IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE SIXTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND TEN PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION No.15850 of 2010 BETWEEN Smt. Vyricherla Preeti Deo and three others. ... PETITIONERS AND The State of Andhra Pradesh rep. by its Principal Secretary to Government, Revenue Department and two others. ...RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioners: MR. D. SESHADRI NAIDU Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following order: ORDER: Petitioners assail the refusal by the Sub-Registrar-I-Town Area, Visakhapatnam District, to register and release their documents pertaining to lands in Sy.Nos.1197 and 1028 of Waltair Ward, Visakhapatnam. 2. The refusal of the Sub-Registrar stems from the notification issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh under Section 22-A(1) of the Registration Act, 1908 (for brevity, ‘the Act’), embodied in G.O.Ms.No.657, Revenue (Registration-I) Department dated 08.10.2001. This notification was issued under the provision as it then stood prior to its substitution in the year 2007. Sy.Nos.1196, 1197, 1027 and 1028 of Waltair Ward, Visakhapatnam find mention in this notification. 3. Pertinent to note, G.O.Ms.No.657 dated 08.10.2001 was held to be illegal by a Division Bench of this Court and was set aside in V. SURENDRA BABJI v. GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH (WP.No.11685 of 2002 dated 17.04.2009). As the said GO has already been set aside and the provision itself has been substituted, whereby the ground of public policy has been excluded, prohibition with regard to registration of documents must be relatable to Section 22-A of the Act as it now stands. Unless the registration of documents is prohibited under any of the clauses of Section 22-A(1) of the Act, the registration authorities cannot refuse to register the documents on the ground that the land belongs to Government. In the present case, it is admitted that no such prohibition under Section 22-A(1) of the Act is extant. That being so, the action of the respondent authorities in keeping the petitioners’ documents pending registration is without any legal basis. The writ petition is accordingly allowed at the threshold directing the respondent authorities to complete the registration formalities in respect of the petitioners’ documents and release the same subject to compliance with the due procedure. There shall be no order as to costs. ______________ SANJAY KUMAR, J July 6, 2010 DSK