Skip to main content

Registered letters can't be returned without proper reason: Madras high court

The Madras high court has frowned on mechanical return of registered letters as "unclaimed" by postmen, and said that in case they could not be delivered, proper reasons must be given.

Justice S Tamilvanan, underscoring the importance of a registered post in litigations and other matters, said that when people pay a fee and affix sufficient postal stamp, the postal authorities or postmen must discharge their duties in a responsible manner. The postman should make it clear as to whether the registered letter was served on the addressee or refused by the addressee or no addressee was found in the given address, the judge said.

Passing orders on a matrimonial litigation, wherein a Chennai-based woman wanted her divorce proceedings to be transferred from a Puducherry court to a Chennai court, the judge said the woman's notice sent by registered post had been returned undelivered with a simple endorsement "unclaimed." Slamming the practice, Justice Tamilvanan said the court was ofthe view that the reason for the non-delivery of the notice had not been properly explained to the person who sent it.

"The endorsement 'not claimed' is required to be made in a responsible manner by the postman or the official of the postal department, so as to convey proper reason and to bring out the fact as to under what circumstances the registered letter could not be served on the addressee by the postman," the judge said.

In case the registered letter is delivered to a person other than the addressee, the postman must obtain clear endorsement and explain the relationship of the signatory who received the letter on behalf of the addressee, Justice Tamilvanan said.

Return of registered letters with a comment "unclaimed" or with some other improper endorsement would cause inconvenience to the general public and the person seeking justice through court of law, the judge said, adding: "Service of notice by registered post plays a vital role in deciding several cases."

He then directed the chief post-master general of Tamil Nadu to give suitable instructions to all postal department officials to follow the guidelines laid down by the court in this case.

Comments

Post a Comment

Most viewed this month

The recovery of vehicles by the financier not an offence - SC

Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 8907  of 2009 Anup Sarmah (Petitioner) Vs Bhola Nath Sharma & Ors.(Respondents) The petitioner submitted that  respondents-financer had forcibly taken away the vehicle financed by them and  illegally deprived the petitioner from its lawful possession  and  thus,  committed  a crime. The complaint filed by the petitioner had been  entertained  by  the Judicial Magistrate (Ist Class), Gauhati (Assam) in Complaint Case  No.  608 of 2009, even directing the interim custody of the vehicle (Maruti  Zen)  be given to the petitioner vide order dated  17.3.2009.  The respondent on approaching the Guwahati High  Court against this order, the hon'ble court squashed the criminal  proceedings  pending   before  the  learned Magistrate. After hearing both sides, the Hon'ble Supreme Court decided on 30th...
7 comments
Read more

Vanishing promoters and languishing shareholders

Over Rs 60,000 crore of shareholders’ wealth is stuck in 1,450 companies suspended by the stock exchanges. More importantly, near 100 per cent pledging of promoter holding appears to be common in many of these companies. This, almost rules out any chance of the companies bouncing back. The suspension is for non-compliance of the listing norms. Vanishing Companies - Definition As per the definition stipulated by SEBI, any listed company, which raised moneythrough initial public offer and, thereafter, stopped operations, did not file returnseither with the RoC or SEBI and did not exist on the registered premises wastermed as vanishing.There are provisions under Companies Act under which companies are termedvanishing companies on satisfying certain conditions. it is provided a companywould be deemed to be a vanishing company, if it satisfies all the conditions given below : a) Failed to file returns with Registrar of Companies (ROC) for a period of two years; b) Failed to fil...
3 comments
Read more

Property can be sold on power of attorney - Delhi High Court

As reported in the Hindusthan Times on 5th May:-  http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Property-can-be-sold-on-power-of-attorney/Article1-1054964.aspx In a judgment that will benefit lakhs of Delhi residents living in co-operative housing societies and DDA flats, the Delhi High Court has quashed a Delhi government circular banning property sale in the Capital through general power of attorney (GPA). The court found that the directions in the circular, issued by the revenue department on April 27 last year, were contrary to the Supreme Court judgment dated October 11, 2011. The HC order will increase the number of saleable properties in Delhi and could bring down the value of freehold properties. According to realty watchers, on an average, around 20% of properties are registered through GPA transfers — a common way of selling leasehold properties and those that don’t have a clear title. The judgment came on a petition filed by a company, Pace Developers and ...
5 comments
Read more