IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 24.03.2022

CORAM

THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.DHANDAPANI

W.P.No.14315 of 2014

C.P.Ragunathan

...Petitioner

Vs.

1. The Inspector General of Registration,

Santhome, Chennai 28.

2. The District Registrar,

Coimbatore.

3. The Sub Registrar,

Ganapathy Sub Registry,

Coimbatore.

...Respondents

Prayer:Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of

India to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus to call for the

records in connection with the impugned order passed by the 3rd

respondent in No.281/2013 dated 06.05.2013 and quash the same

and further direct the respondents to issue the document writer

license to the petitioner and grant such other further relief.

For Petitioner : Mr.S.Sivakumar

For Respondents: Mr.Yogesh Kannadasan

Spl. Government Pleader

O R D E R

The petitioner has filed this petition for issuance of writ

of Certiorarified Mandamus to call for the records of the

impugned order passed by the 3rd respondent, dated 06.05.2013

and quash the same and further direct the respondents to issue

the document writer license to the petitioner and grant such

other further relief.

2.The case of the petitioner is that the petitioner is a

graduate in Arts (Economics) and entered into service in the

Registration Department as ''Junior Assistant'' in the year 1971

and by merit and seniority, the petitioner was promoted as

Assistant in the year 1993 and thereafter, he attained the age

of superannuation on 31.08.2006 and subsequently he was also

given notional promotion as SRO Grade II by an order dated

07.07.2011. It is alleged by the petitioner that as per the

Tamil Nadu Documents Writers License Rules, ''any retired

official of the Registration Department who has served in a post

not below the rank of Sub Registrar' is entitled to apply for

document writer license. Since the petitioner having the

required qualification, and he is retired official of the

Registration Department and further the 1^st respondent also

issued the notional promotion as SRO Grade II, he is entitled

for document writer license. Accordingly, the petitioner made

application on 10.07.2012 for issuance of license, and after

receipt of the application, the 2^nd respondent forwarded the

application to the 1^st respondent to issue a license. Thereafter,

the 1^st respondent without any application of mind, had simply

rejected the application by issuing the non speaking order dated

06.05.2013, stating that the petitioner is not eligible for

issuance of document writer license as per Rule 4(iii) of the

Tamil Nadu Document Writers License Rule, 1982. Aggrieved by the

same, the present petition is filed.

3.The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted

that though the petitioner became fully qualified for grant of

the licence, his application was rejected vide the impugned

order without any plausible reason and when the petitioner

approached the respondents, they informed that though the

petitioner was promoted as SRO-Grade II it was a notional

promotion and that the petitioner has not actually served as SRO.

4.The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner further

submitted that the present impugned order was passed without

application of mind, and without assigning any reasons. As per

Rule 4, any retired official of Registration Department, who had

the required qualification to be appointed as a Sub Registrar

are eligible for the grant of a license. In the present case on

hand, the qualification for the post of Sub Registrar is that

the person must have served in the feeder category as Assistant

in the Registration Department. Further, already the petitioner

has served as an Assistant and possessed the required the

qualification for Assistant as well as Sub Registrar. Inspite of

the same, the respondent has passed t