Limited statutory authority cannot decide disputed title; civil courts must resolve ownership claims before transfer clearance

An authority acting under Chapter XXC of the Income-tax Act has a limited statutory role: it must process the Form No. 37-I application and decide whether to issue a no objection certificate or make an acquisition order, but it cannot adjudicate disputed questions of ownership, title, or the transferor's rights. Rival claims to the property must be resolved in civil proceedings. Writ relief is not available to restrain the authority from performing that statutory function merely because title disputes are pending elsewhere, and any status quo order in other proceedings will not bind the authority unless it is made a party.

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Issues: (i) Whether the appropriate authority under Chapter XXC of the Income-tax Act, 1961, could be required to adjudicate the rival title claims of persons asserting an interest in the property before dealing with the Form No. 37-I application; (ii) Whether the writ petitions seeking to restrain the statutory authority from proceeding with the application were maintainable in the circumstances.

Issue (i): Whether the appropriate authority under Chapter XXC of the Income-tax Act, 1961, could be required to adjudicate the rival title claims of persons asserting an interest in the property before dealing with the Form No. 37-I application.

Analysis: The authority under Chapter XXC has a limited statutory function: it must consider the application and decide whether to issue a no objection certificate or make an acquisition order. It has no jurisdiction to enter upon disputed questions of ownership, title, or validity of the transferor's rights. Rival claims to the property were already the subject of civil suits, and those matters had to be decided in the civil forum.

Conclusion: The appropriate authority could not be compelled to determine title disputes, and the contention that it must hear the petitioners on ownership was rejected.

Issue (ii): Whether the writ petitions seeking to restrain the statutory authority from proceeding with the application were maintainable in the circumstances.

Analysis: The challenge was directed against a statutory authority acting within the framework of the statute and the petitioners had already pursued civil remedies in pending suits. Any order of status quo in other proceedings could not bind the authority unless it was made a party and bound by that order. The writ remedy was therefore not available to obstruct the authority's statutory process.

Conclusion: The writ petitions were not maintainable and were dismissed.

Final Conclusion: The statutory authority was left free to proceed under Chapter XXC, while the parties' rival claims to the property were relegated to the civil suits.

Ratio Decidendi: An authority exercising a limited statutory function cannot be asked to decide disputed title questions, and writ relief will not lie to interdict that statutory process where the competing claims must be resolved in civil proceedings.

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