Once a property is sold and duly registered in the name of a buyer, the sale cannot be unilaterally cancelled or annulled by the seller, the Madras high court has ruled.
Passing orders on an appeal, a full bench headed by Chief Justice M Yusuf Eqbal said: “Sale is transfer of all rights, title and interest in the properties to another person, namely the purchaser… Even if the whole price is not paid, but the document is executed and registered, the sale would be complete… Once the owner is divested himself of his ownership of the property, then he retains no control or right over the property.”
The bench, also comprising Justice P Jyothimani and Justice TS Sivagnanam, was passing orders on a writ appeal filed by Latif Estate Line India Limited. The company had registered a plot of land in Tiruvallur taluk in favour of a buyer in 1996. In 2007, the company unilaterally executed a cancellation deed on the ground that the property was never in possession of the buyer and that the latter had not paid the full sale value.
When the buyer challenged the cancellation, a single judge held that unilateral cancellation of sale deed executed by mutual consent by all parties could not be cancelled without the knowledge and consent of the other parties to the deed. The company filed a writ appeal and the bench referred it to a larger bench.
In its order, the full bench said: “It cannot be overlooked or ignored that a unilateral cancellation of a sale deed at the instance of the seller only encourages fraud and is against public policy. The seller by the unilateral execution of the cancellation deed cannot annul a registered document duly executed by him, as such an act is opposed to public policy.”
More News: Timesofindia
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