SHILLONG, Sept 12 - Meghalaya High Court on Thursday dismissed another review petition of former Additional Advocate General, SP Mahanta and his wife in a land grabbing case.
�It is not uncommon to hear complaints against the members of the legal profession about the unethical practice of purchasing the property of litigants or under litigation, in their own name or that of their family members, direct or indirect relatives,� a full bench of the High Court, comprising Chief Justice Uma Nath Singh, Justice SR Sen and Justice TNK Singh, said in its order.
It went on to add: �The plaintiffs/respondents are said to be old and aged persons with Indian and immigrant domicile. Thus, we record the note of caution against indulging in such practice in this case. With the aforesaid observations, this review petition is dismissed.�
Mahanta and his wife Venetta Kharsyntiew are accused of land grabbing, measuring 14,285 sq ft with two Assam type houses at the posh Lachumiere area here in the State Capital. The property belongs to a senior NRI citizen, Tushar Nath Bhattacharjee. The case filed in 1992 has dragged on for two decades in which the senior lawyer and his wife were accused of forging the signature and the sale deed of the property.
A lower Court in 2014 ruled in favour of Bhattacharjee and his two siblings. The Court of the District Judge, B Giri ruled that the sale deed is �not a legally valid document,� based on which Mahanta claims possession of the property.
The order further directed that Bhatacharjee and two other appellants, Sujata Bezbaruah and Sabita Goswami, are �entitled to get back possession of the piece or parcel of land with the housing standing thereon.�
After the order was passed, Mahanta and his wife filed a review petition in the High Court. The then Chief Justice of High Court of Meghalaya, Justice PC Pant dismissed the review petition.
�This court is not inclined to interfere with the order passed by the Appellate Court. As such, the revision filed is hereby dismissed,� the order said.
