HC comes down heavily on Property Registration Dept

Coming down on the functioning of Property Registration Department which did not verify necessary documents during registration, the Madras High Court today said "if this was the way they function, a day would come when the Secretariat and the High Court would be sold by land grabbers".
Justice N Kirubakaran made the observation on a petition by one Lakshmanan and Azhagiri seeking anticipatory bail in connection with the registration of a land allegedly belonging to the government. In his order, he said "it is not five cents or 10 cents, the disputed property is 66 acres which is sold by way of a single document in favour of a trust."

The registering authority should have verified as to whether the Trust has obtained permission under the provisions of Land Ceiling Act, the judge said.
The Sub Registrar office at Royapuram here registered a document on April 4, 2004, in the name of Boomi Bala Trust. An inquiry by the Revenue Department revealed that it was a Government Poromboke land, following which the Central Crime Branch (CCB) here registered a case against Lakshmanan and Azhagiri who declared as trustees of the Trust at the time of registration.
The Judge posted their anticipatory bail pleas for tomorrow.
The Judge, after perusing a letter submitted by the Inspector General of Registration to the Inspector of Police, CCB, said in his order that "it is seen from the records that the Inspector General had written a letter to police authorities stating that registration was properly done as per rules."

The judge said there was no guideline value for the land in the survey number. It has been stated that since there is no guideline value, the land surrounding the property was taken into consideration and based on that the value of the was assessed and registered.
The Judge then directed the IG, Registration, to be present before the court to explain under what circumstances he has written a letter to the police authorities.
"The entire transaction is clouded with mystery and it should be a design to take away the government property," the Judge said.