Registering lease not enough
The AP High Court has ruled that mere registration of a lease document does not take away the power of the government to enforce the right of ownership and take possession of the property for which the lease was granted.
Justice P. Naveen Rao on Thursday disposed two petitions by Sri Sai Weaker Section Housing Welfare Society and Bharathi Mahila Mandali of the city, challenging the action of the sub-registrar of Balanagar in issuing notices to them, directing them to obtain No Objection Certificates from the Revenue Divisional Officer to register the lease deeds.
Sri Sai Weaker Section Society informed the court that it had taken nine acres of land in Survey No. 32 and 40 of Gachibowli village in Ranga Reddy district from the Mobile Welfare Society.
The Mobile Welfare Society contended that the government had granted the land to it in 1991 and there was no requirement of obtaining an NOC as the 10-year limit imposed as a condition in the patta certificate was over long ago.
The sub registrar contended that the land belonged to the government and was allotted to the Mobile Welfare Society by patta in 1991 and since there was a condition imposed in the patta certificate that the government reserved right to resume and re-enter the site in the event of infringement of any of the conditions of the assignment, a direction was issued to obtain NOC from the RDO.
After hearing the arguments, the judge said as per provisions of the Registration Act, the registering authority could not go into the validity of the title based on which the document was presented for registration.
While directing the registrar to register the documents without insisting on an NoC, the judge also made it clear that “merely because the lease document is registered, it does not take away the power vested in the government to enforce the right of ownership and take the possession and to take legal action to protect the government land.” A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar of the AP High Court has ruled that the Wakf Board has no jurisdiction to pass an order by ratifying the appointment of managing committee of any Wakf institution.
The bench was disposing of an appeal by Ibrahim Bin Abdullah Masquati, challenging an order of the single bench in upholding the action of the AP State Wakf Board in ratifying the election of managing committee of headed by Khusro Ali Baig and Ghulam Yazdani to run affairs of Majlis-e-Umna of Mumtaz Yaruddowla Trust. A PIL was filed in the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday seeking a direction towards the action of the State Election Commission in holding elections to Nellore Municipal Corporation without rectifying errors and defects in electoral rolls and without identifying the Backward Classes (BCs) for providing political reservation in local bodies, as illegal.
D. Hanumantha Rao, an advocate, moved the plea contending that the existing electoral rolls are defective.