Madras HC Sets Aside Refusal To Register Punja-Land Sale Deed, Subject To Buyer’s Undertaking Not To Change Its Use Without Planning Approval

The petitioner challenged the second respondent’s refusal check slip dated 5 October 2026, which refused registration of a sale deed for 25.10 cents of agricultural punja land under Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908.

The stated ground was that the property was conveyed as a residential plot or for residential use without planning-authority approval.

The petitioner contended that the land was being conveyed without changing its use.

Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908, was the basis for the refusal under challenge.

The Court relied on Sankarakumar & another v. The Sub-Registrar, Panpozhi, W.P.(MD) No. 29522 of 2025, dated 17 April 2026, which balanced property rights under Article 300-A of the Constitution against development-control legislation.

Under that decision, where the parties intend to convey land without changing its nature or use, the document may be registered subject to the claimant’s undertaking not to use or develop the land for residential, commercial, or other changed purposes without the required planning permission.

Applying Sankarakumar, the Court treated the petitioner’s contention that the land was conveyed without a change of use as sufficient to set aside the refusal, subject to safeguards.

It required the claimant in whose favour title would vest to give a notarised undertaking in four sets, including that the land would not be used or developed for a different purpose without planning permission and that utility connections or services would not be claimed without due conversion.

The Court also directed that the land be described in the document as Nanjai or Punjai, rather than Manai, and that the undertaking form part of the registered document.

The claimant must file one set of the notarised affidavit before the Court within four weeks of receiving the web copy; after that filing, the petitioner may obtain a certified copy and represent the document with the remaining affidavit sets.

The Sub-Registrar must register the document if there is no other impediment.

The affidavit must be scanned and uploaded with the document, and the other sets must be sent to the local authority and the jurisdictional TANGEDCO Assistant Engineer.

No costs were ordered.