Q.1027 Life certificate required

for sale of property in India with

POA

Question: Hi Sir / Madam I am an Indian OCI holder with Australian passport. I have my property in India which I am wanting to sell. When I went to India in Sept 2016, I executed a Power of Attorney (POA) to my Father-in-Law, in India. I had it done through a Lawyer in India and it is registered. I think there is a mention in the POA that a life certificate is required during the sale time for registration. I checked with the Indian Consulate here in Sydney and they said the Life Certificate can only be given to Pensioners and not to any one else. Can you please help me with answers to the questions below, thanks. 1. Do I really require a Life Certificate even if I have executed the POA in India. 2. If Life certificate is required, what should I do. Should I get a Notary Public in Australia to frame a life certificate and sign and notarise it? Will Indian registration office accept a document just notarised by Australian Notary Public? or Should I have it Apostille with department of foreign affairs Australia and again have it attested with Indian consulate? 3. Are there any other ways to execute the sale without the Life certificate and just using the POA. Please advice. Your help is much appreciated. Regards Jude Arockianathan Answer: While each state may have their own registration rules, when a document is presented for registration through Power of Attorney [POA] the Sub-Registrars are required to reasonably satisfy themselves that the executant of the Power of Attorney is still alive as POA is valid only till the lifetime of the executant. Registrars are more vigilant when it comes to the transfer of real estate deeds due to concerns of fraud that have come to light over the past years. The compulsory requirement of life certificate was announced by the Chennai registration office a few years back; was set aside by a single judge of the High Court. Then upheld by a Division Bench of Justices and confirmed by the Supreme Court. According to this rule, at the time of execution of sale deeds where POA is being used, proof that the property owners concerned were alive for about 30 days before the date of execution is required. This rule is now being followed in the State of Tamil Nadu. Click HERE to see circular. The requirement of life certificate is an attempt to ensure that buyers do not become a victim of fraudulent deals where a deed is registered on the basis of a POA which may turn out to be not valid. These days’ some buyers may also be reluctant to register property deeds where the owner is not present and represented by a POA. Regarding your questions: 1. If the clause of providing life certificate is mentioned in your POA then you will have no choice but to provide it. 2. Registrars generally only recognize the signature and seal of Indian consulate. What a particular registrar may or may not accept is anybody’s guess. The sure proof method would be to get the document attested by Indian consulate. They usually insist on the document being Apostille before being brought in for attestation. [By law Indian consulate attestation should not be required if Apostille has been done, but there is no guarantee Registrar in India will accept if not attested by Indian consulate] 3. Since your POA mentions the requirement of a life certificate, Registrar will not register the sale without it. I would assume buyer would also insist of life certificate. Perhaps you should check with your lawyer who prepared the POA document for you. Seek guidance from your lawyer if the 30 day limit of life certificate applies to you.