The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has cancelled the registration of a sale deed relating to a 1.35-acre property said to be connected to the Palani Dhandayuthapani Swamy Mutt, holding that the earlier order permitting registration was obtained by misleading the court and the Sub-Registrar.
The dispute began when two individuals filed a writ petition claiming ownership over the land in Palani and sought registration of a sale deed. They argued that the Palani Taluk Joint Sub-Registrar (Office-I) had wrongly refused registration citing pending civil suits, and that the registration authority could not decide title disputes.
On April 10, a single judge had set aside the refusal and directed the Sub-Registrar to register the document within a week if it was otherwise in order. Following this, the Mutt’s Thakkar and the Executive Officer of the Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple filed a writ appeal, stating they were parties in the related civil litigation and had not been impleaded in the writ petition.
The appellants also pointed out that a separate writ petition from their side seeking directions to the registration department not to register any document concerning the property was pending, and alleged that key facts about possession and the status of the property were suppressed. After hearing both sides, the division bench of Justices C.V. Karthikeyan and R. Sakthivel set aside the single judge’s order and declared the registered deed invalid, also noting issues including improper payment of stamp duty.
