All power of attorney property deals banned

NEW DELHI: In an order that puts thousands of property transactions in Delhi under a cloud, the revenue department has made all realty sales through transfer of general power of attorney null and void with retrospective effect from October last year.

The order, dated April 27, directs all 13 sub-registrar offices, DDA and NDMC to follow the Supreme Court's order last October that no sale deed will be registered if it is through a GPA transfer. This means transactions carried out since October on GPA transfers will have to be registered afresh with complete documents.
On average, around 20% of registries are done through GPA transfers, a common way of selling leasehold properties and those that don't have a clear title. In Delhi's northwest district, for instance, of 5,300 documents registered across three sub-registrar offices in March, 1,157 were GPA transfer registries. Bankers said the proportion of GPA transfers were even higher in sales involving bank loans.
Top revenue department officials steered clear of taking responsibility for the delay in implementing the Supreme Court order. They said that as this was a Supreme Court order, it should have been implemented at the sub-registrar offices since October. They admitted, however, that registrars have only stopped registering such sale deeds after the April 27 directive from the revenue secretary and divisional commissioner Vijay Dev.
Realty watchers said the order will reduce the number of saleable properties in the capital and lead to a hike in the value of properties on freehold land.