Recovery of Possession in Bangladesh 2026: Section 8 and 9 Suits, Declaration, Limitation and Execution

Recovery of possession Bangladesh: the 2026 position

Recovery of possession Bangladesh law allows is a race against two clocks. The first is the six-month window for a summary suit under section 9 of the Specific Relief Act 1877, which restores a dispossessed occupier without any inquiry into title. The second is the twelve-year limitation period for a title-based suit under section 8, after which the owner's right to the land is not merely unenforceable but extinguished. Between those two clocks sit faster administrative tools, including restoration by an Executive Magistrate under the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023, and a set of special regimes for tenants and government land.

This guide is about getting land or a building back. It explains the difference between a section 8 and a section 9 suit, when a declaration of title must be joined with consequential relief, how limitation and adverse possession work, the role of section 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, eviction of tenants under the Premises Rent Control Act 1991, recovery of khas and other government land, the evidence courts expect, and how a possession decree is executed. The wider map of land disputes, from mutation to the Land Survey Tribunal, is covered in our companion guide to resolving land disputes in Bangladesh.

Summary: A person thrown off land without consent and without legal process can sue under section 9 of the Specific Relief Act within six months and recover possession without proving title; no appeal lies, only revision. After six months, the owner must sue on title under section 8 within twelve years, usually joining a declaration of title where the defendant disputes it. Recent dispossession can also be reversed by an Executive Magistrate within three months under the Land Crime Act 2023. Tenants are evicted only on the statutory grounds in the 1991 rent law, and government land is recovered through its own summary procedure.

Key point: Section 28 of the Limitation Act 1908 extinguishes the owner's right itself once the period for a possession suit has expired. An owner who lets an occupier hold land openly and adversely for twelve years does not just lose the remedy; the occupier's possession matures into title. Diarise the date of dispossession on the day it happens.

At a glance

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Table of Contents

Choosing the right recovery of possession Bangladesh remedy

There is no single possession remedy. Bangladeshi law offers at least six, and each answers a different question. A summary suit asks only whether the plaintiff was in possession and was dispossessed unlawfully within the last six months. A title suit asks who owns the land and who is entitled to hold it. The magistrate routes ask whether there is a threat to the peace or an unlawful dispossession that can be reversed quickly. The rent law asks whether a landlord has a statutory ground to evict. The government procedure asks whether an occupier of public land is authorised.

The choice turns on four facts: when possession was lost, how strong the claimant's title is, who the occupier is, and whether the occupier came in lawfully, for example as a tenant, licensee or co-sharer. Getting those facts down in writing before any filing is the most valuable hour in a recovery of possession Bangladesh case. The table later in this guide compares the routes side by side.

Why self-help is the wrong first move

Owners are often tempted to break the lock or bring people to retake the plot. That is now a criminal risk. Dispossessing a person in lawful possession without an order of a competent court or authority is an offence under section 7 of the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023, punishable with up to two years' imprisonment and a fine.[4] Forcible re-entry also hands the other side its own section 9 suit. The lawful routes below are fast enough when used promptly.

Section 9: the summary suit for recent dispossession

Section 9 of the Specific Relief Act 1877 is the remedy of the person in possession. If anyone is dispossessed of immovable property without consent and otherwise than in due course of law, that person, or anyone claiming through them, may sue to recover possession, notwithstanding any other title that may be set up in the suit.[1] The point of the section, and the reason it is the fastest civil route to recovery of possession Bangladesh courts offer, is to stop people taking the law into their own hands. Even a true owner who forcibly ejects a trespasser can be ordered to hand the land back, and must then sue on title.

What the plaintiff must prove

The plaintiff in a section 9 suit must establish three facts: that they were in possession of the property, that they were dispossessed without their consent, and that the dispossession was otherwise than in due course of law, meaning without a court decree or other lawful process. Title is irrelevant. The court does not decide who owns the land, and the defendant cannot defeat the suit by proving a better title. That is why a section 9 suit is quick to try: the evidence concerns recent events on the ground rather than a century of deeds.

The six-month limit

Article 3 of the First Schedule to the Limitation Act 1908 gives six months from the date of dispossession to file a section 9 suit.[2] The period is short and unforgiving. Negotiations, a complaint to the police or a local shalish do not stop it running. Where a scheduled dispute is in legal aid mediation, the time spent there is excluded from limitation, but a possession suit is not ordinarily a scheduled dispute, so that exclusion should not be assumed.[7]

No appeal, no review, and no suit against the Government

Section 9 provides that no appeal lies from an order or decree passed in a suit under the section and that no review of it is allowed. It also bars any section 9 suit against the Government.[1] The only challenge is a civil revision to the High Court Division under section 115(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, which covers decrees of the subordinate courts from which no appeal lies, on the ground of an error of law resulting in a failure of justice.[9] Revision is not a rehearing, so the trial record has to be right first time.

The decree is provisional on title

The section expressly preserves the right of any person to sue to establish title and recover possession.[1] A section 9 decree therefore restores the status quo; it does not settle ownership. The losing defendant, if they are the true owner, can bring a section 8 suit. In practice the summary decree still shifts the balance decisively, because the burden and cost of a long title suit then fall on the party who used force.

Section 8: recovering possession on the strength of title

Section 8 provides that a person entitled to the possession of specific immovable property may recover it in the manner prescribed by the Code of Civil Procedure.[1] The section is short because the substance lies elsewhere: in the plaintiff's title, in the Limitation Act and in the procedural rules on pleading, trial and execution. This is the ordinary title suit for recovery of khas possession that fills the dockets of Assistant Judge and Joint District Judge courts across the country.

Elements of a section 8 suit

A plaintiff suing under section 8 must prove a subsisting title that entitles them to possession, that the defendant is in possession without right, and that the suit is within time. Where the claim rests on prior possession and later dispossession, article 142 of the Limitation Act gives twelve years from the date of dispossession or discontinuance.[2] In Belayet Hossain Bellal v Md Syedul Haque (First Appeal No 285 of 2017, 26 February 2026), the High Court Division affirmed a section 8 decree where the plaintiffs traced title through a 1958 partition suit and actual possession delivered in a 1966 execution case, and the defendant had bought in 2009 from persons with no title or possession.[13]

Who can be sued

Unlike section 9, a section 8 suit may be brought against anyone in wrongful possession, including a government body occupying private land. The defendant may be a trespasser, a former licensee whose permission has been withdrawn, a purchaser under a void deed, or a co-sharer who has ousted the plaintiff. Against a co-sharer, however, the usual remedy is partition rather than possession, because each co-owner is entitled to possess the undivided whole until division; our partition suit guide explains the procedure.

Declaration with consequential relief in a recovery of possession Bangladesh suit

Most legacy discussion of the "declaration and recovery of possession suit" turns on one provision: section 42 of the Specific Relief Act. It allows a person entitled to any legal character or right to property to sue anyone who denies that right for a declaration that they are so entitled.[1] The proviso is the trap. The court will not make a declaration where the plaintiff, being able to seek further relief than a mere declaration of title, omits to do so.[1]

Why a bare declaration fails

A plaintiff who is out of possession can always ask for more than a declaration: they can ask for possession. A suit for a bare declaration of title by a plaintiff out of possession is therefore liable to be dismissed under the proviso. The safe course is to plead the declaration and the consequential relief of recovery of khas possession together, adding mesne profits and, where needed, a permanent injunction. Order II rule 2 of the Code reinforces the point: a plaintiff who omits a relief arising from the same cause of action without leave cannot sue for it later.[10]

When no declaration is needed

The opposite mistake is to load a simple possession claim with an unnecessary declaration. Where the defendant does not genuinely dispute the plaintiff's title, a possession suit under section 8 can proceed without one. In Md Badsha Mia v Rushiya Begum (Civil Revision No 4720 of 2015, 7 November 2024), the High Court Division upheld a decree for eviction and recovery of khas possession against permissive occupiers and held that there was "no necessity to seek declaration of title" because the defendants did not dispute the plaintiffs' title.[14] In Belayet Hossain Bellal, the court likewise said recovery of possession by an entitled person under section 8 does not depend on a declaration of title.[13]

Clouded title: declaration plus cancellation

Where the defendant holds a registered deed, a mutation or a record-of-rights entry adverse to the plaintiff, a declaration is usually essential, and it may need to be joined with a prayer under section 39 to have a void instrument adjudged void and cancelled.[1] The pleading then has three layers: declaration of title, cancellation or a declaration that the adverse document is not binding, and recovery of possession. Each prayer carries its own limitation analysis, which is why drafting a combined suit is specialist work. The land dispute litigation guide covers pleading and trial practice in detail.

Valuation and court fees

The relief claimed drives the court fee. Under section 7 of the Court-fees Act 1870, a suit for possession of land, buildings or gardens is valued by reference to the property, generally its market value, and attracts an ad valorem fee; a suit for a declaration with consequential relief is valued at the amount the plaintiff states, subject to the court's power to revise it. [16] Court-fee rules are technical and change, so confirm the current schedule before filing, and value the suit honestly: undervaluation is a common ground of objection and can also push the suit into the wrong court.

Limitation and adverse possession

Limitation is the single most important variable in any recovery of possession Bangladesh claim. The relevant articles of the First Schedule to the Limitation Act 1908 are few, but they interact in ways that decide cases.[2]

• Article 3: six months from dispossession for a section 9 suit.
• Article 47: three years from the final order for a person bound by an order under the Code of Criminal Procedure to recover the property comprised in it.
• Article 139: twelve years from the determination of the tenancy for a landlord's suit against a tenant.
• Article 142: twelve years from dispossession or discontinuance for a plaintiff who was in possession.
• Article 144: twelve years from when the defendant's possession became adverse, for possession suits not otherwise provided for.
• Article 120: six years for suits for which no other period is provided, which captures many purely declaratory claims.
• Article 149: sixty years for suits by or on behalf of the Government.

Section 28: limitation that transfers title

In most claims, limitation bars the remedy and leaves the right untouched. Possession is different. Section 28 of the Limitation Act provides that, at the end of the period for instituting a suit for possession of any property, the right to that property is extinguished.[3] This is the statutory foundation of adverse possession. The owner's title ends, and the person whose adverse possession ran for the full period is left with a possessory title good against the world.

What adverse possession requires

Adverse possession is a defence, and sometimes a claim, that must be pleaded and proved with particulars. The possession must be actual, open, continuous and hostile to the true owner for the full twelve years, and the starting date must be identified. Possession that began with permission, as a tenant, licensee, caretaker or relative allowed to live on the land, is not adverse until the occupier clearly repudiates the owner's title to the owner's knowledge. Possession by one co-sharer is generally treated as possession on behalf of all, so time does not run against the others without a clear ouster.

The defence fails often. In Badsha Mia, the defendants pleaded purchase and adverse possession, but their own written statement placed their possession from November 2001, less than six years before the suit was filed in November 2007; the High Court Division agreed that the defence had been disproved and that the defendants were permissive possessors.[14]

Practical consequences for owners

In recovery of possession Bangladesh disputes, owners living abroad face the greatest risk. Absentee owners should treat a twelve-year-old occupation as an emergency. Pay land development tax in their own name, keep the khatian current, document any permission granted to occupiers in writing, and visit or send an agent regularly. A short written licence or caretaker agreement, signed by the occupier, is the cheapest protection against an adverse possession claim. Our land ownership verification guide lists the records to keep.

Fast-track restoration: the Land Crime Act and section 145

Two non-civil routes can restore possession faster than any suit. Both are narrow, and both interact with the civil remedies in ways that can close doors if used carelessly.

Restoration by an Executive Magistrate under section 8 of the 2023 Act

Section 8 of the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023 allows a person dispossessed without an order of a court or authority to apply to the Executive Magistrate with jurisdiction. The Magistrate must hear both sides and hold a local inquiry, and must decide the application, restoring possession where appropriate, within three months.[4] Until rules are made, the procedure under section 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure applies. Crucially, no action may be taken under section 8 while a civil suit for restoration of possession of the same land is pending, although the civil court may refer its pending case to the Executive Magistrate.[4]

The sequencing lesson is simple. A claimant who wants the magistrate's route should apply before filing a civil possession suit, and should keep the section 9 deadline in view in case the application fails. A claimant already in a civil suit should consider asking the civil court to refer it.

Criminal liability alongside the civil claim

The 2023 Act also makes it an offence, punishable with up to two years' imprisonment and a fine, for a seller who has received the full price to refuse without reasonable cause to hand over possession, which gives buyers real leverage.[4] Offences under sections 7 and 9 are cognisable, bailable and compoundable, and trials must finish within 180 days.[4] A complaint is powerful against a stranger who seized the land, but a weak tool in a family dispute.

Section 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure

Section 145 lets a District Magistrate or a specially empowered Executive Magistrate, satisfied from a police report or other information that a dispute concerning land or water is likely to cause a breach of the peace, require the parties to state their claims as to actual possession. "Land or water" includes buildings, markets, fisheries, crops and the rents or profits of such property.[5] The Magistrate decides only who is in actual possession, not who owns the land, and may attach the property under section 146 if possession cannot be determined.

A party who loses a section 145 proceeding has three years from the final order to sue for the property under article 47 of the Limitation Act.[2] That is a separate clock from the six-month and twelve-year periods, and it should be calendared as soon as the order is made. The land disputes guide discusses when section 145 is the wrong tool, including between co-heirs.

Evicting tenants under the Premises Rent Control Act 1991

A tenant is not a trespasser. Possession was given lawfully, so the landlord's route is eviction under the tenancy law rather than a section 9 suit. In urban premises the governing statute is the Premises Rent Control Act 1991 (বাড়ী ভাড়া নিয়ন্ত্রণ আইন, Act No 3 of 1991, also translated as the House Rent Control Act), which overrides the Transfer of Property Act 1882 and the Contract Act 1872 on this point.[6]

The protection under section 18

Section 18(1) provides that, so long as a tenant pays the full permissible rent and observes the conditions of the tenancy, no order or decree for recovery of possession may be made in the landlord's favour, except on listed grounds.[6]

The grounds include: an act contrary to specified clauses of section 108 of the Transfer of Property Act; subletting without the landlord's written consent, absent a contrary agreement; conduct that is a nuisance or annoyance to the occupiers of neighbouring premises; specified misuse of the premises; and the landlord's bona fide requirement of the premises for building or rebuilding, for personal occupation or for occupation by the person for whose benefit they are held, or any other cause the court considers satisfactory.[6]

Expiry of the lease is not enough

Section 18(2) is the provision landlords most often overlook. The expiry of the lease, or the transfer of the landlord's interest, is not by itself a satisfactory cause for eviction if the tenant is ready and willing to pay the full permissible rent.[6] A new owner who buys a tenanted building therefore buys the tenancy with it.

When the tenant loses protection

The protection falls away if the tenant fails to pay the permissible rent by the date fixed in the lease or, if none is fixed, by the fifteenth day of the following month, or fails to deposit rent within the time required by section 19.[6] "Permissible rent" means the standard rent fixed by the Controller under section 15 or, if none has been fixed, the agreed rent.[6] Landlords should therefore keep a clean rent ledger; tenants in dispute should deposit rent formally under section 19 rather than simply withholding it.

Safeguards against sham eviction

A landlord who recovers possession on the ground of personal need or rebuilding must follow through. If building work does not begin within two months of the tenant vacating, the landlord does not occupy, or the premises are let to someone else within six months, the former tenant may apply to the Controller within seven months of vacating for restoration of possession, compensation or both.[6]

Mediation first for rent disputes

House-rent disputes are among the disputes that must go to the district legal aid office for pre-case mediation in districts where section 21B of the Legal Aid Services Act 2000 has been notified.[8] A suit may be filed only if mediation fails, with the prescribed report, and the time spent in mediation is excluded from limitation.[7] A certified mediation agreement is treated as a decree and is executable through the competent court.[7] Our legal aid guide explains the application.

Outside the rent law, a landlord's ordinary suit for possession against a tenant has a twelve-year period from the determination of the tenancy under article 139.[2] Commercial leases should be drafted with clear termination, notice and handover clauses, because the statutory protection does not disappear simply because the parties called the arrangement a licence.

Illegal occupiers, khas land and government property

Recovery of possession Bangladesh disputes involving public land run on different rules. Khas land is land vested in the Government, and much of it is occupied, sometimes for decades, by people with no settlement or lease. Railway, road, housing-authority and municipal land faces the same pressure.

How the Government recovers its land

The Government and Local Authority Lands and Buildings (Recovery of Possession) Ordinance 1970 provides a summary administrative route. The authority serves notice under section 5(1) on an unauthorised occupant to vacate, and an aggrieved person may appeal under section 10 to the Divisional Commissioner. In Sanjib Kumar Kundu v Bangladesh (Writ Petition No 4929 of 2018, 19 September 2021), the High Court Division discharged a writ against eviction notices because the petitioners had not used that statutory appeal, and allowed them 30 days to file it.[15] An occupier served with a notice should appeal in time rather than go straight to the High Court Division.

Adverse possession against the Government

Because article 149 gives the Government sixty years to sue, an occupier of khas land cannot acquire title by twelve years' adverse possession.[2] Occupiers claiming a right to khas land must point to a settlement, lease or other grant, and buyers should treat any deed from a seller in possession of khas land without such a grant as worthless.

Private owners against public bodies

The reverse case also arises: a public body occupies private land without acquisition. A section 9 suit is unavailable against the Government, so the owner must sue on title under section 8, challenge the action by writ petition where it is plainly without lawful authority, or claim compensation if the land has in fact been acquired.[1] Acquisition disputes follow their own code, covered in our guide to land acquisition in Bangladesh.

Evidence that wins possession cases

Possession suits are won on documents, local witnesses and the credibility of the story that connects them. The burden rules favour whoever is shown to be in possession: under section 110 of the Evidence Act 1872, where a person is shown to be in possession of a thing, the burden of proving that they are not the owner lies on the person who says so.[12] That presumption is one reason prompt action matters; the longer an occupier stays, the more the evidential burden shifts.

• Title documents: certified copies of the registered deed chain, succession documents and any earlier decrees. Under section 90 of the Evidence Act, a document thirty years old produced from proper custody may be presumed genuine, which helps with old family deeds.[12]
• Record of rights: every survey khatian for the plot, reconciled dag numbers and the mutation file.
• Possession evidence: land development tax receipts, utility bills, cultivation, lease or caretaker records, photographs with dates and neutral local witnesses.
• Dispossession evidence: a general diary entry or complaint made at the time, dated photographs and witnesses to the incident, which fix the start of the limitation period.
• Identification of the land: Order VII rule 3 requires the plaint to describe immovable property sufficiently to identify it, by boundaries or by survey or settlement numbers where available.[10] Many possession suits fail because the plaintiff cannot prove that the land on the ground is the land in the deed.

Where boundaries are disputed, an application for a local investigation commission under Order XXVI rule 9 should be made at the right stage and framed within the pleadings.[10] A commission sought late or beyond the pleadings can do more harm than good on appeal.

Interim protection while the suit is pending

A possession suit can take years. In the meantime the defendant may build, sell or change the character of the land. A temporary injunction under Order XXXIX, or a status quo order, holds the position; a plaintiff out of possession will usually seek an order restraining construction and transfer rather than an order putting them back in, because courts are slow to grant possession by interim order. The tests and procedure are covered in our guide to temporary injunctions in Bangladesh.

Mesne profits should be claimed in the plaint. Order II rule 4 permits a claim for recovery of immovable property to be joined with claims for mesne profits or arrears of rent, and Order XX rule 12 governs decrees for possession and mesne profits.[10] A mesne profits claim gives the defendant a financial reason to settle and compensates the plaintiff for years of lost use.

Step by step: running a recovery of possession Bangladesh case

The sequence below reflects how we prepare a recovery of possession Bangladesh matter from first instruction to execution. Several steps run in parallel where the deadlines demand it.

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The commonest failures are missing the six-month window, suing for a bare declaration, describing the land inaccurately and filing a civil suit that blocks a faster magistrate's remedy. Each is avoidable with an early, document-led review.

Comparing the possession routes

The table below compares the main routes for recovery of possession in Bangladesh. On a phone, scroll it sideways.

Routes can be combined, but they must tell one consistent story. A Land Crime Act application, a criminal complaint and a title suit on the same land will be read together by the courts, and an inconsistent date of dispossession can sink all three.

Executing a possession decree

A decree for possession is only paper until it is executed. Execution is governed by Order XXI of the Code of Civil Procedure, and the detailed procedure, limitation and objections are covered in our guide to the execution case in Bangladesh. Four points matter most for possession.

Actual and symbolic delivery

Order XXI rule 35 governs decrees for immovable property and rule 36 governs delivery where the property is in the occupancy of a tenant.[10] Where the person in occupation is bound by the decree, actual possession is delivered by removing them. Where a tenant entitled to occupy and not bound by the decree is in possession, delivery is symbolic, and the decree-holder steps into the landlord's shoes and must then proceed against the tenant under the tenancy law.

Resistance and obstruction

Rules 97 to 99 deal with resistance or obstruction to possession, distinguishing resistance by the judgment-debtor from resistance by a bona fide claimant in possession on their own account, and rule 102 excludes a transferee pendente lite from protection.[10] A judgment-debtor who sells to a friend after the suit is filed gains nothing; a genuine third-party occupier may have to be dealt with by a separate proceeding.

The 2025 to 2026 procedural reforms

Amendments to the Code effective from 8 May 2025 allow an execution application to be received in the record of the suit itself, removing the need for a separate execution case, and add a new section 94A under which the court can direct executive authorities, including law enforcement agencies, to assist in enforcing a decree and report compliance.[11] For possession decrees, police assistance on the court's direction is the change that matters most: obstruction by local muscle is the classic reason possession decrees go unenforced.

After delivery

Once possession is delivered, follow through immediately: apply for mutation on the strength of the decree, pay land development tax in the decree-holder's name, fence or occupy the land, and keep evidence of continued possession. A decree-holder who walks away from the land invites a fresh dispossession and a fresh limitation clock.

What to watch in 2026 and beyond

Three developments will shape recovery of possession Bangladesh practice over the coming year. First, the magistrate's restoration route under the Land Crime Act is becoming the first call for recent dispossession, and rules under section 8 will eventually replace the interim reliance on section 145 procedure.[4] Second, mandatory pre-case mediation now covers house-rent disputes in notified districts, so landlord and tenant claims increasingly begin at the legal aid office.[7] [8] Third, the 2025 to 2026 civil procedure reforms give decree-holders stronger tools to turn a possession decree into actual possession.[11]

The fundamentals do not change. Act within six months where you can, never later than twelve years, plead every relief together, describe the land precisely and plan execution from the day the plaint is filed. Our real estate disputes practice handles possession suits, magistrate applications, tenant evictions and execution, and our land records and mutation practice follows through on the record. To discuss a recovery of possession Bangladesh matter, contact TRW.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a section 8 and a section 9 suit?

A section 9 suit restores a person dispossessed without consent and without legal process, whatever title the defendant sets up, and must be filed within six months. A section 8 suit recovers possession on the strength of title and may be filed within twelve years.[1] [2]

Can I appeal a section 9 decree?

No appeal or review lies from a section 9 decree. The losing party may seek revision in the High Court Division under section 115(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, or sue on title under section 8.[1] [9]

Do I need to ask for a declaration of title as well as possession?

Where the defendant disputes your title, yes: a bare declaration fails under the proviso to section 42 if you could have asked for possession, so plead both. Where title is not disputed, the High Court Division has held a declaration unnecessary.[1] [14]

How long do I have to recover land that someone has occupied?

Six months for a summary suit, twelve years for a title-based suit from dispossession or from when the occupier's possession became adverse. After that, section 28 of the Limitation Act extinguishes your right.[2] [3]

Can someone become the owner of my land by adverse possession?

Yes, if they hold it openly, continuously and adversely to you for twelve years, because your right is then extinguished. Permissive possession, such as by a tenant or caretaker, does not count until the occupier clearly repudiates your title.[3] [14]

Can an Executive Magistrate give my land back?

Under section 8 of the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023, an Executive Magistrate must decide a restoration application within three months, after hearing both sides and a local inquiry. The route is closed while a civil possession suit on the same land is pending.[4]

Can a landlord evict a tenant when the lease expires?

Not on that ground alone if the tenant is ready and willing to pay the permissible rent. The landlord needs a ground in section 18 of the 1991 rent law, such as non-payment, unauthorised subletting, nuisance or bona fide requirement.[6]

Can khas land be claimed by adverse possession?

In practice, rarely. The Government has sixty years to sue under article 149 of the Limitation Act, and it can also recover unauthorised occupation through the 1970 recovery of possession ordinance, subject to appeal to the Divisional Commissioner.[2] [15]

What evidence do I need to prove possession?

Land development tax receipts, utility and cultivation records, dated photographs, neutral local witnesses and a contemporaneous complaint about the dispossession, together with a plaint that identifies the land by boundaries or survey numbers.[10] [12]

Can the police help enforce a possession decree?

Yes. Under the procedural amendments effective from 8 May 2025, the court can direct executive authorities, including law enforcement agencies, to assist in enforcing a decree and report compliance.[11]