Monk Estates Private Limited & Anr. v. Government of NCT of Delhi & Ors.

78076) along with Mr. Ashwani Kumar, Principal Secretary, GNCTD with Ms. Hemlata Pokhriyal, SR-3. CORAM: JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. The present petition has been filed by Petitioners seeking directions to the Respondents to make an inquiry about the missing records of volume 8486 and 8487 of additional Book no. 1 of the Respondent No.4 - Subregistration of lands of the Petitioner No.1 and also to re-construct the said missing volumes.

3. The present case relates to a large quantum of records which had gone missing from the Office of the Sub-Registrar-III (District Central), Delhi way back in 2005. On the last date of hearing, i.e., 10th January, 2023 this issue was unearthed before the Court while hearing the present petition wherein the Petitioner is seeking inquiry into the missing records relating to the sale deeds of the Petitioner. On the said date, based on the information which was available on the record, the following directions were issued by the Court:

4. As per the above order, the status of the FIR which was registered in 2019 was to be placed on record and the list of the officials and other Sub- Registrars who were deputed in the office of Sub-Registrar III was also to be placed on record.

5. Today, Mr. Ashwani Kumar who is the Principal Secretary, Revenue, Government of NCT of Delhi, who also acts as the Inspector General of Registration, GNCTD has joined the proceedings virtually. Ms. Hemlata Pokhriyal who is the current Sub-Registrar III with effect from 9th January, 2023 is also present in Court.

6. A short affidavit has been filed on behalf of the said Sub-Registrar III. The said affidavit dated 7th February, 2023 has been handed over in Court and states that only a Lost Report vide L.R. No. 1003607/2019 dated 1st May, 2019 was registered in 2019. A status report has been obtained from the concerned PS, Daryaganj which is attached with the affidavit. In addition, the details of the staff who were working in the Sub-Registrar III office have also been filed. In the said chart, only the date of posting of the various officials has been given. However, the period during which they remain posted at Sub-Registrar III has not been specified. Even the current position of employment of these officials is also not available in the status report.

7. The status of the Lost Report which has been issued by PS, Darya Ganj reads as: “Ref No. 464/ SHO/DG Dated-20.01.2023 Subject:-Regarding FIR of missing document of Monk Estates Private Ltd.

ANR VS Govt. of NCT of Delhi & Ors. Sir, It is submitted that a Lost Report Vide L.R No.1003607/2019 dated 01.05.2019 wise lodged online by Sub Registrar-III District Central Delhi. The complainant mentioned in column No.3 Title as Losts Articles "Record up to year 2000 of ADDL Book No. 1, III and IV which have been already transferred to Delhi Archive. Katawaria Sarai, Delhi in year 2005." The above Lost Report was lodged by complainant for information purpose only under head INFORMATION REPORT in respect of Article/Documents Lost in Delhi, hence, No offence is made out. The above facts has already been mentioned in above Lost Report In Note and Disclaimer Submitted Please ASI PHANIDER KARMALI NO.430/C PS DARYA GANJ”

8. A perusal of the above status report reveals that in fact no investigation has being conducted into the missing documents and missing records. The said report was only registered as an information report and is only a non-cognizable report. In fact, no investigation was sought even at that time when the said report was filed with the PS, Darya Ganj.

9. The Court observes that the inaction on the part of the Sub-Registrars and the GNCTD is unacceptable inasmuch as the missing of such valuable land records from a Sub-Registrar’s office ought to have been taken into consideration with utmost seriousness. The limited action of only filing of a non-cognizable report which did not even result in investigation, is ill advised to say the least. The documents themselves have been lost for almost 18 years and no steps have been taken by any of the officials who were repeatedly being approached by the Petitioner. It appears to the Court that there may be other similarly situated parties affected by the inaction of the authorities.

10. Accordingly, it is directed that Ms. Neetu Bisht, who was the official concerned as Sub-Registrar III at the time of the lodging of the noncognizable report shall remain present in Court on the next date of hearing. In addition, PS, Daryaganj shall investigate into the matter and place its status report on record. The non-cognizable report be converted into an FIR. An investigation is ordered under the supervision of Mr. Gursewak Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) (Mobile No.8750870404, Landline: 011-23268182, e-mail: acp-daryaganj-dl@nic.in.) The status report be filed within a period of four weeks.

11. Insofar as the manner in which currently documents are being registered, under the DORIS system, it appears that in the Sub-Registrar III office, the data is entered in the electronic form but it is unclear as to whether the documents themselves are uploaded and are maintained and are maintained physically. Mr. Ashwani Kumar, however, submits that under the Delhi Online Registration System (DORIS), a cloud server has been availed of by the GNCTD and that documents including documents relating to the land records are scanned and are stored on the cloud server.