Government is taking all possible steps to prevent land grabbing and bogus registration. It is felt that the root cause of land grabbing and bogus registration is due to the fact that the registration of the documents of Power of Attorney, Sale Agreements and Agreements relating to Deposit of Title Deeds is optional. In order to prevent the misuse of these documents in cheating people, the Legislative Assembly had passed a Bill for amending certain provisions of the Registration Act, 1908 on 16.5.2012 and the President of India has now given assent to the above amendment and the same has been enacted as Tamil Nadu Act 29 of 2012.
According to the amendments made, it has been made compulsory to register the documents relating to Power of Attorney, Sale Agreement, Agreement relating to Deposit of Title Deeds and Construction Agreement as provided under Article 5(i) of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. Documents of Power of Attorney executed outside India are exempted from compulsory registration. While the present arrangement of registering Sale Agreement and Agreement relating to Deposit of Title Deeds with jurisdictional Sub-Registrar will continue, documents of Power of Attorney have to be registered either with the jurisdictional Sub-Registrar, where the property is situated or where the principal resides. Further it has also been provided to affix the photographs of the agent and identifying witnesses in the documents of Power of Attorney and it has been mandated for the agent to sign in such documents. As the registration of the above said documents is now being made compulsory, a registered document will take precedence over an unregistered document.
The above amendments will be brought into force from 1.12.2012.
According to the amendments made, it has been made compulsory to register the documents relating to Power of Attorney, Sale Agreement, Agreement relating to Deposit of Title Deeds and Construction Agreement as provided under Article 5(i) of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. Documents of Power of Attorney executed outside India are exempted from compulsory registration. While the present arrangement of registering Sale Agreement and Agreement relating to Deposit of Title Deeds with jurisdictional Sub-Registrar will continue, documents of Power of Attorney have to be registered either with the jurisdictional Sub-Registrar, where the property is situated or where the principal resides. Further it has also been provided to affix the photographs of the agent and identifying witnesses in the documents of Power of Attorney and it has been mandated for the agent to sign in such documents. As the registration of the above said documents is now being made compulsory, a registered document will take precedence over an unregistered document.
The above amendments will be brought into force from 1.12.2012.
The important amendment to the document like deed of Power of Attorney, agreement of sale is intended to curb the illegal and unlawful activities of the Land - Grabbers.At the same time the amendments creates some difficulties to the innocent land owners. Example:- The new Amendment made it mandatory that the the Power Agent should also sign the power deed. It creates problem when the Principal wants to cancel the power deed so as to prevent the Power agent from misusing the same. Before the amendment the Principal can unilaterally cancel the same when he comes to know that the Agent is acting against his interest. Now the Registrar insist that power agent should also sign the cancellation deed as he was the signatory in the power deed. This situation goes against the very object of the Amercement Act. Hence a clarification by way of Notification may be issued to the effect that the principal can cancel the Power deed unilaterally without the signature of the power agent. K.Thiagarajan , Advocate, Sirkali.
ReplyDeleteI would like to know how to cancel a sale document registered using bogus documents and impersonation?
ReplyDeleteIs the sub-registrar empowered to cancel such bogus registration if reliable evidences are provided to show that the documents submitted by the other side(in this case the land grabbers) are bogus?
I feel that laws should be enacted strictly against land grabbers and people furnishing false statements of ownership/possession etc and bonafide land owners should not be forced to seek court remedies as it takes very long time - Also, the local police should be empowered to take action against fraudsters/land grabbers and people indulging in fabrication of land records etc.
Also, strict action must be taken against people in the taluka office and registration department if they indulge or be a part of such malpractices and they should be dismissed from service.
Also fast track courts should take up clear cases of land grabbing and justice should be made available to the victims.
At a time when registration of bogus documents are rampant and the government departments mainly the Taluka offices and registrar offices remain highly corrupt in the absence of accountability more particularly in the ranks of higher officials who do everything for the sake of money, it is highly regrettable that the Madras High Court has stayed the power granted to the registering officials from cancelling deeds registered through bogus documents and impersonation - I request the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu to promulgate special ordinance to lift this stay presently with the Madras High Court and empower the registering officials to thoroughly investigate the documents before registering the same - It is equally important that the registering officials be empowered to cancel such documents without delay so that the genuinely deprived land owners are handed over their right over the property - At a time when land shark and promoters turn every stone to bribe officials such remedies should be granted to the genuine land owners who otherwise would be seriously affected due to the stay with the High court - they may have to wait for years remaining unsure of regaining their property back. The laws for registration of land that are present at the moment are very weak and not transparent.
ReplyDelete