Whether valid equitable mortgage can be made if original title deeds are lost?

 The submission that a valid equitable mortgage can never be made without delivering the original title deed has to be rejected. Such original documents of title may, at times, be lost or destroyed due to natural causes like cyclones and fire-accidents. They may also be lost either by thefts or due to want of proper care and sometimes they would have been filed in courts and not taken return of in time. The owners of property who have so lost their documents of title will, therefore, be not in a position to deliver such original documents with intent to create an equitable mortgage. It will be rather anomalous if such persons can validly execute registered documents of sale, lease and mortgage, but will not be entitled to raise any monies by creating an equitable mortgage. If the original title deeds are lost, we do not see why the owner of the property should not be in a position to an equitable mortgage. The mortgagee in such cases has only to be vigilant in accepting such representation made to him and should make the necessary enquiries before agreeing to advance any monies on the basis of registration extracts of documents of title or copies of documents. That seems to be the underlying principle behind S. 78 of the T. P. Act which provided that if the conduct of a prior mortgagee amounted to gross neglect, the mortgage in his favour will be postponed to the subsequent mortgagee.Andhra High Court

Kanigalla Prakasa Rao vs Nanduri Ramakrishna Rao And Ors. on 18 November, 1981

Equivalent citations: AIR 1982 AP 272

Bench: Punnayya, P R Raju

Print Page

Maharashtra Amendment to the Registration Act is implemented 1st April 2013

Through a circular dated 7 March 2013, the Maharashtra Government has implemented the provisions of Registration (Maharashtra Amendment) Act, 2010 (“Act“). The Act has been made applicable on and from 1 April 2013.
The Act brings in major changes to the Registration Act, 1908 (“Registration Act“)http://www.lawweb.in/2012/09/registration-maharashtra-amendment-act.html as applicable to the State of Maharashtra.
Few of the changes brought in by the Act are discussed below.
The Act has added certain documents which are now compulsorily registrable in Maharashtra:
(a)     Agreement relating to the deposit of title deeds, where such deposit has been made by way of security for the repayment of a loan or an existing or future debt;
(b)     Sale certificate issued by any competent officer or authority under any recovery act; and
(c)     Irrevocable power of attorney relating to transfer of immovable property in any way, executed on or after the commencement of the Act.

Print Page