IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE K.SARATH WRIT PETITION No.19422 of 2025 THE 09^TH DAY OF DECEMBER 2025 Between:

The Society of Trustees of Indigenous Churches in India, Rep. by Gujjarlapudi John Sundar Rao.

…Petitioner AND The State of Telangana, Rep. by its Secretary, Revenue (Stamps & Registration), Secretariat, Hyderabad-500004 and three others.

…Respondents

ORDER:

Heard learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Smt. S. Sravanthi, learned Assistant Government Pleader for Stamps and Registration appearing for respondents. Perused the entire material on record.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that this Writ Petition is filed by the petitioner seeking to declare the order dated 02.04.2024 vide Refusal Order No.21/2024 passed by respondent No.4 as arbitrary and illegal.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner further submits that one Mr. Mathari Krishnappa Peter, S/o. Yellappa, donated the schedule land to the petitioner-Society and the land does not belong to the Government, nor there is any rival claimant. The donee-Society agreed to receive the said property for the purpose of establishing a church, and accordingly, a gift deed was executed on 27.03.2024. The requisite stamp duty and registration charges were duly paid and the said document was presented by the petitioner before the respondent No.4. However the respondent No.4 passed an impugned order vide refusal order No.21/2024 dated 02.04.2024 on the ground that the donor has not provided any supporting documents.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner further submits that the impugned order states that the property in question belongs to Gramakantam and on that basis, it cannot be registered, as per the letter addressed by the Commissioner, Jawaharnagar Municipal Corporation. Further, the petitioner filed two documents pertaining to the very same area and the respondent No.4 registered those documents despite the land being described as Gramakantam, vide Document No.363/2024 dated 24.11.2023 and Document No.2724/2024 dated 16.12.2024, however, the respondent No.4 refused to register the subject documents presented by the petitioner, even though the petitioner is in possession of residential House No.3- 504/A/1 (PTIN No. 1264138355). Moreover, Gramakantam land neither belongs to the Gram Panchayat nor to the Government, as held by this Court in several occasions. The case of the petitioner is that the respondent No.4 is refusing to register his document, as arbitrary and illegal, therefore, requested this Court to set aside the impugned order dated 02.04.2024 passed by the respondent No.4.

5. On the other hand, learned Assistant Government Pleader for Stamps and Registration appearing for the respondents, basing on the counter affidavit filed by respondent No.4 contends that as per Section 21(1) of the Registration Act, 1908, the document must contain a description of the property which is sufficient to identify the same. A revenue survey number or town survey number constitutes the legally recognized mode of identification. However, in the present case, the document presented by the petitioner describes the property merely as “Grama Kantam” with Municipal Door No.3-504/A/1 and PTIN No.1264138355. It is further contended that such identifiers are meant only for municipal taxation purposes and do not constitute permanent title records. Consequently, the Commissioner, Jawaharnagar Municipal Corporation, has cautioned against registration of properties described solely by door numbers or PTIN numbers. It is further submitted that due to this ambiguity, the parties are required to produce link documents containing valid survey numbers or other lawful descriptions. The petitioner, however, failed to produce any such documents, and the defect remained uncured, leaving the respondent No.4 with no option but to refuse registration. It is further contended that while, registering a document, the petitioner must ensure c