The Madras High Court has upheld the legality of a government circular which permits Registrars to annul/cancel land documents registered by deceit, saying the circular is constitutional and statutory.
Justice T Raja, upholding the April 17, 2012 circular, in his recent order said "if it is held that the registering authorities have no power to annul an earlier document, such an interpretation would lead to perilous implications harming public interest and public policy by allowing the fraudulent transactions to take place lavishly behind the back of innocent land owners."
He dismissed a batch of petitions challenging the legality of the circular and seeking its reversal.
The petitioners maintained that the circular conferred powers to registration officials to cancel any document. It also displaces the authority of civil and criminal courts in adjudicating disputed land deals thereby giving judicial power in an executive authority.
The government justified the circular saying it was necessitated in view of unprecedented increase in land-related crimes.
"In many instances, aged persons, poor widows and persons living abroad or far away from the place where they own the property is the main targets of anti-social elements and organised groups involved in land grabbing. After being cheated, they have to fight a long battle before civil courts by incurring huge expenditure for no fault of theirs" Additional Advocate General Chellapandian contended.
In many cases the affected parties had to sell the properties to the land grabbers for pittance.
"It is only in that pathetic background, the Registration Department in order to help the innocent persons/bona fide parties who intend to buy and sell properties and to curb the menace of land-grabbing, brought into existence the circular", he said.
The Judge said the circular could fill up an existing vacuum till the legislature chooses to make appropriate laws. "The present circular, if at all looked at as a rule, can be safely concluded as an interim measure to fill up the lacunae in dealing with the menace of fraudulent transactions till a suitable rule is brought in or inserted in the statute", the judge said.
