Haryana amends registration manual to curb fraudulent property transfers

CHANDIGARH: In a decision to protect the rights of property owners by checking fraudulent transfers, the Haryana government has issued a notification amending the Haryana Registration Manual.

Additional Chief Secretary and Financial Commissioner, Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Sanjeev Kaushal said here on Tuesday that the amendment had been made to ensure that persons with valid titles would not have to seek legal recourse to get the deed of the fraudulent sale cancelled, and may continue to have the liberty to enjoy their property.

The amendment would empower registering officers to accept and register cancellation deeds cancelling the sale deeds earlier registered fraudulently by a person who is not entitled to transfer such property.

If a person has a right in the property and someone else transfers it without his consent, the right in that property still continues to subsist in the true owner and the transfer has no effect on such title, he said, according to an official statement.

The notification to amend the Manual, which contains instructions related to registration, transfer and sale of property, was issued on December 23.

According to the amendment, if a document relating to transfer by way of sale, gift, mortgage, exchange, lease or otherwise, is registered of ‘Shamlat Deh’ (village common land) land vested or deemed to have been vested in the Panchayat Deh under the Punjab Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961, or in Municipalities, the Block Development Panchayat Officer, Secretary or Executive Officer or Commissioner, Municipal Corporation or District Municipal Commissioner, would get the cancellation deed registered after seeking approval of the Deputy Commissioner or other superior authority.

‘Panchayat Deh’ is the property owned, managed and controlled by a panchayat.