Can properties bought in Bengaluru be registered with the office of a sub-registrar in Delhi? Can the properties registered in Delhi then be registered in Bengaluru without an official communication from the Delhi registrar? Was the office of the Delhi sub-registrar open on a public holiday, such as May 1 in 1982, to register properties?
Several such questions have surfaced in a dispute over 92 properties spread over nearly 100 acres of land at Varthur Narsipura in the Tavarekere region of south Bengaluru, claimed to have been purchased and registered in Delhi on May 1, 1982, by the realty firm DLF Limited.
As many as 250 small-site owners in Bengaluru have claimed to have bought sites on the same parcels of land in survey Numbers 1, 2, 13, 15 to 24, and 28 to 31 of Varthur Narasipura village near Magadi from a housing firm called Vardhini Housing Pvt Ltd from 2017 to 2021.
The small-site owners, the majority of whom are holding parcels of land measuring 1,200 sq feet each, received a rude shock in July 2024 when they learnt that their properties were registered by the sub-registrar in Tavarekere in 2020 in favour of DLF Limited on the directions of the district registrar at Jayanagar in Bengaluru.
They also found that their properties had been sold by the realty firm in 2021 to a firm called Bengaluru Divinity LLP, which was established in 2017 in Telangana with Hyderabad residents Althuru Mahesh Reddy and his wife Radhika Althuru as directors.
The Hyderabad firm, in turn, entered into an agreement dated April 21, 2023, to sell the properties to Bagmane Developers Private Limited, a major Bengaluru realty firm with political connections.
Karnataka High Court orders status quo
The property dispute reached the Karnataka High Court in September 2024, with over 200 owners of sites telling the court that “section 28 of the Registration Act 1908 stipulates that every document which affects immovable property shall be presented for registration in the office of a sub-registrar with whose sub-district the whole or some portion of the property to which such document relates is situated”.
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Bengaluru Divinity LLP, which has entered into a sale deal with DLF Limited, has also approached the court against the claims of the site owners.
Small-site owners such as B K Likitha and others have argued that claims that the sale deeds for the disputed properties were registered in Delhi on May 1, 1982, in favour of DLF Limited through the office of the divisional commissioner of the Delhi Stamps and Registration branch does not “create any right, title or interest in favor of DLF Ltd” under the Registration Act 1908.
While the high court directed a status quo on land ownership over the disputed properties on October 1, 2024, it also highlighted the arguments of the petitioners about the registrar’s office in Delhi working on a national holiday.
“Learned senior counsel representing the petitioners submitted that the impugned memorandum issued by the respondent No.3 (District Registrar Jayanagar, Bangalore) is on the basis of the sale deed dated 25.03.1982 registered in the office of the Sub-registrar, New Delhi on 01.05.1982 which happens to be a Labour Day and a National Holiday,” the court noted in its interim order on October 1, 2024, on a petition filed by small-site owners.
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“Taking advantage of the memorandum issued by the respondent No.3 (district registrar, Jayanagar, Bangalore) to enter the name of the respondent No.5 (DLF Limited) in Book No.1, the respondent No.5 is interfering with the peaceful possession and enjoyment of the petitioners property, who are the site owners,” the court said. “The parties are directed to maintain status quo in relation to the subject properties as on today.”
On August 11 this year, the high court noted a request by the Karnataka Government for the office of the Delhi sub-registrar to be made a party in the proceedings.
“Mr. Rahul Cariappa, the learned Additional Government Advocate, submits that for complete adjudication, the Divisional Commissioner, Delhi Stamps and Registration, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, must be made a party, and this Court may call upon the petitioners to implead this respondent,” the court said.
“This submission is taken on record, observing that if there is failure despite this opportunity, the petitioners shall incur the consequences permissible in law. The interim order granted earlier to maintain Status Quo is continued to be in force until further orders, but with liberty to the respondents to complete the pleadings and seek vacating,” the court added.
Delhi IGR gets communication from Bengaluru IGR
The office of the inspector-general of registrations and commissioner of stamps in Bengaluru has, meanwhile, reportedly received a communication dated May 5, 2025, from the office of the divisional commissioner for stamps and registration in Delhi in response to a November 13, 2024, request from the Bengaluru IGR for verification of sale deeds pertaining to Bengaluru registered in Delhi from 1980 to 1985.
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The Delhi sub-registrar has indicated the registration of 92 sale deeds in favour of DLF Limited in the period but has not indicated sending memos about the registrations to the office of the Bengaluru South taluk registrar at Jayanagar, to trigger a directive to the Tavarekere sub-registrar to register the disputed properties in favour of DLF Limited in 2020.
The Delhi sub-registrar’s office has also indicated in its reply to the inspector-general of registrations in Bengaluru that a reply is still awaited from the Delhi Government on whether May 1, 1982, was a working day.
Based on the May 5, 2025, reply from the Delhi sub-registrar’s office, a panel of the state stamps and registration department concluded on August 12, 2025, that there had been violations of land registration laws by the registrar at Jayanagar while directing registrations of the disputed land in 2020, based on sale deeds registered in Delhi in the 1980s.
Based on the report of the panel of the stamps and registration department, the office of the inspector-general of registration and commissioner of stamps issued an order on September 20, 2025, stating that the unauthorised memos sent by the office of the Jayanagar registrar in 2020 to register the disputed properties in Tavarekere stood cancelled.