Deccan Paper Mills Co. Ltd. vs.Regency Mahavir Properties and Ors.

Civil Appeal no. 5147of 2016

Facts of the case:
1. Suit was filed by Deccan Paper mills against Regency Mahavir Property & Ors. for
declaration of agreements dated 22.07.2004 and 20.05.2006 and Deed of
Confirmation dated 13.07.2006 were illegal, ab initio null, void and not binding upon
the Plaintiff as the same was obtained by fraud. Further, Cancellation of the said
agreements and deed was also sought for in the suit.
2. Around the same time, Regency Mahavir Property filed an Application under Section
8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The said Application was allowed
and the matter was referred for arbitration.
3. Deccan Paper Mills approached the High Court of Bomobay in a writ petition against
the same, which was dismissed.
4. Therefore, in an Appeal before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, Deccan Paper Mills
contended that since the prayer is the suit is for cancellation of the agreements and
deed, the proceedings under Section 31 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 is a
proceeding in rem and therefore falls within the exception made out in Booz Allen vs.
SBI Home Finance Ltd.

“The well-recognized examples of non-arbitrable disputes are :

(i) disputes relating to rights and liabilities which give rise to or arise out
of criminal offences;

(ii) matrimonial disputes relating to divorce, judicial separation,

restitution of conjugal rights, child custody;

(iii) guardianship matters;

(iv) insolvency and winding up matters;

(v) testamentary matters (grant of probate, letters of administration and

succession certificate); and

(vi) eviction or tenancy matters governed by special statutes where the

tenant enjoys statutory protection against eviction and only the
specified courts are conferred jurisdiction to grant eviction or decide
the disputes.”

5. The Hon’ble Supreme Court observed that the expression “any person” in Section 31
of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 does not include a third party, but the same is
restricted to the party to the written instrument or any to who can bind such a party.
“A reading of Section 31(1) then shows that when a written instrument is adjudged
void or voidable, the Court may then order it to be delivered up to the Plaintiff and
cancelled-in exactly the same way as a suit for rescission of a contract Under Section
29. Thus far, it is clear that the action Under Section 31(1) is strictly an action inter
parties or by persons who obtained derivative title from the parties, and is thus in
personam.”
The Supreme Court observed that “All these anomalies only highlight the impossibility of
holding that an action instituted Under Section 31 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 is an
action in rem.”

Whether Conveyance Deed is a public Document?

The Hon’ble Supreme Court has opined that registration of a document, which is private in
nature such as a deed (between 2 parties) doesn’t give the document a higher legal status,
thereby changing its nature to a public document.

Para 24 “A sale-deed (or any other deed of conveyance) when presented for registration
under the Registration Act, is not retained or kept in any public office of a State after
registration, but is returned to the person who presented such document for registration, on
completion of the process of registration. An original registered document is not therefore a
public record kept by a State of a private document. Consequently, a deed of sale or other
registered document will not fall under either of the two classes of documents described in
Section 74, as 'public documents'. Any document which is not a public document is a private
document. We therefore have no hesitation in holding that a registered sale-deed (or any
other registered document) is not a public document but a private document”.
“Section 74 provides is that public records kept in any state of private documents are public
documents, but private documents of which public records are kept are not in themselves
public documents. A registered document, therefore, does not fall under either Clause (e) or
(f). The entry in the register book is a public document, but the original is a private
document.”