Register Court-Settled Property Documents Promptly: Telangana High Court

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has taken a strong stance against registration department authorities who refuse to register documents relating properties where disputes have been settled by court orders. The court took a serious view of the registration authorities keeping pending the documents and asking citizens to get fresh orders to get their property registered, even when previous orders would suffice

Justice N.V. Sharavan Kumar directed the principal secretary, revenue (registration and stamps) department, and the district registrars to issue instructions to registering authorities to ensure that documents which have been settled or modified by a court order, especially when no appeal is pending, are not rejected for registration.

The judge was dealing with several batches of petitions by the citizens who had challenged the registration authorities’ directions to them to get the new orders from the court for registration of their properties.

Justice Sharavan Kumar observed that some registering officers were unable to understand court orders and were directing citizens back to the court for repeated orders, thereby causing unnecessary hardship for citizens and an increased workload for the courts.

He said that the citizens were overburdened at having to go through repeated legal processes, which deprived them of their constitutional rights.

The judge cautioned that if the registering authorities continued to refuse documents on settled matters, the court would consider it a violation of its orders and take appropriate legal action.