How to Recover Possession of Your Property?

To resolve any legal issue, it is absolutely essential that your homework be complete first. You go to the site to look at your land, and someone else is in possession there. The question is: how did someone else come to be in possession there? This will be the first question asked wherever you go, whichever forum you approach — whichever revenue field staff you go to, whichever court you go to, whichever police station you go to. The first question that will be asked is: under which document is that person in possession there? To answer that question, you first need to ask them: this land is ours, why are you in possession of it — vacate this possession. If they say they have proof of ownership, then you need to thresh out that proof of ownership. If that proof of ownership does not conflict with your proof of ownership, then it is true that they have prepared some forged documents. But if their documents do not tally with your documents — do not tally with your khewat, khatooni, khasra numbers, and belong to a different khewat, khatooni, khasra — then it means they have taken possession of your land under the guise of their own proof of ownership [over different, adjoining land].

A solution is available for all of this — if that person is in unlawful possession, you have two forums available:
1. A civil forum — that you file an eviction suit against him.
2. A criminal forum — under the law relating to crime, that you go to the police station, file an application that this is our property, this is our proof of ownership, and he is unlawfully in possession — this will be resolved quickly.

If he is in possession on the basis of some document — suppose your khewat number is fifty, his is fifty-one, adjoining khewats, or your khatooni number is fifty, his is fifty-one, your khasra number is 1100, his is 1101 — in that situation you have two forums:
1. If it is agricultural land, go to the Assistant Controller — this could be the Tehsildar, it could be the Assistant Commissioner. The first forum available to you is at the Tehsildar level — file an application there that this is my proof of ownership, and under this proof of ownership this property belongs to me, but this person is in possession of it, so I should be given a demarcation.
2. If, under that demarcation, it turns out that this person in possession of my property is a wrongful occupant, then have him evicted and get possession handed over to me; and if my property turns out to be the adjoining one instead, then have the boundary demarcated to identify my property and get me possession of it.

Similarly, if the matter concerns residential property — if you have residential, commercial, or semi-commercial property of this nature, then your forum is the civil court — you can file a possession suit in the civil court, along with a declaration, marking, demarcation — [stating] these are my papers, I approached the concerned department, these are the ownership papers of my property, and under them I am the owner of this property, but someone else is in possession of it. Your lawyer will press the court, take appropriate assistance, and step by step matters will be settled in that suit, and eventually you will get your property, wherever it is.

Keep one thing firmly in mind: if you have property documents that are genuine and exist on record with the concerned department, then you will get your property in every case, whether you go to the civil court, whether you go to the police station, or whether you go to the revenue department — you will definitely get your property.