Bombay High Court Orders Registration of Sale Agreements, Excluding Period of Court-Imposed Restraint.


04 July 2025 Property Registration >> Personal Law   |   Sale Deed >> Personal Law  

In Grand Centrum Realty LLP, Through its designated Partner, Kishor Prabhakar Patwardhan, Maharashtra v/s The State of Maharashtra Through the Government Pleader, High Court, Bombay & Another, the Bombay High Court has set aside the Sub-Registrar's refusal to register two Agreements for Sale, ruling that the period during which a court-imposed restraint order was in effect should be excluded when calculating the limitation period for document registration.

The case involved two Agreements for Sale, dated March 6, 2018, between the Petitioner and Vidhyarthi Sahayak Mandal, Sangli. The trust had obtained permission to sell its properties, but subsequent litigation led to an interim order on April 26, 2018, restraining the trust from executing any deed of conveyance. Due to this ongoing litigation and the court's restraint, the agreements were not presented for registration.

 
 

On May 8, 2025, the High Court dismissed the pending Writ Petitions and vacated the interim relief. Following this, on June 16, 2025, the Petitioner presented the Agreements for Sale for registration. However, the Sub-Registrar refused registration, citing Section 23 of the Registration Act, 1908, which mandates a four-month period for presenting documents from the date of execution. Since the documents were executed in 2018 and presented in 2025, the Registrar deemed them beyond the prescribed period.

The Petitioner challenged this refusal, arguing that the delay was due to the court's restraint order. The High Court, relying on a previous decision in Nestor Builders and Developers Private Limited and Anr. Vs. State of Maharashtra and Ors., held that if a document cannot be presented for registration within the prescribed period due to genuine causes beyond the party's control, it can still be accepted.

The Court concluded that the period between April 26, 2018, and May 8, 2025, during which the restraint order was active, must be excluded from the calculation of the limitation period. After excluding this period, the actual time available to the Petitioner for presenting the documents did not exceed four months. Consequently, the High Court quashed the Sub-Registrar's orders and directed the registration of the Agreements for Sale.


Registration Act, 1908  

BOMBAY STAMP ACT, 1958