant-kashmir-singh-vs-basant-kaur-d-through-lrs-41](https://www.advocatekhoj.com/library/judgments/index.php?go=2026/september/bhag-singh-d-through-mahant-kashmir-singh-vs-basant-kaur-d-through-lrs-41) About the author: [Saurabh Garg](/about) Saurabh Garg has run the venture studio C4E for twenty years. He founded 66 MG Road in 2026, reads every proposal request, and replies within one business day. [saurabhgarg.com](https://saurabhgarg.com) · [@saurabh](https://x.com/saurabh) · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/saurabhgarg) Information on this page is as on 2026-09-16. Rules, rates, deadlines and government portals change without notice, so verify against the official source before you act. This page is for information only. It is not tax or legal advice, and it is not a substitute for a qualified adviser who knows your position. ## Related guides - [Your Name Off the Revenue Record Does Not Take Your Title With It](/guides/nri-mutation-does-not-extinguish-title-supreme-court-sep-2026) - [Property Fraud Against NRIs in India: How to Check Your Own Title](/guides/property-fraud-nri-india-how-to-check) - [NRI Rental Property Management: The Honest Operating Guide](/guides/managing-tenants-from-abroad) - [How an NRI Manages Property in India From Abroad](/how-to-manage-property-in-india-from-abroad) ## Compare and cost - [The NRI Property Management Companies in India: A Comparison You Can Check](/guides/best-nri-property-management-companies-india) - [What NRI Property Management Costs in India: The Four Models and What Hides in Each](/guides/nri-property-management-cost-india) - [NoBroker NRI Services Review: What the Pages Promise and What They Leave Out](/guides/nobroker-nri-services-review) --- Source: [https://66mgroad.com/guides/nri-adverse-possession-long-occupation-supreme-court-sep-2026](https://66mgroad.com/guides/nri-adverse-possession-long-occupation-supreme-court-sep-2026) · 66 MG Road. Full LLM brief: https://66mgroad.com/llms.txt