Mr. Anant Waman Sawant v. Smt.Archana Prakash Shelar and Anr.
Case brief
What is this about?
Perpetual injunction; felling of 52 teakwood trees; Survey Nos.79/13 and 78/2; village Parule, Taluka Rajapur, District Ratnagiri; plaintiff's evidence and Court Commissioner's report accepted; defendants did not enter witness box; burden of proof; additional evidence at appellate stage refused — documents available at time of written statement, no explanation for non-production at trial; application below Exhibit-20; SCC No.252/2010; concurrent findings; no substantial question of law; Second Appeal dismissed; Interim Application No.11878 of 2024 disposed of.
What did the court decide?
It is undisputed that the plaintiff owns Survey Nos.79/13 and 78/2 at village Parule; she specifically pleaded that 52 trees from her field were illegally and unauthorisedly cut down, stepped into the witness box, and examined the Court Commissioner, Advocate Shri Hardikar, who deposed that on visiting the suit field he found trees cut down from Survey No.79/13 owned by the plaintiff; the Trial Court and the Appellate Court both accepted this evidence, alongwith the annexures to his report, as sufficient to accept the plaintiff's case.