Original Sale Deed Of Solvent Surety Ought To Be Returned After Obtaining His Bond: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has said that where a surety produced original sale deed of property to satisfy the trial court that he is a solvent surety, the trial court has to return the document after obtaining his bond.

A division bench of Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar and Justice Vijaykumar A Patil allowed the petition filed by Sadatulla Syed who stood surety for an accused. It said,

“In this case after the original of the sale deed was produced, the court ordered to keep it in safe custody. In our opinion, the court should have returned the original sale deed to the surety after obtaining his bond. Once the surety wants the sale deed to be returned, the court must return it.”

It was submitted that when the petitioner filed his surety affidavit, he produced original sale deed of his property to satisfy the trial court that he is a solvent surety. The court accepted the surety bond but ordered for keeping the sale deed in safe custody. An entry in the encumbrance certificate was also made. In the course of the proceedings Syed applied for return of the sale deed. However, the trial court rejected the application.

The bench noted that the court accepting the surety has to be satisfied whether the surety is solvent or not and for that limited purpose, the court will call upon the surety to produce the document of title of a property belonging to him. In case a xerox copy of the title deed is produced, the court may require the surety to produce the original for the purpose of comparing it with the Xerox copy and may return the original thereafter.

Considering the submission of the petitioner that the property is worth Rs.2 crores and the surety bond is for Rs.2 lakhs, the court said, “In case the accused does not appear before the court, the surety bond may be forfeited and in that event the surety has to pay the bond amount. In case the surety fails to pay the bond amount, as a last resort, the court can order for attaching the property belonging to the surety. Law also provides for showing remission in the bond amount.”

Following which it held “In this case it appears that the accused is regularly appearing and a charge is also created on the property which has been reflected in the encumbrance certificate. In this view the trial court should have entertained the application of the petitioner and ordered for returning the original sale deed.”

Accordingly it allowed the petition and directed the trial court to return the original sale deed and retain the certified copy. However, the entry in the encumbrance certificate shall continue till the trial is concluded.

Appearance: Advocate Mohammed Tahir for Petitioner.

Special Public Prosecutor P.Prasanna Kumar for Respondent.

Citation No: 2024 LiveLaw (Kar) 29

Case Title: Sadatulla Syed AND National Investigation Agency.

Case No: Writ Petition No 15674 OF 2023

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