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TMI Blog2008 (9) TMI 978X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s not traceable in the records of the office of the complainant. Claiming the deed of the appellant herein to have been forged and wrongfully placed in Volume 75 of 1989 in Index I, maintained in the District Registrar's office, Alipore, the respondent No.1 filed a writ petition before the High Court, inter alia, alleging that his Deed, which was the genuine deed, had been removed from the records and replaced with the forged deed of the appellant herein. He therefore, prayed for a direction upon the concerned respondents, and, in particular, the respondent No.2, to remove the appellant's deed from the records and to restore his deed in its place. The other relief sought for by the respondent No.1 herein was for a direction upon the respondent No.4, the Officer in-Charge, Alipore Police Station, South 24 Parganas, to cause a thorough inquiry on the basis of the First Information Report lodged by the District Registrar, South 24 Parganas, and to proceed against the culprits in accordance with the law. 4. The learned Single Judge who heard the writ petition took note of the fact that action had been taken on the basis of the complaint made by the District Registrar, South ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e. However, according to the appellant the said order or finding was not communicated to him. 9. Meanwhile, on 8th March, 2007, when the Special Leave Petition was taken up for preliminary hearing, this Court issued notice and also stayed the directions of the High Court to keep a copy of the document which was found to be genuine in the appropriate place of the Book Volume. 10. On 6th September, 2007, a charge-sheet was submitted against the appellant in Alipore Police Station Case No.110 of 2006, which had been registered on the complaint of Shri S.K. Debnath, District Registrar, South 24 Parganas, alleging the commission of offences by the appellant under Sections 471/420 IPC. 11. Appearing for the appellant, Mr. Pradip Ghosh, learned senior counsel, questioned the propriety of the order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court on several grounds. It was firstly urged that the Division Bench of the High Court erred in directing the same officer, who had lodged the complaint against the appellant, to conduct the enquiry into the genuineness of the two sale deeds. Mr. Ghosh submitted that asking the same officer, who had already formed an opinion regarding the appel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... xecuted in his favour by Sayaram Basu, together with an application for temporary injunction under Order 39 Rules 1 and 2 and Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The said application for temporary injunction was rejected by the learned Civil Judge but the suit is pending disposal before the said Court. 15. On 3rd March, 2006, the said Dipankar Dey having failed to obtain an interim order in his suit, made an application on 3rd March, 2006, to the Inspector General of Registration, Revenue Department, alleging that the registration of the appellant's sale deed had been effected in a forged and fraudulent manner. Mr. Ghosh submitted that though the title suit filed by Shri Dipankar Dey stood dismissed, the writ petition was thereafter filed despite the order of the civil court. Mr. Ghosh submitted that such an enquiry as directed by the Writ Court, which had the effect of by passing the decree of the civil court was, entirely without jurisdiction and was liable to be set aside. 16. Mr. Ghosh concluded on the note that on the strength of the two Conveyances both the appellant, as well as the respondent, have been in undisturbed possession of the properties conveyed t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... vour by Shri Manindranath Ghosal, was genuine. 19. Mr. Dhruv Mehta, learned advocate, who appeared for the respondent No.1 pointed out from the report of the District Registrar that he had taken due note of the stay order passed by this Court in this Civil Appeal in which the District Registrar was also directed to proceed with the enquiry. 20. Reference was also made to the affidavit filed on behalf of the Officer-in-Charge, Alipore Police Station, wherein it had been mentioned that during the course of investigation it was noticed that the Register Volume-I is accessible to the members of public for the purpose of searching for information in respect of properties. In the affidavit, it was also mentioned that any person with malafide intention could replace a document in the said Register, if he wanted to. 21. Mr. Mehta also urged that although the Registration Act is silent as to whether the District Registrar can conduct an enquiry of the nature undertaken in the instant case, there can be no bar to such an enquiry being conducted on the orders of the High Court, if the same was a fact-finding enquiry. It was urged that the High Court, in exercise of its powers under A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by the Writ Court to conduct an enquiry into the genuineness of the appellant's Deed in view of the provisions of Order 23 Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Though, it may be said that the rights of the parties in the suit in regard to the land forming the subject matter of the appellant's Sale Deed cannot be gone into any further, the question relating to the genuineness of the Sale Deed executed and registered in the appellant's favour remains to be decided as the same had not been decided either in the suit or before any other forum. It is probably with that object in mind that both the High Court and this Court had directed the enquiry to continue while restraining the respondent No.1 from acting on the findings in the enquiry to place a copy of the Sale Deed of the respondent No.1 in the relevant place of Book No.1, Volume No.75, in the office of the District Registrar, South 24 Parganas. 25. However, there is another angle to the matter, which appears to have been overlooked both by the District Registrar as well as by the High Court. During the enquiry, on account of the failure of the appellant to produce his original document before the District Regist ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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