The Supreme Court has ruled that long term possession of land by caretakers or agents does not give them the right of ownership of the property. A bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Dipak Misra said that watchman, caretaker or a servant employed to look after the property can never acquire interest in the property irrespective of his long possession.

The watchman, caretaker or a servant is under an obligation to hand over the possession forthwith on demand.

The bench dismissed the plea of a watchman claiming ownership of a plot on the basis that his family was taking care of property for two generations.