Registering officials don’t have any judicial powers: High Court

Noting that the registering officials are not conferred with any quasi-judicial powers and should only discharge administrative duties, the Madras High Court quashed the order of a district registrar directing the deletion of the name of a man from the land revenue records.

“The Supreme Court had authoritatively held that as per Section 35 of the Registration Act, 1908, registering authority does not confer with a quasi-judicial power. The registering officer is expected to reassure that the document to be registered is accompanied by supporting documents. He is not expected to evaluate the title or irregularity in the document as such,” said Justice GR Swaminathan.

The court issuing order on a petition filed by Anusha Rajinikanth of Coimbatore, who prayed for a direction to quash the order of the district registrar dated April 7 restraining the sub-registrar, Coimbatore north taluk, from registering a land she had bought from one named Santhalingam.

According to the petitioner, some other persons raised disputes claiming rights on the land. The tahsildar passed an order in favour of Santhalingam, but the DRO quashed that order and directed deletion of his name from the revenue records.

After Santhalingam executed the sale deed of the land to her, she approached the sub-registrar but the official kept it as the pending document. That decision was challenged before the district registrar. “The district registrar rejected our case on the grounds of the impugned order passed by DRO. It is noted that the DRO’s order was already quashed by the HC,” the petitioner noted.

The judge quashed the impugned order of the district registrar and directed the sub-registrar to register the land in favor of the petitioner.