The Bombay High Court has ordered the registration of Kalpataru Gardens Limited’s 999-year lease deed for a 1,050-square-metre plot in Bhandup, cancelling the refusal issued by revenue and registration authorities and directing that no penalty be imposed for the delay.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna held that citizens and entities cannot be made to bear the consequences of delays caused by government procedures. The order relates to a lease deed executed by Kalpataru Gardens for the Bhandup plot nearly nine years ago.
The company had entered into the lease agreement in July 2017 and submitted the document to the stamp district officer in August that year for determination of stamp duty. The process was subsequently prolonged by appeals, reassessment proceedings and disruptions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2024, the company decided to use the state’s amnesty scheme. It paid revised stamp duty of Rs 22.25 lakh in March 2025 and then approached the authorities for registration of the lease deed.
The stamp district officer and the sub-registrar rejected the registration application, citing the four-month period prescribed under Section 23 of the Registration Act. The company then approached the High Court, challenging the rejection and seeking registration without a penalty for the delay.
The court set aside the orders refusing registration and directed the revenue authorities to register the lease deed without imposing a penalty. The ruling places the administrative delay at the centre of the dispute: the document had entered the official stamp-duty process in 2017, but the subsequent appeals, reassessment and pandemic-related disruption extended the timeline well beyond the statutory registration period.
The case highlights the procedural consequences that can arise when property documents remain within the stamp-duty and registration system for extended periods. Section 23 of the Registration Act was cited by the authorities while refusing the application, but the High Court’s order allows the lease deed to be registered without penalising the applicant for the delay attributed to the official process.
The authorities must now act on the High Court’s direction and complete registration of the 999-year lease deed without charging a delay penalty.
