Man, 108, Dies Just Before Supreme Court Admits Case He Pursued Since 1968

Sopan Narsinga Gaikwad had purchased a plot of land in 1968 through a registered sale deed after which he came to know that it was already mortgaged to a bank in lieu of the loan taken by the original owner. When the original owner defaulted on a loan, the bank issued a notice to Gaikwad.

A 108-year-old man did not live to see that the Supreme Court has admitted his appeal in a land dispute case he had been pursuing since 1968 and had remained pending before the Bombay High Court for 27 years before being dismissed. On July 12 this year, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal after Sopan Narsinga Gaikwad's counsel pleaded that the delay in filing the appeal may be viewed from the perspective that the aged petitioner belonged to a rural area of Maharashtra and learned of the high court verdict much later, and after that he got stuck due to the onset of Covid-19 pandemic. The petitioner's counsel Viraj Kadam told news agency PTI, "Unfortunately, the man, who pursued his case right from trial court to Supreme Court was not alive to hear that his matter has been agreed to be heard." "He had expired before the court took up the matter on July 12 but the information about his demise from the rural area came just after the hearing. He will be now represented through legal heirs."