Hyderabad High Court orders Andhra Pradesh, Telangana to sort out woes

Hyderabad: A full bench of the Hyderabad High Court has directed the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state to constitute a committee to deal with disputes with regard to the properties which are notified in the prohibitory list under Section 22-A of the Stamps and Registration Act.

The full bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale, Justice Vilas V. Afzulpurkar and Justice M. Seetharama Murti was disposing of a batch of appeals and petitions challenging inaction of the authorities in registering the documents under Section 22-A of the Act.

The bench ordered both the governments to constitute the committee with principal secretary to revenue, director of survey and land records and a retired judicial officer of the rank of a district judge to consider the grievances of the people affected by the notifications within eight weeks.

Several parties have moved the court questioning the decision of the revenue authorities in showing their land as government land.

When the matter came up for hearing before a division bench it noted that there were six different judgments by six single judges on this aspect and decided to refer it to a full bench in resolving the issue.

Panel’s orders binding

The full bench of the High Court after perusing the relevant material and six judgments said that the redressal mechanism is available only with respect to notifications published related to the properties falling under the Act.

The bench held that the orders of the committee shall be binding on the state as well as on the aggrieved person and in the event of any of them being aggrieved they shall have to approach a competent Court of Law.

The bench ordered that authorities concerned shall indicate the relevant clause under which each property is classified and district collectors shall also indicate the statute under which a transaction and its registration is prohibited.

The bench told authorities the lists of properties which are notified under prohibitory list shall be uploaded in websites of both the governments. The bench said that it is open to the parties to apply for deletion of the property from the list or modification thereof; to the concerned authorities shall consider the request and pass appropriate order within six weeks from the date of receipt of application.

The bench made it clear that the directions issued and observations made shall prevail and would be binding on the parties, including their registering authorities under the Registration Act or officials under the Endowments Act, Wakf Act and Ceiling Acts.