The duty of the Sub-Registrar is to furnish a copy of the refusal order without payment and unnecessary delay. The refusal has to be based on legal grounds and not on extraneous considerations.

( 1 ) THIS order shall also govern the disposal of Misc. Petition No. 276 of 1983 (Ramchandra v. Sub-Registrar) and Misc. P. No. 59/84 (Yeshwantsingh v. Sub-Registrar and ors), as common questions of law are involved in these petitions and their facts are also akin and identical in nature, excepting the names of land-holders, location of their respective lands, different survey numbers, all these three petitions are being decided by a common order.

( 2 ) LONG drawn sequence of events commencing with presentation of 93 sale deeds (in M. P. 59 of 84) 20 sale deeds (in M. P. 275/83), 39 sale deeds (in M. P. 276/83) in the months of April-May, 1982 and their refusal for registration either under supposed instructions from Collector, Indore (as in the case of M. P. No. 275/83) or for want of a certificate from the Joint Director, Town and country Planning (In M. P. No. 59/84), leading to presentation of writ-petitions and directions issued by this Court, constituting facts of these petition, highlight the sordid state of affairs prevailing in the office of the Sub-Registrar, the Res. No. 1, and the resultant harassment of the citizens, who are compelled to seek their remedies in writs from this Court, which also unfortunately failed in bringing reparation of illegal denial. An otherwise simple matter of registration of documents has been deliberately denied and delayed by raising fanciful objections, not tenable in law and ultimately dragging the petitioners into this yet another inning of petitions which could well have been easily avoided by showing adherence to law and meaningful obedience to the orders passed by this Court.

( 3 ) THE common thread which runs in these petitions (M. P. No. 275/83, 276/83 and M. P. 59/84) through the facts of these petitions is that the petitioner in this petition holds agricultural land, bearing survey Nos. 328/3 and 329/3, admeasuring 4. 29 hectares, in village Palda, tahsil and district Indore and the petitioner in M. P. No. 276/83, hold agricultural land, bearing survey No. 327, admeasuring 4. 063 hectares, in village Palda, tehsil and district Indore, as also the petitioner in (M. P. 59/84) holds agricultural land bearing survey Nos. 73/1, 74/1, 75/1 having an area of 5. 45 acres survey Nos. 73/2, 74/2 and 75/2, having an area of 5. 48 acres and survey Nos. 73/3, 74/3 and 75/3, having an area of 5. 49 acres, in village Lasudia Mori, tahsil and district Indore. Sale deeds have been duly executed in respect of different parcels of lands in favour of respective purchasers. When the documents were presented before the Sub-Registrar (Res. No. 1) for registration, they met with a blatant refusal and it is the only question, whether such a refusal by the Sub-Registrar is tenable in law. The petitioners have challenged these refusals as arbitrary, capricious and illegal based on extraneous considerations and have prayed for a writ quashing the orders and seeking a Mandamus directing the Sub-Registrar to register the documents presented by them for registration.

( 4 ) THE undisputed facts are that the lands held by the petitioners are owned by them in Bhumiswami rights. The petitioner's case is that these lands are agricultural lands and are recorded as such in the revenue records. They are under actual cultivation and are reserved for agricultural, purpose in the Indore Development Plan (popularly known as Master Plan.) The petitioners have also filed a certificate from the Tahsildar, Indore, to the effect that the lands in question are in actual cultivation and are being used for agricultural purposes. They have filed the Annexures-A,b and C, the Khasra entries of the lands for the years 1974-75 to 1982-83.

( 5 ) THE respondent Sub-Registrar in his return dated 13-7-83 has disputed the fact that the land in question is agricultural in nature and has further disputed that it is reserved for agricultural purposes in the Indore Development Plan (the Master Plan ). It has been admitted b