Fraudulent Registration of Property
Balaji Bakthavathsal
(Querist) 09 December 2010
This query is : Resolved
We are living in our ancestral house for more than five decades. The property is in our possession and occupation till date for which the municipal taxes, property taxes, Water & Electricity charges are being paid by us periodically.
While so, a fraudulent lady in the year 2007, with the help of a forged/fake will purportedly written by her husband which does not have detailed description of our property or his relationship with our family, claiming rights on our property, stated that her husband is the only son to her father-in-law and her father-in-law is the only son to our grandfather and gifted our house to her son and registered the gift deed in favour of her son.
As per the Gift Deed Act, when an immovable property is gifted, the Donor should be the Absolute Owner of the property. Though the property is registered in the very same sub-registrar’s office in my father’s name, floating the rule mentioned in the Gift Deed Act in the air, the Sub-Registrar went ahead and registered the Gift Deed, succumbing to the pressure from his higher officials or politician or financial gain(Bribe) . When the sub-registrar was questioned on how he registered the gift deed while the property is not in the name of the Donor, but in the name of my father, the sub-registrar very cooly replied that it is none of his business to verify the ownership of the property and as per the Rule 55 and Section 34 of Registration Act of India, he can not deny any registration as long as the two concerned parties are identified and their identity verified and advised us to approach court for cancelling the Gift Deed registration. I am of the opinion that the Section 34 and Rule 55 of the Registration Act will not apply for the Gift Deed Registration. Am I right ?
Thus, for no fault of us, we are forced to run from pillar to post and subjected to financial and mental stress apart from spending invaluable and irrecoverable time.
Is the Act of the Sub-Registrar Correct ?
Can the Sub-Registrar who caused serious damage to us, whether he is in service or retired be sued in the court of law for damages caused ?
The fraudulent son who got our ancestral house from her fraudulent mother, created encumbrance on our house by making a Sale Agreement and registering the same in the very same sub-registrar’s office. Knowing that we are initiating criminal action on him, he hurriedly filed a false civil suit in the local district court just to escape from the clutches of criminal action by police. Interestingly, though the Gift Deed stated that his grandfather is the only son to his great grandfather and his father is the only son to his grandfather, in the false suit filed by him he mentioned that his grandfather was one among the four sons to his great grandfather and claimed “one-third” share (the ratio is not understood) of the property. Another interesting part is that though the great grandfather owned a lot of properties, he had claimed his share only on the house. The court too accepted the suit filed by him and issued notice to the respondents. Here is my question on our legal system. Can a court simply accept the petitioner’s statement without any documentary evidences to the facts stated in it and admit the suit ? When he is claiming as a Legal Heir, doesn’t he need to endorse legal heir certificate ? Doesn’t he need to produce enough evidences to show that he is legal heir ? He simply filed the suit endorsing the fraudulent Gift Deed, a false family genealogy without any supporting document and paper notice issued by him. As his intention is just to protect himself from the apprehension by the police using the civil suit as a shield, he did not appear to the court and court dismissed the suit for default. Thus, the respondent were done a grave injustice without being heard. Had the court enquired the respondents, the respondents would have proved the fraud played by the plaintiff but the court did not do so. Does the court takes it granted that only Plaintiff is genuine and the respondents are to be ignored ?
After the dismissal of the suit, the fraudulent person re-surfaced and appealed for revival of the suit which was accepted by the court. Again, he prolonged the suit by absenting on the dates or changing the lawyer and pleading for time and finally the suit was dismissed for the second time, again for default. In the meantime, when the suit is pending, the fraudulent person executed Power of Attorney to a local property grabbing mafia on the entire property whilst the suit is for one-third share and that too is in pending stage. Later, the fraudulent person after making some money on our property, cancelled the power of attorney and kept cool. In the mean while, though the power of attorney was cancelled by the fraudulent person, the power agent, knowing that it has been cancelled, hurried and made a sale deed and registered the same in the very same sub-registrar’s office well after the cancellation of the Power of Attorney.
It is pertinent to state that the sub-registrar who registered the sale deed was very well aware of the facts and he was included along with the District Registrar as respondents in one of the suits filed by the true legal owners of the property and was served notice by the Munsif Court which was signed and received both by the sub-registrar and district registrar. Since both of them did not appear for the hearing, they were declared ex-parte and despite the fact, the sub-registrar went ahead and registered the sale deed again quoting the Rule 55 and Section 34 of the Registration Act of India.
Thus, the sub-registrar caused severe damage to us by
1) Registering the Gift Deed without verifying the absolute ownership of the property
2) Registering the Sale Deed despite the fact that he has signed and received the court notice including him as a respondent and made as ex-parte
Under these circumstances, please let me know whether I can file a suit against the Sub-Registrar ?
Devajyoti Barman
(Expert) 09 December 2010
Filing of any sut against the registrar would not help you. File a suit for declaration of the said deed as null and void in the civil court immediately.Do not fail to pray for temporary injunction in the said as well against unlawful disturbance of your peaceful possession.
Balaji Bakthavathsal
(Querist) 10 December 2010
Thanks for the advice. Action to declare the Sale Deed as Null & Void has already been initiated. However, I do n't want to leave the corrupt registration people go scot free for their crime.
Devajyoti Barman
(Expert) 13 December 2010
Then you can lodge complaint beofre its higher authorty.
Balaji Bakthavathsal
(Querist) 13 December 2010
Respected Sir,
I met the Inspector General of Registration in this regard and made a verbal complaint to him but it is of no use. He simply returned the query on me asking me why I have not filed a criminal compalint on the fraudulent person. I filed a WRIT in the High Court of Madras to cancell the Sae Deed quoting a judgement by the High Court Chennai which stated that Registrar can not act blindly. But the High Court too dismissed my writ petition asking me to file a suit in the civil court to declare the sale deed Null and void. The fraudulent person who attempted to grab my property is not appearing to the court or to the police. Police is also not taking any action on him.
