HYDERABAD: Justice NV Shravan Kumar of the Telangana High Court on Friday directed the inspector general, Stamps & Registration department, and the Rangareddy district registrar to submit a report in a sealed cover on the allegations of bribery and non-compliance against the joint sub-registrar-I and staff of the district sub-registrar office.
The judge was hearing a writ petition filed by Pichikala Ramya Sri and another against the refusal by the joint sub-registrar-I to register a sale deed for Plot No. 251 in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Kondapur, Serilingampally mandal. The petitioners allege that despite presenting the document, the sub-registrar neither registered it nor provided a pending registration number, instead demanding a bribe of Rs 2,00,000.
During the hearing on November 11, 2024, counsel for the petitioners presented evidence in the form of a WhatsApp conversation involving officials Laxman Reddy, Sai and a document writer in the alleged bribery. The joint sub-registrar-I denied the allegations, claiming he was on casual leave on October 11, the date the alleged demand of bribe was made.
Justice Shravan Kumar highlighted that despite earlier guidelines issued on July 9, and a subsequent memo on August 12, 2024, directing the systematic maintenance of registers and public grievance mechanisms in sub-registrar offices, procedural inefficiencies persist.
He ordered the inspector general of stamps and registration to investigate the allegations against the Joint Sub-Registrar-I and staff, ensure adherence to existing guidelines and streamline the registration process and adjourned the matter for further hearing to December 10.