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The Supreme Court has granted interim relief to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) by staying ongoing trial proceedings in a land dispute case with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), pending before the Additional Senior Civil Judge in Jamnagar, Gujarat. This move follows RIL’s appeal against a May 2025 Gujarat High Court judgment which allowed BPCL to amend its plaint to seek a declaration of title, recovery of possession, and mesne profits concerning disputed land at Moti Khavdi.

The dispute dates back to the early 1990s when the Government of Gujarat allotted over 349 hectares at Moti Khavdi to BPCL for a crude oil terminal. BPCL alleges that parts of this land were encroached upon by Reliance Petroleum Ltd (now RIL), sparking a legal battle that began with a suit in 1995. Despite numerous amendments, surveys, and adjournments over the decades, substantive progress has been limited, with issues such as survey completion and fee payments causing delays.

In recent years, satellite surveys submitted by the state’s remote sensing agency BISAG-N indicated encroachment by Reliance, prompting BPCL to seek new reliefs—specifically a declaration of title and compensation—from the trial court. When the trial court only partially allowed these amendments, BPCL appealed to the High Court, which ruled in its favor, applying the unamended Civil Procedure Code relevant to the original filing year of the suit.

With the Supreme Court now issuing notice and staying all further trial proceedings, the longstanding litigation is effectively on hold, and any further action will depend on the apex court’s final adjudication. This stay highlights the complex procedural history and high stakes that have kept the Reliance-BPCL land dispute unresolved for thirty years.Supreme Court Stays Further Proceedings in Reliance vs BPCL Land Dispute
Court Issues Interim Relief to Reliance, Pauses Three-Decade-Old Jamnagar Suit

The Supreme Court has stayed trial proceedings in a longstanding land dispute between Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) over land at Moti Khavdi, Jamnagar. The Bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Prasanna B Varale passed the order following Reliance’s challenge to a Gujarat High Court ruling that had permitted BPCL to amend its suit for declaration of title, recovery of possession, and mesne profits.

The litigation has roots in the early 1990s, when Gujarat allotted and acquired land for BPCL’s crude oil terminal, with BPCL alleging that RIL (earlier Reliance Petroleum Ltd) encroached upon this land. The dispute saw repeated amendments, surveys, and delays, including attempts to clarify land boundaries with satellite imagery. In May 2025, the High Court allowed BPCL to include new prayers related to title and profits, with the reliefs effective only from June 2024. Reliance appealed, leading the Supreme Court to issue notice and freeze ongoing trial proceedings pending further hearing.

The stay temporarily halts additional hearings in the civil suit, bringing further judicial scrutiny to a matter unresolved for three decades, pending the Supreme Court’s final decision.