Delete Prohibited List Of Lands Maintained In National Generic Document Registration System: Jharkhand High Court To State Govt.

The High Court was considering a Petition seeking issuance of a direction upon the Deputy Commissioner, Hazaribagh (second respondent) to consider the petitioner’s application filed for the removal of his land from the prohibited list maintained under Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908 as introduced vide the Bihar Amendment Act, 6 of 1991 which is adopted by the State of Jharkhand.

The Single Bench of Justice Rajesh Shankar held, “Moreover, the State Government has unilaterally put the land of the petitioner and other similarly situated persons in the prohibited list on the pretext of public policy without providing any opportunity of hearing to them. Debarring any person from transferring his land has severe civil consequence which necessitates due compliance of principles of natural justice.”

“The respondent-State is directed to forthwith delete the prohibited list of lands being maintained in the NGDRS portal”, it ordered.

Advocate Himanshu Harsh represented the Appellant while Advocate General Rohitashya Roy represented the Respondent.

Arguments

It was the petitioner’s case that, in spite of his representation seeking removal of his property from the said list, the respondent authorities were sitting idle in the matter.

Reasoning

The Bench reiterated that a registered sale deed cannot, by itself, guarantee or establish valid ownership if the seller does not possess a clear, marketable title to begin with. “A person can only transfer the right and title that he actually possesses. If the seller's own title is defective, the registration of sale deed executed by him does not cure that defect or create a valid title”, it added.

Reference was made to the judgment of the Apex Court in K. Gopi Vs. Sub-Registrar and Others (2025) wherein it was held that no provision under the Act, 1908 confers power on any authority to refuse registration of a transfer document on the ground that the documents regarding title of the vendor have not been produced, or the title of the vendor is not established. It was further laid down that under the scheme of the Act, 1908, it is not the function of the Sub-Registrars or registering authorities to ascertain whether the vendor has the title to the property which he seeks to transfer.

“There is no provision either in the Act, 1908 or the Bihar Registration Rules, 1937 (in short, “the Rules, 1937”) conferring power on the Sub- Registrar/officials of the Registration Department to refuse registration of any document on the ground that there is a dispute regarding title of any property”, it stated.

The Bench also discarded the contention of the Advocate General that the persons whose lands are appearing in the prohibited list should approach the Deputy Commissioner of the concerned districts seeking removal of their lands from the said list. The Bench noted that Section 22-A of the Act, 1908, as well as the notification dated August 26, 2015, have already been struck down by the Division Bench, and thus there was no reason to relegate the petitioner or other similarly situated persons to individually request the executive authorities for this purpose.

The Bench thus disposed of the Petition by directing the respondent-State to delete the prohibited list of lands being maintained in the NGDRS portal and register the deeds of transfer if the same are found conforming to the requirements of the Act, 1908 and the Rules, 1937.

Cause Title: Amit Ranjan v. The State Of Jharkhand (Neutral Citation: 2026:JHHC:32512)

Appearance

Petitioner: Advocates Himanshu Harsh, Advocate Mr. Shresth Gautam, A

Respondent: Advocate General Rohitashya Roy, A.C. to A.G. Tarun Kumar Mahato

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