Gauhati High Court
Noor Hussain Laskar vs The State Of Assam And 6 Ors on 22 July, 2026
Author: Manish Choudhury
Bench: Manish Choudhury
Page No.# 1/9
GAHC010146222026
2026:GAU-AS:10146
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : WP(C)/3777/2026
NOOR HUSSAIN LASKAR
S/O- FAKARUDDIN LASKAR, R/O - 61, AMBARI LAMB ROAD, AMBARI
WARD NO. 25, P.S - LATASIL, DIST -KAMRUP M, ASSAM, PIN CODE-781001
CONTACT NO.
VERSUS
THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 6 ORS
REPRESENTED BY COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY REVENUE AND
DISASTER MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT, DISPUR, GUWAHATI-PIN-781006.
2:THE JOINT SECRETARY
(REGISTRATION)/ ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR OF LAND RECORD (NODAL
OFFICER) TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ASSAM REVENUE AND DISASTER
MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT
DISPUR GUWAHATI
PIN-781006.
3:THE DISTRICT COMMISSIONER
HENGRABARI
DISTRICT-KAMRUP (M)
ASSAM
PIN-781036
4:THE SUB-REGISTRAR
HENGRABARI
DISTRICT-KAMRUP (M)
ASSAM PIN-781036
5:THE CIRCLE OFFICER
DISPUR REVENUE CIRCLE
DIST. - KAMRUP(M)
ASSAM PIN NO.- 781029.
Page No.# 2/9
6:THE SPECIAL BRANCH (SB)
ASSAM POLICE HEAD QUARTER
REPRESENTED BY ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE ADGP
KAHILIPARA GUWAHATI- 19
7:THE SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE
ANANDA RAM BARUAH ROAD
PAN BAZAR
DIST. - KAMRUP (M)
ASSAM PIN NO.- 781001
Advocate for the Petitioner : G UDDIN, P ADHIKARI,MR A K AZAD
Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM, SC, REVENUE
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY
JUDGMENT
22.07.2026
Heard Mr. G. Uddin, learned counsel for the petitioner; Ms. P.R. Mahanta, learned
Standing Counsel, Revenue Department for the respondent nos. 1 & 2; and Mr. H.K. Hazarika,
learned Junior Government Advocate, Assam for the respondent nos. 3 to 7.
2. Let notice be issued. As all the respondents are duly represented, the notice is made
returnable forthwith, as sought for by the learned counsel for the parties with the
representation that having regard to the issue involved, the writ petition can be taken up for
final consideration.
3. The petitioner has stated that he entered into an Agreement for Sale of a flat
measuring 646.18 sq. ft. [2 BHK] on the first floor in an Apartment Building located at S.K.
Bhuyan Road, Dighali-Pukhuri East, Police Station – Latasil, Guwahati, Kamrup Metropolitan
District, Assam with its owner in June, 2025 [‘the subject-flat’, for short]. The Apartment
Building is a on a plot of land covered by Dag no. 199/200 & Patta no. 116 at Revenue
Village – Sahar Part-5, Mouza – Ulubari, Guwahati, Kamrup [M]. It is stated that the proposed
seller is the registered owner of the subject-flat located in the Ground Floor of the Apartment
Building.
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3.1. The petitioner has stated that after entering into the said Agreement for Sale of the
subject-flat and handing over a part of the consideration price agreed to by the parties, he
submitted an application on 24.06.2025 for the notified public service, ‘Composite Land Sale
Transfer’ and the said application was duly received vide Acknowledgment no.
NOC/24/58535/2025. While generating the Acknowledgement to extend the notified public
service, it was mentioned that if the application was accepted by the Revenue & Disaster
Management Department, the service would be provided within forty-five days [excluding
time taken between issue of No Objection Certificate and presentation of Sale Deed before
the jurisdictional Sub-Registrar Office] and if the service was not delivered within the
stipulated period of forty-five days, then the petitioner could raise an appeal.
3.2. It is stated that after submission of the application, as per the tracking status shown in
the Sewa Setu Portal, the application was forwarded on 24.06.2025 to the jurisdictional Circle
Officer with a report by the Land Records Assistant [LRA]. The application was thereafter,
forwarded by the jurisdictional Circle Officer to the jurisdictional Additional District
Commissioner on 15.07.2025 and finally on 30.08.2025, the jurisdictional Additional District
Commissioner forwarded the matter to the jurisdictional District Commissioner on 31.08.2025.
The jurisdictional District Commissioner had, in turn, forwarded the matter to the Special
Branch on 28.09.2025 for its recommendation.
4. The petitioner has stated that as after 28.09.2025 no discernible action is found to
have been taken by the respondent authorities to process the application for its finality, he is
constrained to prefer the instant writ petition seeking inter alia a direction to the respondent
authorities to process and finalize the application dated 24.06.2025.
5. The Registration Act, 1908 came to be amended by the Registration [Assam
Amendment] Act, 2009 with the insertion of Section 21A and again by the Registration
[Assam Amendment] Act, 2021. After those amendments, Section 21A of the Registration Act,
2009 reads as under :-
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21A. No registration of non-testamentary instruments with no objection
certificate.
Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provision of this Act, no non –
testamentary instrument relating to immovable property, except for house, flat,
residential apartment, commercial building or any construction or structure erected
on a plot of land, shall be accepted for registration, unless the Deputy Commissioner
of the concerned district issues a No Objection Certificate containing the description
of such immovable property to be transferred and also such other No objection
Certificates, which are required to be issued by the Deputy Commissioner or any
other Authority under any law for the time being in force or under any Executive
Instruction, Order etc. issued by the State Government from time to time;
Provided that all such No Objection Certificates shall be issued within a period of
thirty days from the date of the receipt of application and in case No Objection
Certificate is not issued within the stipulated period of thirty days, a speaking order
with reasons thereof shall be issued to the applicant within the said stipulated period.
6. It is a statutory mandate under Section 21A of the Registration Act for the
jurisdictional Deputy Commissioner to either issue a No Objection Certificate containing the
description of the immovable property to be transferred or to pass a speaking order with
reasons thereof within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of the application in
case NOC is not issued within the prescribed period of thirty days.
7. The Revenue & Disaster Management Department, Government of Assam has framed a
Standard Operating Procedure [SOP] and the SOP has been notified vide a Notification dated
09.09.2025. The relevant excerpts from the Notification are quoted herein under :-
Now therefore, the Governor of Assam is pleased to notify the following SOP for grant of No
Objection Certificate [NOC] by the District Commissioner for Registration of Transfer of Land
Page No.# 5/9[Land Sale, Lease Gift etc.] under Section 21A of Registration Act, 1908 in cases where the
buyers and sellers belong to different religious communities, as outlined below :-
1. An application for grant of NOC for Transfer of land shall be made by the
applicant through SEWA SETU portal, to the office of the District Commissioner
under whose jurisdiction the land is situated, with details on the reasons for sale
and the value of transaction.
2. District Commissioner shall collect a report from the concerned Circle Officer on
the veracity of the details submitted by the applicant.
3. District Commissioner, upon receipt of the report from Circle Officer shall forward
the application to the Nodal Officer, Inter Religion Land Sale permission, Revenue &
D.M. Department for examination of the comprehensive report.
4. The Nodal Officer, Inter Religion Land Sale permission, Revenue & D.M.
Department will further seek a report from Special Branch [SB], Assam Police HQ,
on the following points.
a. Whether such transfer of land could be under undue threat, coercion
or fraudulent means.
b. Whether such transfer of land has the propensity to disturb peace
and communal harmony in the area of proposed Land Transfer.
c. Whether such land transfer could pose a threat to national security.
d. Character & Antecedent report of buyer and seller.
5. Upon receipt of the report from Special Branch, the Nodal Officer, Inter Religion
Land Sale permission, Revenue & D.M. Department shall forward the same to the
District Commissioner concerned.
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6. Subsequent to the receipt of the report of the Special Branch from the Nodal
Officer, Inter Religion Land Sale permission, Revenue & D.M. Department, District
Commissioner will take a decision to either call for further queries from the
applicants, reject the proposal or issue NOC for such Land Transfer.
7. In the event that an application is not disposed within 30 days from the date
of application, the District Commissioner will issue speaking order with
reasons thereof to the applicant within’ the said stipulated period as per the
provisions of Section 21A.
8. Under Section 21A of the Registration Act, as amended, as well as in the SOP
formulated by the State Government, by the Notification dated 09.09.2025, time period of
thirty days from the date of application for processing of the application for issuance of the
No Objection Certificate [NOC] has been prescribed.
9. The Assam Right to Public Services [ARPTS] Act, 2012 has been enacted by the Assam
Legislative Assembly in order to provide for delivery of notified public services to the people of
the State of Assam within the stipulated time limit and for matters connected therewith and
incidental thereto. As per Section 2[h], ‘Right to Public Service’ means right to obtain the
notified service under the ARTPS Act from time to time within the stipulated time limit as
prescribed under Section 5. Section 5 of the ARTPS Act has laid down that every eligible
person shall have the right to obtain the services in accordance with the ARTPS Act within the
time bound period as notified under Section 4. It is the liability of the Designated Government
Servant to deliver services, under Section 6 of the ARTPS Act, within the stipulated period.
The stipulated time limit, as per Section 7[1], starts from the date when the application for
obtaining a required notified service is submitted to the Designated Public Servant or to a
person subordinate to him authorized to receive the application. As per Section 7[2], the
Designated Public Servant on receipt of an application under sub-section [1] shall, within the
stipulated time limit, provide the notified service or reject the application and in case of
rejection of application, he shall record the reasons in writing and communicate to the person
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making the application, [i] the reasons for such rejection; [ii] the period within which an
appeal against such rejection may be preferred; and [iii] the particulars of the Appellate
Authority.
10. The Notification dated 11.11.2022 is on the subject :- ‘Declaration of Service under
Revenue & DM Department as per provision of the Assam Right to Public Services Act, 2012
in all Districts [except sixth scheduled Districts] of Assam. The notification has been issued
with a view to provide delivery of public service to eligible citizens within the stipulated time
limit and others as under :
Subject: Declaration of Service under Revenue & DM Department as per provision
of the Assam Right to Public Services Act, 2012 in all Districts [except sixth
scheduled Districts] of AssamWith a view to provide the delivery to Public Service to eligible citizens within stipulated
time limit, Revenue & DM Department in continuation of earlier Notification No.
RSS.203/2022/1 dated 6th May 2022 has notified the below service under the Assam
Right to Public Services Act, 2012.
Service Name : Composite Land Service Transfer
An important service provided by the Deputy Commissioner regarding Land Sale
permission is ‘NoC for Transfer of Immovable Property’ under section 21[A] of the Indian
Registration Act, 1908. However once NoC is issued by the O/o the Deputy
Commissioner, applicant has to apply for Registration of the Scheduled land in Sub
Registrar Office following separate applications for Mutation, Partition, Jamabandi etc. in
the concerned Circle Office.
‘Composite Land Sale Transfer’ intends for issuing No Objection Certificate for the
Transfer of Immovable property at O/o Deputy Commissioner followed by Registration of
Page No.# 8/9Property at the Sub Registrar Office followed by auto mutation and auto Composite Land
Sale Transfer Service with ‘Auto Mutation’ or ‘Auto Mutation along with Partition’ at the
time of submitting the Application form.
Eligibility criteria :
Anyone in whose name figures in Jamabandi/Record of Rights or his/her legal
heir/successor or his/her registered power of attorney holder is eligible to avail the service
online.
Designated Public Servant [DPS] :
Deputy Commissioner/to the nominated by Deputy Commissioner.
11. The Notification has further provided for procedural steps to be followed by the
authorities involved in providing the notified public services. As per the Citizen Charter
annexed to the Notification as Annexure-I, for the notified public service ‘Composite Land Sale
Transfer’, the Deputy Commissioner or the authority to be nominated by the Deputy
Commissioner is the Designated Public Servant and the stipulated time limit for providing the
service is mentioned as forty-five days.
12. A speaking order is one which expressly states the reasons for the decision. In other
words, a speaking order speaks for itself by assigning the reasons behind the conclusion. It is
implicit in the principles of natural justice and fair play that an authority which has been
vested with the power to decide the matter should record reasons as it is part of fair
procedure, more particularly, when the decision is likely to affect the person concerned. In the
case in hand, the right of the petitioner is also traceable to Article 300A of the Constitution.
Though the right embedded in Article 300A is not fundamental right, but it is still a
constitutional and human right.
13. It is projected that the processing of the application, submitted on 24.06.2025, has not
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reached its finality till date despite elapse of more than a year since its submission. If the
application is still being processed, this Court is of the considered view that instead of keeping
the writ petition pending, the writ petition, in view of the statutory prescription contained in
Section 21A of the Registration Act, can be disposed of with a direction to the respondent
authorities, more particularly, the respondent no. 3 to bring the entire process to its
conclusion in strict compliance of the statutory prescription therein; the SOP framed in the
Notification dated 09.09.2025; and the Notification dated 11.11.2022; within a period of thirty
days from the date of submission of a certified copy of this order at his office by the
petitioner. It is accordingly ordered. If in the processing of the application, any further
document is necessary from the petitioner then the respondent no. 3 is to inform the
petitioner in writing as regards the deficiency, if any, in his application within a time period of
fifteen days from the date of submission of a copy of this Order at his office. In such
situation, the time period of thirty days is to be calculated from the date of meeting the
deficiencies by the petitioner.
14. With the observations made and the direction given, the writ petition is disposed of.
JUDGE
Comparing Assistant
Digitally signed by Rupam
Basumatary
Date: 2026.07.24 10:42:27
+05’30’
