Delhi : Important Supreme Court Verdict on General Power of Attorney

What is a Power of Attorney?

A power of attorney refers to a written authorization to represent or act on another’s behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter. Its a legal instrument whereby one person gives another person the authority to act on his or her behalf as his legal representative, and to make binding legal and financial decisions on his/ her behalf. It is not neccesary that a lawyer can only have Power of Attorney.

What are examples of powers contained in PA?

Some examples of legal powers contained in the Power of Attorney are the following:

In Real Estate and Porperty Transactions

• To execute all contracts, deeds, bonds, mortgages, notes, checks, drafts, money orders,
• To manage, compromise, settle, and adjust all matters pertaining to real estate.
• To lease, collect rents, grant, bargain, sell, or borrow and mortgage

In Contracts

• To enter into contacts,
• Perform any contract, agreement, writing, or thing
• To make, sign, execute, and deliver, acknowledge any contract, agreement,

Sale and Purchase of Stocks and Securities:

• To sell any and all shares of stocks, bonds, or other securities
• To make, execute, and deliver any assignment, or assignments, of any such shares of stock, bonds, or other securities.

Financial Transactions:

• To add to or withdraw any amounts from any of my bank accounts, Certificates of Deposit, Money Market Accounts, etc.
• To make, execute, endorse, accept and deliver any and all cheques and drafts
• Execute or release such deeds of trust or other security agreements as may be necessary
• Deposit and withdraw funds, Acquire and redeem certificates of deposit, in banks, savings and loan

What are Types of Power of Attorney?

There are two types of power of attorney; “general” and “special” (or limited).

• In General Power of Attorney, the principal empowers the agent with the right to carry out all legal acts on his behalf without restricting it to a particular transaction or act.
• In Special Power of Attorney, authority is restricted to act only on certain matters or only a particular kind of transaction or to carry out a specific legal transaction for the Principal.

What is Latest Verdict of Supreme Court?

Recently Supreme Court gave a landmark judgement in which it has barred sale of properties through general power of attorney (GPA) and sale agreements (SA). The court said that the ruling could reduce black money component in deals and bring down legal disputes but it would hit liquidity in the real estate market, bringing down the number of transactions in the short term.

The Supreme Court order that GPA cannot be treated as a registered sale dee. This verdict has brought a shock to stakeholders in the real estate industry in the city, where most property transactions are routed through general power of attorney (GPA).

Implications of this verdict:

The legal experts say that it would cause hardship to owners who bought dispute-free properties on GPA and SA simply because paperwork wasn’t complete for a proper sale registration. Such owners will have problems selling these properties, said senior lawyer Kumar Amit, who works for public sector banks that fund transactions through first power of attorney. Flat owners in co-op societies without completion certificates and house owners in lal dora land won’t be able to sell. Those who own property through general power of attorney won’t be able to sell unless they convert their papers into sale deed and get it registered. Further, banks unlikely to give loans for deals through GPA or sale agreements GPA preferred mode for sale of builder flats.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2011