(Image source from: Fortune)

The United States Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a case involving an Indian-American billionaire Vinod Khosla who had been ordered to restore public access to a beach he owns in North Carolina.

A nearly decade-long court battle has put to rest, which was centered around whether the public should be able to access a small part of land known as Martins Beach, about an hour south of San Francisco.

Martins Beach used to be a popular surfing and fishing spot until Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, bought the property in 2008 for $37 million and blocked the public from accessing it.

Surfrider Foundation sued Khosla, saying it was unfair to shut down an area the public had access to for years.

Khosla, who has a net worth of $1.55 billion and does not live on the property, was met with aggravated public scrutiny in 2010 for hiring guards to patrol the sole road leading to the beach.

Earlier in 2012, five surfers who bypassed the gate were arrested for criminal trespassing, prompting further civil litigation and legislative action.

An appeals court in San Francisco ruled earlier this year that Khosla violated state law by denying access to the beach.

Khosla responded by filing an appeal with the top Court to overturn the ruling on the grounds that he did not need a permit to put a gate on his personal property.

The Supreme Court's decision was hailed by activists.

"The most conservative and divided Supreme Court in my lifetime confirmed that even a billionaire, who refuses to acknowledge that the law applies to him, and retains the most expensive attorneys he can find, cannot create a private beach," said Joseph Cotchett, lead attorney for the Surfrider Foundation, told The Los Angeles Times.

"Beaches are public in California, and the immensely wealthy must comply with the Coastal Act just like everyone else."

A similar legal battle took place over record mogul David Geffen's efforts to prevent the use of a walkway to Carbon Beach near his Malibu home in Southern California. That dispute was in the end settled in 2005.

-Sowmya Sangam