Complete & abject failure of the government of Rajasthan in prevention of fraudulent property transfers & registrations – Part 1
This concerns every citizen of this country as such because each one of us has some investment into properties. We feel secure that we have exercised due diligence & that our investments are safe & secure but it is a rude shock that this is not the truth but in the State of Rajasthan, it is very easy to fabricate & make a fraudulent Power of Attorney. The ground reality is so poor that despite incontrovertible evidence of aiding & abetting such illegal transfers & making a completely false report & this being a criminal conduct, the highest echelons of bureaucracy in Rajasthan are only interested in protecting the corrupt practices & the officials of the IGRS department. To my utter surprise, there are thousands of cases in the state of Rajasthan taking place every year but right up to the Principal Secretary Finance & the Chief Secretary seems to be least bothered so much so that even after a Personal Hearing being conducted, a reasoned speaking order is not being issued. This is not the end of the list of criminal conduct, the Dy. IG went to the extent of saying that if the Power of Attorney is fabricated & fraudulent, they owe no responsibility & cannot be held accountable. In other words, what this means is that these IGRS officials are put in place to collect money by the sides & aid & abet frauds & nothing can happen because they are neither responsible nor accountable!
The citizens pay their taxes & duties diligently & believe that the state government will at the very least provide you with good law & order being maintained & if there is a violation then the appropriate action will be taken in a timely manner & justice carried out. This is the basic & prime responsibility of the government of the state of Rajasthan also but then what do you do when you are dealing with the cheats of the worst order at the highest level of the bureaucracy. Such government is a curse for the citizens of the state & the power drunk bureaucrats a bane of the society. The case study exposes that how the citizens are being very easily duped & how they are being bulldozed to accept the illegalities. I am a citizen of Mumbai & fully aware of how meticulously the checks are carried out in Mumbai to prevent the frauds whereas how easily the crimes take place in Rajasthan & the bureaucracy only puts down the complainant.
Now, let’s see what’s the ground reality in the State of Rajasthan.
In brief, 3 Land parcels belonging to 82 years old lady are transferred & registered by 3 different Sub Registrars including an urban city. The IGRS officials instead of complying with the binding departmental circulars & preventing the fraud have aided & abetted the fraud based on the fabricated & fraudulent Power & thereafter prepared a completely false report saying that they are not responsible & accountable.
Please note that the Police has confiscated & concluded that PoA bears a rubber stamp instead of the signature of the Public Attorney & is not authenticated but prepared as an attested document therefore fabricated & fraudulent. Therefore, all the trained & experienced officials of the IGRS department could not have missed these discrepancies besides several others. Thus, punishable under IPC 166 &/or 167 stands committed. It is pertinent to point out that the erstwhile District Collector had issued advisory in the matter regarding action under IPC 166 &/or 167 vide letter dtd. 14.10.2021 addressed to the Superintendent of Police & also Addl. IGRS (Enforcement).
As per the latest decision of the Apex Court in Civil Appeal Nos. 2752-2753 of 2022 in case of Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Ltd. V/s. S. P. Velayutham & others delivered on 4.5.22 it is ruled in paragraph 58 that interpretation that the Registering Officer under the Act is performing a mechanical role without any independent mind of his own then even the Government properties can be sold & documents registered by unscrupulous persons driving the parties to the civil court does not advance the cause of justice & therefore untenable. Further in paragraph 53 of the said order it is concluded that the statutory authorities perform their duties within the bounds of law. It is well settled that if something is required by the law to be done in a particular manner, it shall be done in a particular manner & not otherwise.
Therefore, reliance placed on Civil Appeal No.5797/2009 in case of Amarnath V/s. Gianchand decided on 28.01.22 & 6673/2014 in case of Satyapal Anand V/s. State of Madhya Pradesh by the IGRS department is untenable for the reasons explained herein later.
The fraudulent nature of the fabricated PoA is self-evident because of the following reasons:
A. The fabricated & fraudulent PoA is an attested document whereas in terms of law POA is not merely an attested document.
B. The fabricated & fraudulent PoA is not authenticated by the Public Attorney. It bears no authentication/index to the effect that who gave the PoA & to whom & for what purpose & whether the witness identified the PoA giver before the Public Attorney & whether the PoA giver was competent to issue that PoA at that point of time. It cannot be a matter of coincidence that the Power of Attorney is not duly authenticated by the Public Attorney and was simply missed by all the three trained officials of the department. It is pertinent to point out that no Public Attorney will indulge into such type of an error because the proficiency license will be canceled due to non-competence. In this regard, please see S 85 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
C. The fabricated & fraudulent PoA does not bear the signatures of the Public Attorney on all the four pages of the PoA.
D. The fabricated & fraudulent PoA bears a fraudulent rubber stamp to affix the signature of the Public Attorney.
Therefore, there is no valid PoA in existence (the PoA is non est) & therefore any transfers of property on the basis of this fraudulent PoA are null & void ab initio. The department is therefore obligated to restore the land to the victim without burdening the victim & also take action against the department officials under IPC.
I met one of the Sub Registrars & confronted him with the facts but the body language itself made it clear that law has no place because the money rules the roost.
A sham investigation is carried out & report delayed for more than 11 months. Please note that the investigation report did not even record the above objections, leave aside the issuance of the speaking order, which is essentially to be issued in each & every case as finally settled by the Supreme Court. The learned Dy. IG thus indulged in cheating by not even recording the points of law raised by the complainant & brushing them aside. The learned Dy. IG was legally bound to issue a reasoned speaking order with reference to the PoA that how can there be a PoA acceptable without the signature of the Public Attorney; how can there be a PoA acceptable without there being any authentication/table appearing in the PoA; how can there be a PoA acceptable which is simply an attested document & can a fraudulently made rubber stamp ever be allowed to be used to authenticate the PoA. However, the learned Dy. IG, did not issue any reasoned speaking order in respect of any of these points of law, which was essential in terms of the law. These basic illegalities settle the issue of illegal transfer & registration but ignored & a completely false report contrary to the facts is prepared, which is untenable.
Priorly, I had forewarned the officials of the department regarding the provisions contained in IPC 166 &/or 167.
Despite this, the IGRS officials have shown a cavalier attitude & the Dy. IG, prepared a false report. It is pertinent to point out that that the 3 Sub registrars were given an opportunity to come clean & the department referred to Circular No. 10/2015 dtd. 17.6.2015 while calling for the report. The Circular No. 10/2015 is significant & lays out the complete responsibility of the IGRS officials in respect of those cases of land transfer, which are taking place on the basis of PoA. The State cannot be fooled & the IGRS administration cannot work as a gang of criminals in any case.
Any person with little knowledge of the law & common sense will comprehend that if the PoA is a fabricated & forged document (as confirmed by the Police in the challan filed in the Sessions Court & not refuted by the IGRS officials in their investigation report) then the IGRS officials cannot indulge into manipulative interpretation that they owe no responsibility (because there is no PoA in existence for the land transfer & registration} with a criminal intent to protect & perpetuate the crime.
(Author can be reached at [email protected])
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