A Full Bench of the Madras High Court (Madurai Bench) has ruled that the Registering Authority (Registrar/Sub-Registrar) has no power to accept a deed of cancellation to nullify an earlier deed of conveyance, which has already been acted upon by the transferee.
The Bench, comprising Justices S.S. Sundar, G.R. Swaminathan and R. Vijayakumar, was answering a reference as to “whether the Registrar has the power to accept the deed of cancellation to nullify the deed of conveyance made earlier, when the deed of conveyance has already been acted upon by the transferee”. The reference was placed before the Full Bench following conflicting judgments delivered by different judges.
Referring to Supreme Court judgments, the Full Bench held that a sale deed or a deed of conveyance other than testamentary dispositions, which is executed and registered, cannot be unilaterally cancelled. Such unilateral cancellation of a sale deed or a deed of conveyance is wholly void and non est and does not operate to execute, assign, limit or extinguish any right, title or interest in the property.
Such unilateral cancellation of a sale deed or a deed of conveyance cannot be accepted for registration. The transferee or anyone claiming under him or her need not approach the civil court, and a writ petition is maintainable to challenge or nullify the registration, the judges said.
However, an absolute deed of sale or deed of conveyance, which is duly executed by the transferor, may be cancelled by the civil court at the instance of the transferor, as contemplated under Section 31 of the Specific Relief Act, the judges said.
As regards gift or settlement deed, a deed of revocation or cancellation is permissible only in a case which falls under Section 126 of the Transfer of Property Act, and the Registering Authority can accept the deed of cancellation of gift for registration, subject to certain conditions, the judges said.
The Bench observed that the stated legal principles cannot be applied to cancellation of wills or power of attorney deed, which are revocable and not coupled with interest.
“We have no hesitation to answer the issue by holding that the Sub-Registrar namely, the Registering Authority, has no power to accept the deed of cancellation to nullify the deed of conveyance made earlier,” the judges said.
