BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT DATED : 12.01.2026 CORAM :

THE HON`BLE MR.JUSTICE B.PUGALENDHI Thameema ... Petitioner Vs.

1.The District Registrar, Thanjavur, Thanjavur District.

2.The Sub Registrar, Sub Registrar Office, Adirampattinam, Thanjavur District.

3.Sri Varatharaja Perumal Temple, Government Hospital Opposite, Palachetti Street, Adirampattinam, Thanjavur District. ... Respondents (R3 is suo motu impleaded as per order of this Court in WP.

(MD)No.747 of 2026 dated 12.01.2026.)

Prayer : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying for the issuance of Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, to call for the records pertaining to the impugned order in Refusal No.RFL/Adirampattinam/162/2025 dated 30.12.2025 issued by the second respondent and quash the same as illegal and consequently direct the second respondent to register the Sale Deed dated 30.12.2025 presented by the petitioner for registration.

For Petitioner : Mr.G.Sarathkumar For R1 & R2 : Mr.V.Om Prakash, Government Advocate

ORDER

The petitioner has submitted a representation before the respondent for registration of land in S.No.10/2B1A1B to an extent of 11 ½ cents situated at Narasingapuram Village, Pattukottai Taluk, Thanjavur District and the same has been rejected pursuant to the objection raised by Sri Varatharaja Perumal Temple. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioner has filed this writ petition, however, without even impleading the temple.

2.Therefore, this Court suo motu impleads the temple, namely, Sri Varatharaja Perumal Temple, Government Hospital Opposite, Palachetti Street, Adirampattinam, Thanjavur District as third respondent to this writ petition.

3.The Division Bench of this Court in Sudha Ravi Kumar and another Vs. The Special Commissioner and Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, Chennai and another reported in AIR 2017 Madras 203, has already issued guidelines to the Registering Authority with regard to the procedures to be followed to register the land as under:-

25. In view of the above discussions, all the writ petitions are allowed and the impugned orders are set aside with the following directions:

(i) The registering authority before whom the document has been presented shall cause service of notice on the parties to the deeds and also to the objector / religious institution, hold summary enquiry, hear the parties and then either register or refuse to register the document by passing an order having regard to the relevant facts as indicated above.

(ii) If the registering authority, refuses to register any document by accepting the objections raised under Section 22-A of the Registration Act, the aggrieved may file a statutory appeal under the Act.

(iii) If the objections raised under Section 22-A of the Act by the religious institution are rejected and the document is registered, the remedy for the religious institution is to either approach this Court by way of a writ petition seeking cancellation of the registration or for any other relief or to approach the civil Court for declaration of the title and for other consequential reliefs.

(iv) If the registering authority refuses to register the document acting on the objections raised by a religious institution under Section 22-A of the Registration Act, the parties to the deed will be at liberty to straightaway approach the Civil Court for declaration of title and other relief without availing the opportunity for filing a statutory appeal.

(v) We further direct that if the deed has already been registered without there being any objection by the religious institution under Section 22-A of the Act, the document shall be returned to the parties concerned leaving it open for the religious institution to approach either the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India or the Civil Court for appropriate relief as indicated above. At any rate, the registering authority shall not withhold the deed which has already been registe