Pendency of a suit does not bar land transfer; rejection of NOC based on erroneous claims violates constitutional ownership rights.

JUDGMENT :

DEVASHIS BARUAH, J.

Heard Mr. A. F. N. U. Mollah, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioner and Ms. M. Barman, the learned Junior Government Advocate appearing on behalf of the Respondent Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5. I have also heard Ms. N. Bordoloi, the learned Standing counsel appearing on behalf of the Respondent No.2.

2. The Petitioner herein is aggrieved by the order dated 27.06.2025 whereby the application seeking No Objection Certificate as is required under Section 21A of the Registration Act, 1908 insofar as the same is applicable to the State of Assam was rejected on the basis that the Lot Mandal had reported that there is a Title Suit going on.

3. The brief facts of the instant case are that the Petitioner is the absolute owner of a plot of land admeasuring 1 Katha (2.68 Are) covered by Dag No.322 (26 old) of K.P. Patta No.1014 (56 old) of Revenue Village Jyotikuchi under Beltola Mouza, Revenue Circle - Dispur in the District of Kamrup (M), Assam.

4. The Petitioner on account of urgent need of money for treatment of her husband had agreed to sale the said plot of land to one Abdullah Seikh of Kotahbari of Guwahati and in that regard, the Petitioner had entered into a Deed of Agreement for sale with the said Abdullah Seikh and received some amount as advance payment from the said buyer.

5. Thereupon, on 21.11.2024, the Petitioner applied for the Non- encumbrance Certificate for the purpose of sale of her land by paying prescribed fee of Rs.110/-. The concerned Authority had issued the certificate dated 06.12.2024 certifying to the effect that the property indicated therein which the Petitioner intends to sell, was searched by the Office and found that the property is free from encumbrance. The Petitioner also filed application under Form No.50 thereby seeking information as regards no litigation pending before the concerned Court Offices and certificate have also been issued by the Office of the Competent Courts within the jurisdiction of which the land in question is situated that there is/are no litigation(s) pending for the period from 24.10.2021 to 23.10.2024. The Petitioner thereupon applied for the Land Sale Transfer (NOC) on 10.06.2025 by paying the prescribed fee and an acknowledgment receipt was issued bearing Acknowledgment No.NOC/24/58065/2025.

6. To the surprise of the Petitioner, the said application was rejected vide the order dated 27.06.2025 on the basis of a Lat Mandal report that there is a Title Suit pending that too without mentioning any further details.

7. The Petitioner thereupon made various enquires and could come to learn that the case number in question for which the permission was rejected was Title Suit No.202/2016 pending in the Court of the learned Munsiff No.1, Kamrup (M) at Guwahati. The Petitioner thereupon made enquiries in the Court of the learned Munsiff No.1, Kamrup (M) at Guwahati and more particularly in respect to Title Suit No.202/2016 and was surprised to learn that the land in question in Title Suit No.202/2016 had no relevance with the land of the Petitioner. The Petitioner had obtained the certified copy of the plaint of the said suit which is enclosed as Annexure-11 to the writ petition.

8. It is the further case of the Petitioner that the Petitioner thereupon drew the attention of the concerned authorities to the effect that there is no Title Suit pending in respect to the land in question. However, as the Respondent Authorities were not inclined to accept the various requests made, the Petitioner is compelled to approach this Court.

9. This Court vide an order dated 15.09.2025 had issued notice. When the matter was listed before this Court on 16.02.2026, this Cour