Allahabad HC rejects heirs’ land plea after 22 years, says state took possession in 1992

The Allahabad high court has dismissed a 2014 plea by five legal heirs seeking restoration of land in Bareilly, holding that they approached the court more than 22 years after the state took possession of the land. The court said the family had not challenged the dispossession within a reasonable time and had therefore lost the right to question it. The judgment was delivered on September 14, 2026.Why did the family approach the high court?According to the court order, the dispute concerned land in village Salenagar, Bareilly, which was originally recorded in the name of Jograj, the predecessor of the petitioners. The petitioners said they inherited the land after his death in 1981 and continued to be in physical possession.They claimed that proceedings under the Uttar Pradesh Urban (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 had been initiated against Jograj and that the land was declared surplus through an ex-parte order.