Registration required for bank auction sale certificates issued by authorised officers under SARFAESI enforcement rules.

A sale certificate issued after a bank's public auction under the SARFAESI Act and the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002 was held to require registration under the Registration Act, 1908. The Court distinguished cases involving certificates issued by civil, revenue or tax recovery officers, noting that an authorised bank officer is not a civil or revenue officer and therefore does not attract the same exemption. Relying on binding Division Bench authority on a similar bank-auction certificate, the Court held that the certificate was not exempt from registration and the writ petition failed.

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Issues: Whether a sale certificate issued by an authorised officer under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 requires registration under the Indian Registration Act, 1908.

Analysis: The property was sold by public auction by the authorised officer of a bank under Section 13 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 read with the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002, and the sale certificate was issued under Rule 9(6) of those Rules. The Court distinguished authorities holding that sale certificates issued by a civil or revenue officer or by a tax recovery officer did not require registration, and noted that the present sale was through an authorised bank officer, who is neither a civil officer nor a revenue officer. The Court relied on the direct Division Bench decision concerning a similar auction-sale certificate issued by an authorised officer of a bank and held that such certificate is not exempt from registration.

Conclusion: The sale certificate required registration and the writ petition failed.

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