1. Indrawati Devi, w/o Sri Nand Kishore Baranwal, aged about 58 years, resident of v. 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. The Secretary, Department of Revenue, Registration and Land
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI W.P. (C) No. 3312 of 2019 1. Indrawati Devi, w/o Sri Nand Kishore Baranwal, aged about 58 years, resident of Belabagan, Deoghar, P.O., P.S. & Dist.-Deoghar 2. Savitri Devi, w/o Sri Sanjay Kumar, aged about 38 years, resident of Ishri Bazar, Giridih, P.O., P.S. & Dist.-Giridih .... Petitioners Versus 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. The Secretary, Department of Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms, Government of Jharkhand, Project Building, Dhurwa, P.O. & P.S.-Dhurwa, Dist.-Ranchi 3. The Joint Secretary, Department of Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms, Government of Jharkhand, Project Building, Dhurwa, P.O. & P.S.-Dhurwa, Dist.-Ranchi 4. The Inspector General of Registration, Department of Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms, Government of Jharkhand, Project Building, Dhurwa, P.O. & P.S.-Dhurwa, Dist.-Ranchi 5. The Deputy Commissioner, Deoghar, P.O., P.S. & Dist.-Deoghar 6. The Additional Collector, Deoghar, P.O., P.S. & Dist.-Deoghar 7. The District Sub-registrar, Deoghar, P.O., P.S. & Dist.-Deoghar 8. The Circle Officer, Deoghar, P.O., P.S. & Dist.-Deoghar …. Respondents P R E S E N T For the Petitioners For the Respondents
Legal Reasoning
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR CHOUDHARY ….. : Mr. Vineet Prakash, Advocate : Mr. Jayant Franklin Toppo, GA V : Mr. A.R. Kisku, AC to GA V ….. By the Court:- 1. Heard the parties. W.P. (C) No.3312 of 2019 1 2. This Writ Petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with several prayers but the learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners abandon other prayers and confine their prayer for directing and commanding upon the respondents to issue land possession certificate in favour of the petitioners appertaining to Jamabandi No.9/1, comprised with part of Gantzer Survey Settlement Plot No.66, admeasuring an area of 675 sq. feet in Mouza- Belabagicha, Ward No.10, Thana No.257, P.S.-Subdivision, Sub-registry and District- Deoghar. 3. The brief fact of the case is that the petitioner no.1 purchased the property from vendor Ramdayal Ram vide sale deed no.3491 of 2006 and the petitioner no.2 purchased the said land from the same vendor vide sale deed no.3490 of 2006. The petitioners got their names mutated vide Mutation Case No.587/07-08 and Mutation Case No.586/07-08 and rent receipts were issued in their favour. The petitioner no.2 is the daughter of the petitioner no.1 and the lands are adjacent to each other. The respondent no.3 issued a letter contained in memo no.195 dated 19.02.2016 whereby the concerned circle officers have been directed to issue land possession certificate. The petitioners being in urgent need of money intended to sale their landed property, made application before the respondent no.8 for issuance of land possession certificate but the land possession certificate was not issued to them within the stipulated time of 15 days. W.P. (C) No.3312 of 2019 2 4. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioners that there is no rhyme and reason for not issuing the Land Possession Certificate by the District Level Committee headed by the respondent no.5 in favor of the petitioners. The respondent no. 5 in the capacity of the Chairman of the District Level Committee has issued Land Possession Certificates to several persons, whose case stands in similar footing as that of the petitioners. 5. Learned counsel for the petitioners relying upon the judgment of this Court in the case of Bibhuti Singh vs. The State of Jharkhand & Ors. in W.P. (C) No.528 of 2023 wherein this Court relied upon the judgment of the Hon’ble Division Bench of this Court in LPA No.58 of 2019, in the case of the State of Jharkhand vs. Kusumlata Devi and Ors. and allied cases wherein, the State of Jharkhand challenged the order passed by the writ court, to the District Level Committee, to issue the Land Possession Certificate, in favour of the respondent of that case; but the said LPA was dismissed by the Division Bench of this Court by holding that on satisfying the requirements under the Registration Act, 1908 and upon production of the document as indicated in Notification dated 19.02.2016; the registering authority cannot refuse, registration of any document subject to prohibitions under the Registration Act, 1908 and in that case, this Court also relied upon the judgment of a Co-ordinate Bench of this court, in the case of Arvind Kumar and Anr. vs. State of Jharkhand & Ors. reported in 2019 SCC OnLine Jhar 42, wherein the Co-ordinate Bench of W.P. (C) No.3312 of 2019 3 this Court, has reiterated the consistent view taken by this Court that under the Registration Act, 1908, there are only three basic requirements: (a) there must be a valid presentation (b) valid execution and (c) adequate stamp duty and if all the said three conditions are complied with, there is no option with the registering authority but to register the document. and further observed that one cannot acquire title by mere registration of a sale deed in his favour and sale deed is just an instrument, only to transfer what is possessed by the vendor and nothing more than that and went on to direct the District Level Committee, headed by the Deputy Commissioner, in that case, to issue Land Possession Certificate in favour of the petitioner, and submits that the prayer for issuing Land Possession Certificate in favour of the petitioners of this case be allowed more so because earlier also after due enquiry, land possession certificate was issued for the same land for the purpose of registration by the then Circle Officer, Deoghar, the copy of which has been kept at Annexure-7 of this writ petition. 6. Learned counsel for the respondents submits that the land acquired is Basouri land as mentioned in the sale deed and large number of fraud and manipulation have been made in revenue records specifically with respect to acquire Basouri land by the land mafia in the District of Deoghar and even Government land, W.P. (C) No.3312 of 2019 4 Gochar land and J.B. lands were made Basouri by manipulating the revenue records and it was sold to the public at large by cheating the public. It is then submitted by the learned counsel for the respondents that upon P.I.L filed by the District Bar Association Deoghar, this Court ordered for CBI enquiry in the matter which is still going on and several FIRs have been filed against the wrong doers. It is also submitted by the learned counsel for the respondents that the petitioners have not filed any relevant document of acquisition to prove that the land was validly acquired. It is then submitted by the learned counsel for the respondents that since the petitioners have not submitted the copy of the correction slip issued in mutation case hence, the land possession certificate has not been issued by the circle officer as the circle officer has to examine the genuineness of the documents before passing any order for land possession certificate. Hence, it is submitted that this writ petition being without any merit be dismissed. 7. Having heard the submissions made at the Bar and after going through the materials in the record, this Court is of the considered view that by now it is a settled principle of law that a writ court in appropriate cases may pass directions to the District Level Committee headed by Deputy Commissioner, for issue of land possession certificate. The undisputed fact remains that the land has been mutated in the name of the petitioners and except that the petitioners did not file the copy of the correction slip issued in W.P. (C) No.3312 of 2019 5 the mutation case, the learned counsel for the State could not show a single reason, as to why the District Level Committee will not issue the land possession certificate. Thus, in the considered opinion of this Court, this is a fit case where in the interest of justice, the District Level Committee headed by the respondent no. 5, the Deputy Commissioner, Deoghar, be directed to issue Land Possession Certificate, in respect of land as mentioned above, in favour of the petitioners, within eight weeks, from the date of receipt/production of copy of this judgment and production of the copy of the correction slip issued in mutation case. 8. Accordingly, the District Level Committee headed by the respondent no. 5, the Deputy Commissioner, Deoghar, is directed to issue Land Possession Certificate, in respect of land as mentioned above, in favour of the petitioners, within eight weeks, from the date of receipt/production of copy of this judgment and the production of the copy of the correction slip issued in mutation case. 9.
Decision
This writ petition is disposed of accordingly. High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi Dated the 25th April, 2024 AFR/Sonu-Gunjan/- (Anil Kumar Choudhary, J.) W.P. (C) No.3312 of 2019 6