TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (11) TMI 1100
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....der dated 02.12.2019, a learned Single Judge of this Court had directed the Petitioner therein who wanted to register a Settlement Deed, notwithstanding the fact that an Agreement of Sale with respect to the same property had been registered, to approach the competent Civil Court and seek a declaration that the Agreement of Sale was null and void and unenforceable. 3. In the instant Writ Petition No. 674 of 2020, the learned Single Judge, faced with two directly contradictory views by two learned Single Judges, had, exercising prudence, placed the matter before the Hon'ble Chief Justice to form a Larger Bench to resolve the conflict of views. 4. The Hon'ble Chief Justice was pleased to constitute this Bench to examine the issues. 5. Naturally, the issues raised would have to be addressed by meandering through the provisions of the Registration Act, 1908, vis-à-vis documents which presented for registration and the circumstances under which a Registering authority can refuse registration. The salient features of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, will also have to be examined with specific reference to the rights created under an Agreement of Sale. 6. Erudite vie....
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....various provisions of the Registration Act which empower the Registrar to refuse the document for registration, Section 19 of the Registration Act deals with the power of the Registrar to refuse to register the document, when the document presented for registration is in a language which the registering officer does not understand, and it is not a language which is commonly used in the district, he shall refuse to register the document, unless it is accompanied by a true translation into a language commonly used in the district. Section 20 of the Act gives a discretion to the Registrar to refuse to accept any document which contain interlineations, blanks, erasures or alterations, unless those are attested by the persons executing the document with their signatures. 13. A reading of the above section and Sub-Clause 2 together makes it clear that even there are errors, interlineations, blanks, erasures or alterations, there is no bar for registration of the document. Similarly Section 21 of the Act deals with the power of the Registrar not to accept a document which does not contain the description of the property sufficient to identify the same. The above section also makes it cle....
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....n Sections 41, 43, 45, 69, 75, 77, 88 and 89, no document shall be registered under this Act, unless the persons executing such document, or their representatives, assigns or agents authorized as aforesaid, appear before the registering officer within the time allowed for presentation under Sections 23, 24, 25 and 26 : Provided that, if owing to urgent necessity or unavoidable accident all such persons do not so appear, the Registrar, in cases where the delay in appearing does not exceed four months, may direct that on payment of a fine not exceeding ten times the amount of the proper registration fee, in addition to the fine, if any payable under Section 25, the document may be registered. 21 (2) Appearances under sub-section (1) may be simultaneous or at different times. (3) The registering officer shall thereupon - (a) enquire whether or not such document was executed by the persons by the whom it purports to have been executed; (b) satisfy himself as to the identity of the person appearing before him and alleging that they have executed the document; and (c) in the case of any person appearing as a representative, assign or agent, satisfy himself of the right of such person so ....
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....a suit as against such order under Section 77 of the Act. 20. The learned Senior counsel for the Petitioner relied upon the judgment in Latif Estate Line India Ltd. v. Hadeeja Animal [2011-1-L.W. 673 : 2011 (2) CTC 1] wherein it has been held that there is no provision in the Transfer of Property Act or in the Registration Act, which deals with the Cancellation of Deed of sale. The reason is that the execution of a Deed of Cancellation by Vendor does not create, assign, limit or extinguish any right, title or interest in the immovable property and the same has no effect in the eye of law. 21. In Satya Pal Anand v. State of M.P. [2016-2-L.W. (Crl.) 57 : (2016) 10 SCC 767] the Honourable Apex Court has held that the role of Sub-Registrar (Registration) stands discharged, once the document is registered. Power to cancel the registration is a substantive matter. 22. In K.S. Vijayendran vs. The Inspector General of Regulation & Another [2011(2) LW 648] this court has held as follows: "None of the provisions of the Act or the Rules contemplate the Registrar to require the party appearing before him for presenting document to produce the original title deeds relating to the property ....
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....uired by Rule 18. IV. Section 21(4).-That the document is unaccompanied by a copy or copies of any map or plan which it contains. V. Rule 32.-That the date of execution is not stated in the document or that the correct date is not ascertainable. VI. Sections 23, 24, 25, 26, 72, 75 and 77.- That it is presented after the prescribed time. VII. Sections 32, 33, 40 and 43.-That it is presented by a person who has no right to present it. VIII. Section 34.-That the executing parties or their representatives, assigns, or agents have failed to appear within the prescribed time. IX. Sections 34 and 43.-That the Registering Officer is not satisfied as to the identity of a person appearing before him who alleges that he has executed the document. X. Sections 34 and 40.-That the Registering Officer is not satisfied as to the right of a person appearing as a representative, assign, or agent so to appear. XI. Section 35.-That execution is denied by any person purporting to be an executing party or by his agent. Note:-When a Registering Officer is satisfied that an executant is purposely keeping out of the day with a view to evade registration of a document or has gone to a dist....
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....annot go into the title of the property in respect of which document is presented. However, under various provisions he has power to refuse to accept the document for registration unless mistakes found in the document are set right properly. Except Section 22-A of the Tamil Nadu Act, other provisions referred above do not give any power to the registering officer to refuse to register the document presented by the person executing documents. Rule 60 also states that the registering officer can only enquire about the executant and the claimant of the instrument of sale regarding whose identity he has to satisfy himself. But the provisions does not give absolute power to refuse registration. As already indicated above, the purpose and object of the Act is to give a public notice about any encumbrance in the immovable property. 27. It is also relevant to note that even when the document is undervalued and the Registrar registering the document has reason to believe that the market value of the property has not been truly set out in the document, he has to receive the document and refer the same to the Collector for determination of the market value of such property and the proper dut....
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....quires interest in the property transferred. The above section makes it very clear that even a person who has no title over the property purports to transfer to another by deed and when he subsequently acquires any interest in the property, sufficient to satisfy the transfer, the title would pass to the transferee without any further act on the part of the transferor, provided the transferee has not rescinded the transfer and opts for such effectuation. The above principle also makes it very clear even a transfer by unauthorised person is not prohibited. Only the validity of the title would be subject to his acquiring subsequent interest in the property. 33. Section 48 of the Transfer of Property Act deals with priority of rights created by transfer, which reads as follows: 48. Where a person purports to create by transfer at different times rights in or over the same immoveable property, and such rights cannot all exist or be exercised to their full extent together, each later created right shall, in the absence of a special contract or reservation binding the earlier transferees, be subject to the rights previously created. 34. The above section determines the priority when t....
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....of money advanced or to be advanced by way of loan, an existing or future debt, or the performance of an engagement which may give rise to a pecuniary liability. Therefore, it cannot be said that once the encumbrance is made by creating a mortgage, the mortgagor is totally prohibited from effecting any further transfer. In fact if any such transfer is made, it is always subject to the mortgage alone. If the analogy is drawn from the judgement of the single judge in W.P. No. 33601 of 2019 [Venkattamma vs. The Sub-Registrar and another] that agreement once registered there cannot be any subsequent settlement deed is accepted, such situation even may lead to the contention that even where a simple mortgage is created, the mortgagor cannot transfer the property for any other purpose even for a lease, even though lease is just transfer of right to enjoy the property. The judgement of the learned single Judge in W.P. No. 33601 of 2019 [Venkattamma vs. The Sub-Registrar and another] holding that unless there is declaration declaring the agreement for sale is null and void is obtained from civil court no further transfer could be registered, which is, in our view, not according to law. It ....
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....An annexure to the ownership of the property, but not amounting to interest or easement therein. 42. Section 19(b) of Specific Relief Act also protects the subsequent transferee for value and for consideration in good faith without notice of the original contract. Even if a person has no title to the property has entered into a contract for sale, the transferee can seek for specific performance under section 13 of the Specific Relief Act. 43. From a combined reading of various provisions of the Transfer of Property Act as referred above, we are of the view that there is no bar for creating subsequent transfer of the immovable property. Effect of the subsequent transfer is always subject to the earlier transfer created by the transferor of the immovable property. Therefore, it cannot be said that since the agreement for sale is registered the owner viz., the Vendor has no right to 'execute any document. In Venkattamma's case [W.P. No. 33601 of 2019] in fact settlement deed has been presented for registration by the Vendor after three years of the so called contract. Merely on the basis of the agreement for sale, the registrar refused to register the document which is again....
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.... no registration is permissible. Further, insisting a no objection from mortgagee before registration is also against the very substantive provision of law. If any property is sold with existing mortgage, the transferee steps into the shoes of mortgagor. He has the right to redeem the property by paying the mortgage money. Therefore in the name of regulating the registration, any circular which is in the nature of violating the substantive provision of law, which deals with the transfer of property, then such circular cannot stand in the eye of law. If the contention of learned Advocate General that without seeking declaration and cancellation of the agreement of sale, subsequent agreement or transaction cannot be registered, is accepted then such restriction, in fact, infringes the very Constitutional right of the citizen provided under Article 300 A of the Constitution. 47. We are of the view that except as provided in the Registration Act and any other statute, the Registrar has no power to refuse to register a document. Though the object of the Act is to prevent fraud, such occasion arises only where some private properties are notified under the Tamil Nadu Private Forest Act.....