New Delhi, May 7 -- The right to property, despite no longer being a fundamental right, continues to hold a sacrosanct position as a constitutional and legal right, the Delhi high court observed, as it directed the Centre to pay about Rs.1.77 crore to a man whose property was unlawfully occupied for over two decades by the government in the aftermath of proceedings initiated against him during Emergency. Holding that prolonged illegal occupation by government "falls foul of the constitutional right of citizens to property under Article 300A", justice Purushendra Kumar Kaurav said: "Executive overreach beyond the four corners of the law must be met with constitutional censure, for when the protector of rights becomes the violator, the very fabric of the rule of law is imperilled." Article 300A ensures that a person cannot be deprived of his property merely by an executive fiat. The bench, in its order passed on May 2, directed the Directorate of Estate (DOE), Union housing ministry, to pay Rs.1,76,79,550 as damages to one HK Sarin, whose property was raided during the Emergency and was issued a preventive detention order against him in July 1975. Though the order was withdrawn after the Emergency but later he was called upon to disclose the source of income of certain properties, by way of a notice in April 1980, under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act (SAFEMA). Interestingly, Sarin had leased the property, situated at Ansal Bhawan in Delhi's Kasturba Gandhi Marg, to the DOE in September 1976 but the same was forfeited by the competent authority in August, 1998. Consequently, DOE refused to pay rent from May 5, 1999. In his order, released on Monday, justice Kaurav opined that the Centre's act of continuously occupying the property despite quashing of SAFEMA proceedings, did not exhibit any "bona fide" or "good faith" on its part. To be sure, mesne profits refer to the profits or income earned by someone who is in wrongful possession of property....