Empowers Government to Refuse Registration of Unapproved Plots
The Background
Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908, deals with the Compulsory Registration of properties.
There was no provision that empowered the Registering Authorities to refuse registration on the ground that the Plot or Layout was not an approved one.
It was this provision that was taken advanctage of, to sell unapproved plots and Layouts.
The Madras High Court Steps in
The issue came to the notice of the Madras High Court in the course of the hearing on the PIL seeking Ban on Unapproved Plots and Layouts.The Tamilnadu Government took the position that there is no provision that allows the refusal of Registration of a Document.
Earlier though, the Tamilnadu Government has replaced the then existing Clause Sec 22 A of the Registration Act,1908, with a new Clause 22(A) in the year 2009, enabling the Registering Authority to Refuse Registration of documents of Unapproved Plots and Layouts.However, the Government has not put the Act into force by proper Notifications. The strong position taken by the Madras High Court in this matter, forced the Government to Notify Sec 22 A of the Act on 20th Oct 2016.
The New Section 22-A Reads as under:
“ 22-A. Refusal to register certain documents .—Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the registering officer shall refuse to register any of the following documents,namely:—
(1) instrument relating to the transfer of immovable properties by way of sale, gift,mortgage, exchange or lease,—
(i) belonging to the State Government or the local authority or Chennai
Metropolitan Development Authority established under section 9-A of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971;
(ii) belonging to, or given or endowed for the purpose of, any religious institution to which the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959 is applicable;
(iii) donated for Bhoodan Yagna and vested in the Tamil Nadu State Bhoodan
Yagna Board established under section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Bhoodan Yagna Act, 1958; or (iv) of Wakfs which are under the superintendence of the Tamil Nadu Wakf Board established under the Wakf Act, 1995,
unless a sanction in this regard issued by the competent authority as provided under the relevant Act or in the absence of any such authority, an authority so authorised by the State Government for this purpose, is produced before the registering officer;
Explanation I.—For the purpose of this section ‘local authority’ means,—
(i) any Municipal Corporation constituted under any law for the time being
in force; or
(ii) a Municipal Council constituted under the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920 ; or
(iii) a Panchayat Union Council or a Village Panchayat constituted under the
Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act, 1994 ; or
(iv) any other Municipal Corporation, that may be constituted under any law for the time being in force.
Explanation II.—For the purpose of this section ‘planning authority’ means the
authority constituted under section 11 of, and includes the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority established under section 9-A of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971;
(2) instrument relating to the transfer of ownership of lands converted as house sites without the permission for development of such land from planning authority concerned:
Provided that the house sites without such permission may be registered if it is shown that the same house site has been previously registered as house site.
(3) instrument relating to cancellation of sale deeds without the consent of the person claiming under the said sale deed.”.
This step, that is the Notification of Sec-22 A on Oct 20, 2016, is an important milestone in the ongoing efforts to streamline Regularisation of Unapproved Layouts and Plots