Property taken by cheating in year 1978. Can I take back property now?

The law for limitation of suits and other proceedings has been codified in the Limitation Act, 1963.

Part V of The Schedule of the Act pertains to suits relating to Immovable property. And It states that “For possession of immovable property or any interest therein based on title”, the period of limitation prescribed is 12 years which begins to run when the possession of the defendant becomes adverse to the plaintiff i.e. in your case the limitation period started to run from the day that person cheated your father and took possession of the said property which happened in 1978.

As a period of more than 35 has elapsed since then and therefore you case would be barred by limitation.

However we would also like to mention that the Courts have in rare cases condoned the delay in filing a suit where the title holder is able to establish reasonable cause for the delay in filing the suit. One such case was where the owner had established that he was unaware that the possession of the property had been taken. The Court had then stated that the cause of action arose on the day the owner became aware of the adverse possession and the limitation period of twelve years was calculated from that date.

So if you give us more details regarding your matter, it can be seen whether any reasonable ground can be established for filing an application for condonation of delay.