In Brief
A bank sought to recover outstanding dues from a company director by attaching a cooperative housing flat in Mumbai in 2001. The director's wife later claimed the flat had been sold to a third party in 1995 through an unregistered agreement to sell, and the third party sought membership in the housing cooperative. The High Court sided with the third party. The Supreme Court reversed this, holding that immovable property can only be transferred by a registered deed of conveyance. An unregistered agreement to sell cannot transfer any legal right, title or interest. Therefore, the third party had no valid claim to the property and could not claim cooperative membership.
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