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Fact Check
Claim
A recent Supreme Court ruling has rendered all properties claimed by Waqf board as invalid.
Fact
The case mentioned in the viral claim has no link to Waqf properties or its related laws. The case pertains to a private dispute.
Several social media users are sharing a viral graphic, comprising a screenshot of an article by online legal news portal LiveLaw, hailing a purported Supreme Court (SC) judgment that has rendered all properties “illegally” claimed by the Waqf board and similar institutions as invalid.
“This latest decision of the two-member bench of the Supreme Court today has taken out the soul of the arbitrary Waqf Board of the Turks and reduced it to a mere corpse. In the latest decision of the Supreme Court, it has been said that until the sale deed is registered, the ownership of immovable property is not considered transferred (sic),” read an X post sharing the graphic, applauding the “historic decision”, while further stating, “…the entire property illegally claimed by the Waqf Board and others has now become invalid.”
We also received this claim on our Whatsapp tipline (9999499044), requesting us to fact-check it.
The posts have gone viral amid the debate over the powers of the Waqf board and the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to change how Waqf properties are surveyed, managed and disputed — shifting more power to government-appointed officials and reducing the traditional autonomy of the boards. The Parliament’s Joint Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 has reportedly entered the last round of deliberations, set to spend two days going through the 44 clauses of the bill.
Newschecker first looked up the LiveLaw article, dated January 8, 2024, shared by the users and headlined, “Until Sale Deed Is Registered, Ownership Of Immovable Property Isn’t Transferred: Supreme Court.”
The LiveLaw article was found to be about an SC ruling in a case involving a publicly auctioned property, between one Sanjay Sharma (petitioner) versus Kotak Mahindra Bank and others. “The Supreme Court has reiterated that the ownership of an immovable property does not get transferred until the sale deed is registered. Mere transfer of possession and payment of consideration will not transfer ownership, unless the sale deed is registered,” read the report.
According to the report, the bench made these observations while approving the auction sale in favour of an auction purchaser (petitioner) in terms of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI) Act, which allows banks and financial institutions to auction commercial or residential properties to recover a loan when a borrower fails to repay the loan amount.
“An objection was raised by a party, who claimed to be in possession of a portion of the secured asset. The bench rejected this objection by noting that there was no registered sale deed in favour of the objector. He was claiming right on the basis of an agreement to sell, which was unregistered and a General Power of Attorney,” read the report. Similar reports on the case can be seen here and here. We did not find any mention of the Waqf Board or properties in the articles.
We went through the 17-page judgement on the case, passed by the Supreme Court on December 10, 2024, and did not find any mention of Waqf board nor its properties or related laws, further indicating it was a normal private dispute.
Newschecker then reached out to Supriya Juneja, a lawyer who appeared for the private respondent in the case, who rubbished the claim. “The case has no link whatsoever to any Waqf property and was a private dispute, relating to a loan taken by an individual by mortgaging the property/secured asset. On default of the loan, proceedings under SARFESI were initiated. The said property was then auctioned, which was successfully purchased in auction by the appellant/petitioner before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court went on to hold in that context that it is now a well-settled principle that a sale by way of public auction cannot be set aside until there is any material irregularity and/or illegality committed in holding the auction or if such auction was vitiated by any fraud or collusion,” Juneja said, which further confirms that the viral claim is false.
Also Read: Was EAM S Jaishankar Asked To Leave From Trump’s Inauguration? No, Video Viral With False Claim
A viral claim that a recent Supreme Court ruling has rendered all Waqf properties as invalid found to be false. The case mentioned in the claim pertains to a private dispute.
Source
LiveLaw report, January 8, 2025
SC order, Sanjay Sharma vs Kotak Mahindra Bank and Others, December 10, 2024
Conversation with Supriya Juneja, Supreme Court lawyer
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