Sale Deed Shall Operate From Date of Execution If No Registration Thereof Had Been Made & Not From Time of Its Registration: Rajasthan HC

Essentially, petitioner applied for selection conducted by respondent-IOCL for retail outlet dealership and allotment of petrol pump at location at Jhalawar and the last date for submitting its application form was 12/01/2019. He got a certificate from the office of Sub-Registrar, Dug on 19/03/2019 which specifies the factum of sale deed being presented for registration on 11/01/2019 and the reasoning for non-execution of the same on the said date on account of the server being down and thereafter there being public holidays, the same got registered on 15/01/2019.

Later, on 13/03/2019, the petitioner's application was rejected for Group-1 but it was directed for consideration under Group-3 as per guidelines. On 20/03/2019, the petitioner apprised about it to the respondents and filed documents with them within required time of 10 days of the letter dated 14/01/2019. Being aggrieved, he filed a writ petition before the court.

Justice Sameer Jain, while allowing the plea, ruled,

"The prayers made by the petitioner in the present writ petition appear to be justified and the impugned action of the respondents communicated by them to the petitioner vide their letter/email dt.13/03/2019 in not considering the case of the petitioner for retail outlet under Group-1 is held to be unjustified. The respondents are accordingly directed to consider the claim of the petitioner for allotment of retail outlet under the category of Group-1 and proceed further."

The court observed that as per Section 23 of the Registration Act, 1908, four months' time is provided for acceptance of registration qua the sale deed and as per Section 74 enquiry can be conducted. The court added that as per Section 47, it is specifically provided that a registration shall operate from the time from which it would have commenced to operate if no registration thereof had been required or made, and not from the time of its registration.

Placing reliance on Hamda Ammal v. Avadiappa Pathar & Ors. [(1991) 1 SCC 715], the court negated the arguments of respondents and observed that as much as within a time frame of four months, a sale deed can be presented for registration.The court noted that as per Section 23, after submitting the sale deed for registration with the registration office, the same can be considered for enquiry and as per Section 47, the act of registration is not bound to operate but it is a time from which it would have commenced to operate.

The court pursued the facts and noted that on 11/01/2019, the sale deed commenced to operate, the petitioner's father has taken possession of the said land, paid consideration qua the same to the seller, deposited adequate stamp duty along with prescribed form in the office of Sub-Registrar, Dug and as the server of Sub-Registrar's office was down on the date of presentation of sale deed for registration on 11/01/2019 and thereafter there were public holidays for three days, the sale deed was registered on 15/01/2019 and the same was submitted within the prescribed time of ten days as provided by the respondents.

It was, however, observed by the court that as per Sections 9 and 10 of the General Clauses Act, computation of time and manner of computation excludes the date of filing when there are public holidays.

Further, the court observed that a similar view was also considered by Gujarat High Court in Indian Oil Corporation Vs. Ranjitsinh Jitusinh Zala, wherein it was held that the date of effect of sale deed will be its presentation and not issuance of registration in terms of Section 47 of the Registration Act, 1908 and the guidelines of the Oil Companies cannot override the Act of the Parliament. This decision was also affirmed by the Apex Court, added the court.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the registered document shall operate from the time when the same is commenced to operate or has been executed and not from the date of registration/issuance by the authority concerned. As per Section 23 of the Registration Act, a document of the nature of sale deed specifies time of four months from the date of its execution, he added. He further submitted that Section 74 of the Registration Act, 1908 permits enquiry to be performed by the competent authority under the Act. Learned counsel has also submitted that Section 54 of The Transfer of Property Act, 1882 defines sale as a transfer of ownership when consideration is paid qua the same.

The counsel for the respondent submitted that Section 47 specifies that in cases where the registration is required compulsorily, the date of execution/presentation cannot be considered; the terms and conditions of the guidelines of the Oil Companies are binding upon them as well as the applicant and the same were specified in the document which has been duly accepted by the petitioner.

He contended that once the registration of the document was done on 15/01/2019, the case of the petitioner cannot be considered under Group-1 category as on 12/01/2019, the document in question qua the title of land was unregistered sale deed which is more than enough to debar the petitioner to from considering his case under Group-1 category. Further, the submissions of the documents was falsely made and is an act of misrepresentation, concealment and suppression and on this count alone, the candidature of the petitioner is falsified, he added

Adv. Anuroop Singhi, Adv. Roshan Sharma and Adv. Devansh Sharma appeared for the petitioner, while Adv. Suruchi Kasliwal appeared for the respondents.

Case Title: Chitranshi Goyal v. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Raj) 82