HYDERABAD: Ruling that the letters issued by the Sangareddy district Collector in the “Ameenpur lands case” were untenable and hence invalid, Justice Mummineni Sudheer Kumar of the Telangana High Court recently directed the registration department authorities to accept the returned documents covered by the letters and process them for registration in accordance with the law within three weeks. However, the court made it clear to the authorities not to register state-owned and assigned lands.
The judge was hearing separate writ petitions filed by Mohammad Azeem Ali and five others, challenging the actions of the district Collector. The contentious issue revolves around the refusal of registration for sale transactions on lands transacted by the Industrial Employees Co-operative House Building Society, based on the Collector’s advice to registration officials.
The vendors of the petitioners maintain that they acquired the respective plots through registered sale documents from the Industrial Employees Cooperative House Building Society Limited. However, the registration of the sale deeds for these plots was denied by the Collector, leading to legal disputes.
In the counter affidavit filed by the district Registrar, it was asserted that the Society, initiated by V. Narayana Rao and registered on April 20, 1980, aimed to provide house sites to its members. The Society enrolled around 800 members and acquired various extents of lands, including government patta and assigned lands. These lands were subsequently sold as plots to its members through registered sale deeds.
The affidavit revealed that the government formed a House Committee in 1996 to investigate irregularities related to the registrations of government lands in Ameenpur village. Consequently, the government issued a GO declining to regularise the assigned lands purchased by the Society, despite the House Committee’s recommendations. Several petitioners challenged the validity of this GO before the High Court, and a single judge ruled in their favour.
The court highlighted that the Collector’s letter was the sole basis for the authorities’ refusal to consider registrations for the plots initially sold by the Society. The defendants did not argue that the subject plots, in this case, were government properties or assigned lands, nor was any public notification issued under Section 22-A of the Registration Act of 1908 concerning these plots. The court emphasised that the district Collector lacks jurisdiction to issue letters to registration authorities without following the provisions of Section 22-A of the Registration Act.