The Single Bench of the Bombay High Court consisting of Justice Mangesh S. Patil opined that registration of a document by a power of attorney holder is not invalid on the ground of absence of registration of the power of attorney.
Facts
One Rampyaribai was the owner of the suit property, except the two shops from the ground floor which have been in possession of the defendants as tenants. According to plaintiffs, Rampyaribai had executed a power of attorney in favour of one Subhash and Ajay from whom they purchased it under a sale-deed. They averred that pursuant to the sale-deed they were put in possession of the suit property. However, the defendants secretly got possession. Hence, they prayed for possession of the suit property based on title.
Contentions Made
Appellant: No substantial question of law arose in this second appeal. Both the courts scrutinized the evidence and have demonstrated as to how the plea of the defendants regarding existence of an agreement of sale was not sustainable u/s 53A of the Transfer of Property Act. The sale-deed being a registered document it is not required by law to be attested u/s 54 of the Transfer of Property Act and Section 68 of the Evidence Act did not apply. There was no error in presentation of the sale-deed for registration by the power of attorney holders when they themselves were to execute the sale-deed and there was no violation of provisions of Section 32 and 33 of the Registration Act.
Respondent: The defendants resisted the suit in toto. Subhash and Ajay had agreed to sell the suit property to them and even received some part of the consideration and they were put in possession. When they came to know about the misdeeds of the plaintiffs one of them approached Rampyaribai, who assured them to sell the suit property to them and disclosed that she was not agreeable to the sale effected by her power of attorneys and would do the needful. The respondents had miserably failed to prove the sale-deed. Rampyaribai was already dead before execution of the sale-deed.
Observations of the Court
The Bench observed that:
“It has been held that if the document is presented for registration by a power of attorney holder, such a power of attorney must be registered one else the registration of the document at his instance would be void… registration of a document by a power of attorney holder is not invalid on the ground of absence of registration of the power of attorney.”
“Since Subhash and Ajay were the executants who had never disputed its execution and were not even called as witnesses by the appellants, no error can be found with the observation of the courts below in holding that since the plaintiff No. 1 was a person who had signed the sale-deed and was examined as a witness on behalf of the plaintiffs and had stated about execution of document and its registration, there was sufficient proof regarding its execution…there is no substance in the submission of learned advocate for the appellants that the registration of the sale-deed was faulty…One of them had approached Rampyaribai who denied to have authorized the power of attorney holders to sell the suit property and had assured him to sell it to the defendants. This clearly indicates that she was very well alive on the date of sale-deed which was executed by her power of attorney holders in favour of the respondents.”
Judgment
The second appeal was dismissed and the pending Civil Application was disposed of.
Case Name: Mahendra Balraj Potpulewal vs Premsukh Mansukh Sancheti & Ors
Citation: SECOND APPEAL NO. 15 OF 2020
Bench: Justice Mangesh S. Patil
Decided on: 3rd March 2022
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