Muhammed Kallada vs The District Registrar
2022 Latest Caselaw 1401 Ker

               IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
                                    PRESENT
             THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN
    TUESDAY, THE 1ST DAY OF FEBRUARY 2022 / 12TH MAGHA, 1943
                          WP(C) NO. 29093 OF 2021
PETITIONER:

              MUHAMMED KALLADA
              AGED 62 YEARS
              S/O LATE VEERANKUTTY HAJI, PUDUSSERYKOTTIL HOUSE,
              VELLERI, CHEMRAKATTOOR, AREACODE, MALAPPURAM
              DISTRICT, PIN-673 639
              BY ADVS.
              BABU S. NAIR
              SMITHA BABU


RESPONDENTS:

     1        THE DISTRICT REGISTRAR
              OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT REGISTRAR, UPHILL,
              MALAPPURAM, PIN-676 505.
     2        THE SUB REGISTRAR
              OFFICE OF THE SUB REGISTRAR, AREACOE, MALAPPURAM
              DISTRICT, PIN-673 639




              SRI. ASHWIN SETHUMADHAVAN - SR.GP



      THIS    WRIT   PETITION   (CIVIL)   HAVING   COME   UP   FOR   ADMISSION   ON

01.02.2022, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
                                      2



W.P.(C) No. 29093 of 2021




                             JUDGMENT

Dated this the 1st day of February, 2022.

There can be no doubt that the issues involved in

this case have already been answered affirmatively in

favour of the petitioner by a learned Division Bench of

this Court, in Abdul Khader v. Sub Registrar (2020

(3) KHC 444).

2. Smt.Smitha Babu - learned counsel for the

petitioner, pointed that Sub Registrar has refused to

register the documents presented by her client, saying

that "step brother" and "step sister" will not come within

the definition of "Family" under Section 42(a) of the

Kerala Stamp Act. She argued that in view of Abdul

Khader (Supra), this objection is no longer tenable.

W.P.(C) No. 29093 of 2021

3. On hearing Smt.Smitha Babu as afore, I asked

the learned Senior Government Pleader - Sri.Aswin

Sethumadhavan, whether the issues involved in this are

covered by Abdul Khader (Supra), to which, he did not

answer to the negative. He, however, added that the

Sub Registrar has issued Exts. P10 and P13 impugned

order finding that the persons in whose benefit the

documents are to be registered do not come within the

definition of "Family", under Section 42(a) of the Kerala

Stamp Act.

4. It is inevitable that the afore submissions of

Sri.Aswin Sethumadhavan cannot appeal to this Court

because in Abdul Khader (Supra), as rightly stated by

the petitioner, it has already been perspicuously held

that "step brother" and "step sister" would also come

within the ambit of "brother" and "sister", to be included

W.P.(C) No. 29093 of 2021

within the purlins of "Family" under Section 42(a) of the

Kerala Stamp Act.

5. Obviously, therefore, Ext.P8 cannot find my

favour.

6. Resultantly, I order this writ petition and set

aside Exts.P10 to P13, since it cannot obtain the

imprimatur of this Court for the afore reason.

7. Axiomatically, the Sub Registrar is directed to

reconsider the matter strictly in terms of Section 42(a) of

the Kerala Stamp Act and accede to the request of the

petitioner for registration of the documents in question, if

there are no other legal impediments and after ensuring

that all other conditions and criteria, statutorily required,

are complied with, and after affording an opportunity of

being heard to the petitioner; thus culminating in an

appropriate order and necessary action thereon, as

W.P.(C) No. 29093 of 2021

expeditiously as is possible, but not later than two weeks

from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment.

Sd/-

DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN JUDGE

Raj/01.02.2022.

W.P.(C) No. 29093 of 2021

APPENDIX OF WP(C) 29093/2021

PETITIONER EXHIBITS Exhibit P1 TRUE COPY OF THE PARTITION DEED SUBMITTED BEFORE THE 2ND RESPONDENT DATED 22.1.2018 Exhibit P2 TRUE COPY OF THE PARTITION DEED SUBMITTED BEFORE THE 2ND RESPONDENT DATED 28.12.2017 Exhibit P3 TRUE COPY OF THE PARTITION DEED SUBMITTED BEFORE THE 2ND RESPONDENT DATED 22.1.2018 Exhibit P4 TRUE COPY OF THE PARTITION DEED SUBMITTED BEFORE THE 2ND RESPONDENT DATED 19.1.2018 Exhibit P5 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER NO G-1-

1321/2018 DATED 5.4.2018 PASSED BY THE 1ST RESPONDENT Exhibit P6 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER NO G-1-

1322/2018 DATED 5.4.2018 PASSED BY THE 1ST RESPONDENT Exhibit P7 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER NO G-1-

1323/2018 DATED 5.4.2018 PASSED BY THE 1ST RESPONDENT Exhibit P8 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER NO G-1-

1324/2018 DATED 6.4.2018 PASSED BY THE 1ST RESPONDENT Exhibit P9 TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT OF THIS

W.P.(C) No. 29093 of 2021

HON'BLE COURT IN WP(C) NO 14423/2018 DATED 27.4.2018 Exhibit P10 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER PASSED BY THE FIRST RESPONDENT DATED 23.5.2018 AS NO G-1-1321/2018 Exhibit P11 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER PASSED BY THE FIRST RESPONDENT DATED 23.5.2018 AS NO G-1-1322/2018 Exhibit P12 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER PASSED BY THE FIRST RESPONDENT DATED 23.5.2018 AS NO G-1-1323/2018 Exhibit P13 TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER PASSED BY THE FIRST RESPONDENT DATED 23.5.2018 AS NO G-1-1324/2018 Exhibit P14 TRUE COPY OF THE COMMUNICATION ISSUED BY THE 1ST RESPONDENT TO THE 2ND RESPONDENT DATED 18.10.2021 Exhibit P15 TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT OF THIS HON'BLE COURT DATED 14.12.2017 IN WPC NO 39578/2017