WP/25256/2004 of Smt. Vegesina Sunitha, Vs The District Collector, Ranga Reddy District on 31 December 2004

ORDER:

The petitioner claims to be owner of the land bearing Plot No.W-18 admeasuring333 square yards situated at Mahadevapuram Residential Project Phase III inSurvey Nos.329/4 and 329/5 of Gajularamaram Village, Quitbullapur Mandal,Rangareddy District. She intends to sell the said land to prospective purchasers. It isstated that when she had approached respondent Nos.2 and 3 for the purpose ofregistration of the land in favour of prospective purchasers, they refused to registerthe sale deed due to the circular instructions issued by the first respondent inProc.No.R.C. No.E2/406/2001, dated 06-02-2001. Assailing the impugned circularof the first respondent and consequently seeking a direction to respondent Nos.2and 3 to register the sale deed in respect of the land in question, the petitioner filedthe present writ petition.

It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner and admitted to by thelearned Government Pleader for Revenue that the subject matter of this writ petitionis squarely covered by a judgment of this Court in W.P. No.1953 of 2002, dated 11-12-2003. In the circumstances, following the said judgment, this writ petition isdisposed of in the following terms.

In the impugned circular, the Joint Collector took exception to the issuance of noobjection certificate by the Mandal Revenue Officers and he ultimately directed theMandal Revenue Officers not to issue any no objection certificate for registrationpurpose or otherwise in respect of lands in the district without prior approval of theDistrict Collector. A direction was also issued to all the Sub-Registrars not toentertain any documents for registration of lands in the district without prior approvalor in the absence of no objection certificate from the District Collector. In a way thecircular brings all the transactions in respect of lands in the district to halt. For suchan exercise, the respondents must have specific power under any relevant statute.The circular has no reference to any provision of law under which it is issued.

Conclusion

As long as any person holds title to the property, the respondents do not have anypower or jurisdiction to prevent the same from being transferred. It is not as if there isno provision of law to protect the properties of the Government. In case, anyindividual is found to be in possession of government land, the Andhra PradeshLand Encroachment Act enables the revenue authorities to evict the persons inunauthorized occupation. Similarly, proceedings can be initiated under theprovisions of the Andhra Pradesh Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act where a person isfound to be in possession of government land without legal entitlement. The JointCollector has chosen the course of action, which is not permissible in law.

The Registration Act does contain a provision enabling the government to prohibittransfer in respect of any lands. Such prohibition, however, is to be imposed byissuing a notification under Section 22(A) of the Registration Act, 1908. The Government has not chosen to issue a notification under that provision in respect ofland held by the petitioner. Viewed from any angle, this Court does not find anybasis for the impugned circular. The Division Bench of this Court in its judgmentdated 10-09-2001 in W.A. No.1390 of 2001 took exception to such an exercise.

For the foregoing reasons, the writ petition is allowed and the impugned order is setaside. Any document presented by the petitioner or any persons claiming throughhim in respect of the land in question shall be processed and dealt with as per theprovisions of the Indian Stamp Act and the Registration Act.

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N.V. RAMANA, J

Date: 31-12-2004

Svv

That Rule Nisi has been made absolute as above.

Witness the Hon’ble Sri Devinder Gupta, the Chief Justice on this Friday, the ThirtyFirst day of December, Two thousand and Four.

To

1 The District Collector, Ranga Reddy District at Saifabad,Hyderabad.

2 The District Registrar, Ranga Reddy District.

3 The Sub Registrar, Medchal, Ranga Reddy District.

4 Two C.Cs to the Government Pleader for Revenue, High Courtl Buildings, A.P.,Hyderabad (OUT).

5 Two C.D.copies.