Property title can't be transferred without registered sale deed: Court

A district court has dismissed a suit of declaration for transfer of the title of a property based on an agreement to sell and will executed by the owner. The court dismissed the suit filed by Kailash Garg, a local resident.

In the suit, Garg said the house was allotted to late Atul Gupta by the Chandigarh Housing Board. Gupta had deposited all charges of the house with regard to its allotment and a possession letter was issued to him.

Garg said he was known to Gupta and was taking care of him in his last days. He had purchased the dwelling unit from Gupta vide an agreement to sell/sale in November 2016 for Rs 60 lakh. After receiving the amount, Gupta executed a will in favour of him, which was registered with the Sub Registrar, Sector 17, Chandigarh, on November 8, 2016. As such, he was having full right over the property, claimed Garg.

He argued that the plaintiffs had approached the Chandigarh Housing Board to get the property transferred in their names, but the authorities refused to do so.

Vikas Jain, counsel for the Housing Board, said the suit was not maintainable. He submitted that the dwelling unit was allotted to Gupta vide allotment letter September 17, 2009. The physical possession of the dwelling unit was issued vide letter dated March 16, 2010, and no dues certificate (NDC) was issued on December 9, 2015.

The counsel submitted that declaration of title cannot be made on the basis of an agreement to sell and will, as it is against the public policy.

After hearing the arguments, the court said the matter contained a question of law with regard to the maintainability of this suit for the declaration of title on the basis of a mere agreement to sell and a will executed on the same day.

The court said once the agreement to sell was executed showing the payment of the full consideration amount, what was the need to execute a will. It shows that the intention was to avoid the payment of the stamp duty/tax, which is chargeable on the transfer of the property. Clearly, the case is covered under “Suraj Lamp” case as decided by the apex court. The court said in view of this, it is of the considered opinion that the present suit is not maintainable, so far as the declaration of title is concerned.