Karnataka HC: Tech Glitches Can’t Stop Lease Transfers
Case Title: Gopalrao vs State of Karnataka & others
Case No.: WRIT PETITION NO. 103223 OF 2026
Coram: Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum
Court Observation
“A State instrumentality cannot say that because its computer system is not configured to recognise a particular lawful interest, the citizen’s right to deal with that interest must remain suspended indefinitely. Technology is intended to facilitate the exercise of rights and the discharge of statutory functions. It cannot become an impediment to the exercise of substantive rights…
The respondents cannot, by reason of a technical deficiency in the software or the existing data-mapping mechanism, render a legally recognised and transferable leasehold interest incapable of being conveyed. A software system is a means for implementation of the law, it cannot become a source for extinguishing or restricting substantive rights which otherwise flow from law and the title documents”
“The State is undoubtedly entitled to undertake statutory scrutiny of every document presented for registration, including scrutiny of the title, transferability of the interest, compliance with the terms of the lease, payment of stamp duty and registration fee and compliance with all other statutory requirements. However, such statutory scrutiny cannot be substituted by or reduced to an automated rejection generated merely because the software does not recognise the leaseholder’s name.”
