Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has imposed costs of Rs1 lakh on the State of Maharashtra while coming down heavily on government and police authorities for illegally blocking the registration of a property sale deed in Nashik, terming the action a “wholly illegal” abuse of power.
Sell Portions of Its Property
Justice NJ Jamadar, in an order dated April 6, allowed a petition filed by Navratna Lands & Estate Pvt. Ltd. and others, and quashed communications that had effectively restrained registration of the land transaction.
The dispute concerns land originally owned by the Nashik Diocesan Council Trust, a public trust that had obtained sanction from the Charity Commissioner in 2001 to sell portions of its property. The petitioners, nominees of a developer, had purchased parts of the land through registered sale deeds, and their names were duly recorded in property records.
Police Department Had Been a Lessee Since April 1991
In April 1991, a portion of the land had been leased to the police department for setting up establishments. The lease expired in October 2014 and did not confer any ownership rights, with the police continuing only as a lessee.
The petitioners later entered into an agreement to sell the land to a third party and approached the sub-registrar for registration. However, the authorities declined to register the document without assigning any reasons.
RTI Query
It subsequently emerged through information obtained under the Right to Information Act that a Deputy Commissioner of Police had written to registration authorities directing them not to register any documents concerning the land, citing the presence of police establishments.
Challenging this, the petitioners argued that the police department, even as a lessee, had no authority to interfere with property transactions or restrain registration in the absence of a court order.
High Court Finds It Incomprehensible
The High Court agreed, observing that it was incomprehensible how the police could prohibit registration of documents. It held that the police department has no greater rights than a private litigant in property disputes and cannot bypass due process.
The court also criticised the registration authorities for failing to discharge their statutory duties under the Registration Act, 1908. It noted that registration of such documents is mandatory and refusal is permitted only on limited, specified grounds, which must be supported by a written order recording reasons.
In the present case, the authorities neither invoked any statutory provision nor recorded reasons, and instead acted solely on police instructions. The court held that this amounted to a clear abdication of duty.
Observing that the police had misused their position to influence the process and assert undue control over the property, the court said such actions undermine the rule of law.
Accordingly, the High Court quashed the impugned communications and directed the sub-registrar to register the sale deed if it is otherwise in order. It also directed the State to pay Rs1 lakh as costs to the petitioners, with liberty to recover the amount from erring officers after fixing responsibility.
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