Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Mr. Parbodh Chander Bali vs Rakesh Singh And Others on 12 August, 2014
h[ 1
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
CONMT.PET.(C) No. 351/2013
IN
SLP(C) No. 13917/2009
MR. PARBODH CHANDER BALI .......PETITIO
NER
VERSUS
RAKESH SINGH AND OTHERS ......RESPONDE
NTS
O R D E R
The petitioner has filed the present contempt petition
alleging disobedience of the direction issued by this Court in
Suraj Lamp and Industries Private Limited (2) through Director vs.
State of Haryana and another (2012) 1 SCC 656. In ord
er to
appreciate the submissions advanced at the hands of the petitioner,
who appears in person, it is imperative for us to extract hereunder
the operative part of the judgment passed by this Court. The
same
is accordingly reproduced below:
"23. Therefore, an SA/GPA/will transaction does not
convey any title nor create any interest in an
immovable property. The observations by the Delhi
High Court, in Asha M. Jain v. Canara Bank - (2001)
94 DLT 841, that the "concept of power of
attorney sales has been recognized as a
mode of transaction" when dealing with
transactions by way of SA/GPA/will are unwarranted
Signature Not Verified
and not justified, unintendedly misleading
the general public into thinking that SA/GPA/will
Digitally signed by
Satish Kumar Yadav
Date: 2014.08.20
10:41:28 IST
Reason: transactions are some kind of a recognized or
accepted mode of transfer and that it can be a
valid substitute for a sale deed. Such decisions
to the extent they recognize or accept SA/GPA/will
transactions as concluded transfers, as
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contrasted from an agreement to transfer,
are not good law.
24. We therefore reiterate that immovable
property can be legally and lawfully
transferred/conveyed only by a registered
deed of conveyance. Transactions of the nature
of "GPA sales" or "SA/GPA/will transfers" do
not convey title and do not amount to transfer, nor
can they be recognized or valid mode of transfer
of immoveable property. The courts will not treat
such transactions as completed or concluded
transfers or as conveyances as they neither convey
title nor create any interest in an immovable
property. They cannot be recognized as deeds of
title, except to the limited extent of Section 53-A
of the TP Act. Such transactions cannot be relied
upon or made the basis for mutations in
municipal or revenue Records. What is
stated above will apply not only to deeds
of conveyance in regard to freehold property
but also to transfer of leasehold property.
A lease can be validly transferred only under
a registered assignment of lease. It is time that
an end is put to the pernicious practice of
SA/GPA/will transactions known as GPA sales.
25. It has been submitted that making
declaration that GPA sales and SA/GPA/will
transfers are not legally valid modes of transfer
is likely to create hardship to a large number
of persons who have entered into such
transactions and they should be given sufficient
time to regularize the transactions by obtaining
deeds of conveyance. It is also submitted that this
decision should be made applicable prospectively to
avoid hardship.
26. We have merely drawn attention to
and reiterated the well-settled legal position
that SA/GPA/will transactions are not "transfers"
or ‘sales’ and that such transactions cannot
be treated as completed transfers or
conveyances. They can continue to be treated as
existing agreements of sale. Nothing prevents
the affected parties from getting registered
deeds of conveyance to complete their title. The
said ‘SA/GPA/will transactions’ may also be used
to obtain specific performance or to defend
possession under section 53-A of TP Act. If they
are entered before this day, they may be relied
upon to apply for regularization of
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allotments/leases by development authorities. We
make it clear that if the documents relating to
"SA/GPA/will transactions" has been
accepted/acted upon by DDA or other developmental
authorities or by the Municipal or Revenue
authorities to effect mutation, they need
not be disturbed, merely on account of
this decision.
27. We make it clear that our observations are
not intended to in any way affect the validity
of sale agreements and powers of attorney
executed in genuine transactions. For example, a
person may give a power of attorney to his spouse,
son, daughter, brother, sister or a relative to
manage his affairs or to execute a deed of
conveyance. A person may enter into a
development agreement with a land developer or
builder for developing the land either by forming
plots or by constructing apartment
buildings and in that behalf execute an
agreement of sale and grant a power of attorney
empowering the developer to execute
agreements of sale or conveyances in regard
to individual plots of land or undivided shares in
the land relating to apartments in favour of
prospective purchasers. In several States, the
execution of such development agreements and
powers of attorney are already regulated
by law and subjected to specific stamp
duty. Our observations regarding ‘SA/GPA/will
transactions’ are not intended to apply
to such bonafide/genuine transactions."
Primary reliance has been placed by the petitioner on the
observations recorded by this Court in paragraph 27 extracted
hereinabove. It is the submission of the petitioner that the State
Government is disobeying the above directions by registering deeds
of conveyance, in respect of the immovable properties wherein one
or the other party is represented through a power of attorney,
without giving due credence to the direction issued by this Court.
It is submitted, that registration of deeds of conveyance is
permissible through powers of attorney, only if powers of attorney
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are in favour of spouse, son, daughter, brother, sister
or a
relative. Powers of attorney in favour of any other, besides those
mentioned above are not to be treated as genuine/valid.
We have given our thoughtful consideration t
o the
abovementioned submission/ of the petitioner. We are of the view
that the observations recorded by this Court in paragraph 27 are
illustrative in nature. It is only a matter of example, that this
Court recorded, that powers of attorney should be in favour of
spouse, son, daughter, brother, sister or a relative. Ordin
arily,
a power of attorney executed in consonance with the illustration
expressed by this Court, would be liable to be considered
as
genuine. The real intent of this Court was, that
bogus
transactions should be stalled and prevented. It woul
d be
difficult for the State to go into every transaction, a
nd to
understand, whether or not the same is fraudulent or otherwise. It
is only when an aggrieved party or a person having interest in the
conveyance of some property, makes a complaint to the registering
authority, indicating that a transaction is fraudulent/bogus, the
State Government will be obliged to examine the veracity of the
transaction under reference, and if it is found, that the same is
not genuine, it would decline to register the conveyance of the
immovable property.
The petitioner has not been able to draw our attention to
a single transaction, which has been accepted for registration,
despite there being a complaint in respect of
its
genuineness/validity.
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In view of the above, we are satisfied that no contempt
has been made out.
The instant petition is accordingly dismissed.
...........................J.
(JAGDISH SINGH KHEHAR)
...........................J.
(ARUN MISHRA)
NEW DELHI;
AUGUST 12, 2014.
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ITEM NO.5 COURT NO.7 SECTION IVB
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
CONMT.PET.(C) No. 351/2013 In SLP(C) No. 13917/2009
MR. PARBODH CHANDER BALI Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
RAKESH SINGH AND OTHERS Respondent(s)
(With office report)
Date : 12/08/2014 This petition was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE JAGDISH SINGH KHEHAR
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN MISHRA
For Petitioner(s) Petitioner-in-person
For Respondent(s) Mr.Sanchar Anand, AAG
Mr. Jagjit Singh Chhabra, AOR
Upon hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
The instant petition is dismissed in terms of the signed order.
(SATISH KUMAR YADAV) (PHOOLAN WATI ARORA) COURT MASTER ASSISTANT REGISTRAR (Signed order is placed on the file)