BENGALURU: To prevent future litigations once sale deeds are declared void, the Karnataka High Court has established new guidelines for civil and commercial courts, as well as sub-registrars, to update property documents in a timely manner. Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum emphasized that in cases where a registered document related to immovable property is annulled, all civil and commercial courts must send a copy of the decree to the respective sub-registrar within four weeks.
This correspondence should include the document number, registration date, book and volume details, and the nature of the annulled document. The decree must be accompanied by a request for the sub-registrar to update the relevant registers and indexes, the judge noted.
The sub-registrar is required to make these updates within four weeks of receiving the communication. Moreover, even if a formal notice is not received from the court, the sub-registrar must act if a party presents a certified copy of the judgment declaring the registered document as void. In such circumstances, the sub-registrar should validate the authenticity of the certified copy and record the cancellation.
The registering authority cannot demand additional orders from the High Court or any other authority after a competent civil court has already declared the document void. The sub-registrar’s role in such cases is strictly ministerial, meaning they should not question the accuracy or legitimacy of the court’s decree, Justice Magadum stated.
In the current matter, petitioner Antony Samy K approached the court after the Mahadevapura sub-registrar declined to update the encumbrance certificate, even after a special court annulled the general power of attorney and joint development agreement documents connected to his property, citing lack of a decree copy.
Justice Magadum indicated that the unavoidable outcome in such scenarios is that parties with a valid decree must once again seek directives from the high court to enforce the decree on the sub-registrar.
This unnecessary litigation places an undue strain on constitutional courts, which are then compelled to allocate valuable judicial resources to administrative matters.
If civil courts diligently communicate decrees that nullify registered documents to the registering authority, a significant number of these avoidable petitions could be averted, thereby allowing constitutional courts to focus on substantive disputes that warrant judicial examination, noted the judge.
