 TITLE: Effects Of Non-Registration Of Documents Under The Registration Act, 1908

 SUBJECT: Land Laws

 STUDENT NAME: Mr. Hari

 ROLL NUMBER & DIVISION:

 COLLEGE NAME: KISHINCHAND CHELLARAM LAW COLLEGE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The pleasure that follows the successful completion of a project would remain
incomplete without a word of gratitude for the people and without whose
cooperation the achievement would remain a distant dream.

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to our principal madam Dr.
Kavita Lalchandani and Prof. __________ who gave me the golden opportunity to
do this wonderful project on the topic of “Effects of non-registration of required
documents under the Registration Act, 1908” , which also helped me in doing a
lot of Research through which I come to know about so many new things.

Secondly, I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot in
finalizing this project within the limited time frame.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sr. Page
Particulars
No. No.

1 Introduction & Purpose of Registration Act, 1908 1

Mandatory and optional Registration of Documents under

2 7–9
Registration Act, 1908

Effects of registration of Documents under Registration Act,

3
1908
Effects of non-registration of required documents under
4 Registration Act, 1908 – Legal Provisions along with landmark
case laws
Effects Of Non-Registration Of Documents Under The Registration Act, 1908

5 Conclusion 10 – 11

6 Reference/Bibliography 22 – 23

I. INTRODUCTION & PURPOSE OF REGISTRATION ACT, 1908

The Registration Act, 1908 (the "Indian Registration Act") is an act to

consolidate the enactments relating to the registration of documents.
Registration means recording of the contents of the document. The object of
registration is conservation of evidence and title.

The Indian Registration Act was enacted for inter alia providing the procedure
for registration of transactions related to immovable property, to provide
notice/information to the public at large, to avoid multiple transactions with
respect to the same property and to protect the interest of the purchaser.

Purpose of the Act: The purpose of the Registration Act, amongst other things,
is to provide a method of public registration of documents so as to give
information to people regarding legal rights and obligations arising or affecting
a particular property, and to perpetuate documents which may afterwards be of
legal importance, and also to prevent fraud. Registration lends inviolability and
importance to certain classes of documents.

The Indian Registration Act was enacted with the goal of ensuring that all
necessary information relating to land or other immovable property transactions
was recorded. The authenticity of a document can be enhanced by having it
registered.

The purpose of registration is to avoid fraud. The purpose of registering a

document is to notify the rest of the world that it has been executed. The
registration of a document does not grant title to the property described in the
document, but it does offer evidence of such transactions, which can be used
to establish title to the property.

Purpose of Registration: Section 3 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882

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Effects Of Non-Registration Of Documents Under The Registration Act, 1908

provides that where any transaction relating to immoveable property is required

by law to be and has been effected by a registered instrument, any person
acquiring such property or any part/ interest thereof, shall be deemed to have
notice of such instrument from the date of registration, provided the instrument
has been registered as per the Indian Registration Act.

As such, registration of documents with the relevant authorities serves the

following purposes:
 To notify the general public interested in dealing with immoveable
property;
 To ascertain the actual owner of such property and extent of rights that
the owner possess;
 To prevent forgery and fraud; and
 To enable the persons to ascertain whether any charge is created on
such property.

Section 17 of the Indian Registration Act deals with the documents that are
compulsory to be registered. Section 18 of the Act provides for the optional
registration of certain documents. Whereas section 49 of the Act deals with
effects of the non-registration of the documents, of which registration is
compulsory under section 17 of the Indian Registration Act.

Let us have a detailed look at the effects of registration and non-registration of

required documents under relevant provisions of Indian registration Act along
with relevant landmark case laws on the same.

II. Mandatory Registration of Documents under Registration Act, 1908:

Section 17(1) of the Indian Registration Act enumerates the following

types of documents which are to be mandatorily registered:

1. Deed of gift relating to immovable property;

2. Instruments not testamentary:
a. Subject to the establishment, transfer, declaration and
extinguishment of any interest in immovable property
valued at Rs.100 and above;
b. which acknowledge receipt or payment of any creation,
assignment, declaration or restriction in respect of any
right, title or interest;
3. Lease of immovable property from year to year, or for any period

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Effects Of Non-Registration Of Documents Under The Registration Act, 1908

of more than one year or annual rent reservation;

4. Contracts for the transfer of immovable property for the purposes
of Section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 shall be
performed on or after the coming into force of the Registration
and Other Relevant Laws (Amendment) Act, 2001 and
5. A transfer of a court decree or order, or any award, when such
decree, order, or award creates, declares, or otherwise affects
any interest in immovable property worth Rs. 100 or more must be
registered.

As such, in view of the Section 17(1) Indian Registration Act the

following documents are mandatorily registerable, if the value of the
immovable property is INR 100/- (Indian Rupees One Hundred) and
above namely: (a) Gift Deeds,
(b) Sale Deeds,
(c) Conveyance Deeds,
(d) Settlement Deeds,
(f) Release Deeds,
(g) Partition Deeds,
(i) Lease Deeds of immovable property from year to year, or for any term
exceeding one year, or reserving a yearly rent, and
(j) Power of Attorney coupled with interest creating rights in the
immovable property.

III. Optional Registration of Documents under Registration Act, 1908:

Although section 17 of the Registration Act has made registration of certain

documents compulsory, section 18 specifies certain documents, registration
for which is optional. They are:
 Instruments worth less than one hundred rupees.
 Adoption Deed
 Instrument relating to joint-stock business shares
 Debentures provided by the joint venture
 Will
 Rental of immovable property not greater than 1 year
 Past transaction document
 Power of Counsel in relation to movable properties
 Decree or court order containing an immovable property valued under

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Effects Of Non-Registration Of Documents Under The Registration Act, 1908

Rs. 100
 Mortgage Agreement
 Promissory note
 Revenue Officer partitioning instrument
 State award of immovable real estate

IV. Effects/benefits of registration of Documents under Indian Registration

Act:

Registration is notice to public: Registered document becomes public

document; such document can be inspected and certified true copy of the
same can be obtained from registration office by anybody on payment of
necessary fees and by observing the prescribed procedure. Certain
registered document prevails over unregistered document.

Registration is the act of registering a document with a recognized officer and

preserving the original copies thereof. Even if a registered document is lost or
damaged, the document’s authenticity is proved in the registration records.
Easy access also helps in finding the owner who has the title and right to the
property and whether there is any case against him or any existing liability
before anybody decides to buy it. Registration also prohibits forgeries or fraud
in particular transactions, tax, stamp duty etc.

Thus, it is not necessary to register every document but doing so confirms the
authenticity and helps to avoid legal processes.

V. Effects of non-registration of required documents under Indian

Registration Act:

Effect of non-registration of a document is enacted under Section 49 of the

Registration Act, 1908 , which contemplates that no document, required to
be registered under Section 17 of this Act, shall be operative for the
creation, etc. of any right, title or interest, in or to immovable property,
unless it is registered within a prescribed duration. Thus, such an
Instrument is inadmissible as evidence in the court of law.

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Effects Of Non-Registration Of Documents Under The Registration Act, 1908

Legal Provision: Section 49 of the Indian Registration Act,1908 reads as

under;

49. Effect of non-registration of documents required to be registered.—

No document required by section 17 [or by any provision of the Transfer
of Property Act, 1882 (4 of 1882)], to be registered shall —
(a) affect any immovable property comprised therein, or
(b) confer any power to adopt, or
(c) be received as evidence of any transaction affecting such
property or conferring such power, unless it has been registered:
[Provided that an unregistered document affecting immovable property
and required by this Act or the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (4 of
1882), to be registered may be received as evidence of a contract in a
suit for specific performance under Chapter II of the Specific Relief Act,
1877 or
as evidence of any collateral transaction not required to be effected by
registered instrument.]

The conditions for the applicability of the Section are:

1. There must be a Document : The terms of the Section do not apply

unless the terms of a transaction have been reduced into writing.

2. The Document Must be Compulsorily Registerable: That document

must be required by Section 17 of the Act or by any provision of the
Transfer of Property Act to be registered.

3. That document must not have been registered: The Section shall
have effect only when the document though required by law to be
compulsorily registered, has not yet be so registered.

If the above conditions are fulfilled, then the following consequences will
follow:
i. That document cannot effect any immovable property comprised
therein
ii. That document cannot confer any power to adopt;
iii. That document cannot be received as evidence of any transaction

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Effects Of Non-Registration Of Documents Under The Registration Act, 1908

affecting such property or conferring such power.

EFFECTS OF NON-REGISTRATION

Effects of non-registration of a compulsorily registerable instruction may be

discussed in the following heads.

1. Inoperativeness of a document:
That no document is necessary to be registered under this Act or under
any earlier law providing for or relating to the registration of documents
shall be used to establish, grant, allocate, restrict or extinguish any
right, title or interest. Whether vested or contingent, in or in respect of
the immovable property.

2. No Conferment of power to Adopt: Under the section, an adoption deed

not duly registered, as required by section 17 of the Registration Act,
shall not grant any power of adoption.

3. Inadmissibility as evidence:
A document required to be registered and which is not registered cannot
be taken as evidence of the creation of any right, title or interest in or on
certain immovable property. Consequently, non-registration destroys the
evidential value of an instrument, but it can be used as evidence of
certain collateral transactions.

4. Admissibility for collateral Transactions:

Where a document required by law to be registered is not registered
then it cannot affect any immovable property contained therein nor can it
be received as evidence of any transaction affecting such property
pursuant to section 49 of the Registration Act. However, such a
document may be admitted to prove a party’s admission in respect of the
property ‘s character, i.e. whether it is joint or otherwise.

Landmark case laws related to the Registration Act, 1908:

1. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of S. Kaladevi vs V. R.

Somasundaram and Others AIR 2010 SC 1654 while dealing with

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Effects Of Non-Registration Of Documents Under The Registration Act, 1908

validity of registration, held that;

"(a) A document required to be registered, if unregistered is not
admissible into evidence under Section 49 of the Registration Act,
(b) Such unregistered document can however be used as an evidence of
collateral purpose as provided in the proviso to Section 49 of the
Registration Act,
(c) A collateral transaction must be independent of, or divisible from, the
transaction to effect which the law required registration,
(d) A collateral transaction must be a transaction not itself required to be
effected by a registered document, that is, a transaction creating, etc.
any right, title or interest in immovable property of the value of one
hundred rupees and upwards,
(e) If a document is inadmissible in evidence for want of registration,
none of its terms can be admitted in evidence and that to use a
document for the purpose of proving an important clause would not be
using it as a collateral purpose and
(f) A document required to be registered, if unregistered, can be
admitted in evidence as evidence of a contract in a suit for specific
performance".

2. The Hon’ble Delhi High Court in case of M/s. Jiwan Industries (P) Ltd.
v. Smt. Kamlesh Rani Budhiraja, 208 (2014) DLT 589 held as under.

In this case, it was determined that an unregistered lease-deed can

only be examined for collateral purposes; the term 'collateral
purposes' cannot be interpreted to include the terms and conditions
of tenancy, but rather to mean the use of an unregistered lease-deed
to demonstrate the nature of the possession, i.e., to demonstrate that
the tenant has not entered into the property illegally, but rather is a
legal-entrant.

3. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of The Meghmala v. G.

Narasimha Reddy & Ors (2010) 8 SCC 383 held in relation to
registration of ‘agreement to sell’ that;

An agreement to sell does not create any right, title, or interest in the
intended buyer, according to the court. Because an agreement to sell
does not fall under the offence of Section 53-A of the Transfer of

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Effects Of Non-Registration Of Documents Under The Registration Act, 1908

Property Act of 1882 or Section 17(1A) of the Registration Act of

1908, it is not required to be registered. At best, an agreement to sell
falls under the wrath of Section 17(2) (v) of the Registration Act,
1908, because it does not create, declare, assign, limit, or extinguish
any right, title, or interest in any immovable property worth Rs. 100
or more, but rather creates a right in favour of the intending buyer to
obtain another document, namely the registered sale-deed, in the
future. Hence, an agreement to sell does not require registration
under the Registration Act of 1908.

4. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of Bhoop Singh v. Ram
Singh Major [AIR 1996 SC 196] held as under.

It was decided that if a decree is issued about some immovable

property that is not the subject of the suit, it (the decree) will be
subject to compulsory registration. That instance, if a suit is filed in
respect of property 'A,' but the decree is in respect of immovable
property 'B,' the decree will require compulsory registration insofar
as it relates to immovable property 'B,' according to Section 17(2) (vi)
of the Registration Act, 1908.

5. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of State of Rajasthan

v. Basant Nahata[(2005) 12 SCC 77] It was decided as under in this
case:

The Contract Act of 1872 governs the grant of power of attorney in

its entirety. A power of attorney is not a transfer instrument for any
right, title, or interest in immovable property. A power of attorney is
the creation of an agency in which the grantor authorises the grantee
to perform the acts described therein on behalf of the grantor, which
will be binding on the grantor as if performed by him (See: Sections
1-A and 2 of the Powers of Attorney Act, 1882). Unless it is rendered
irrevocable in a legal manner, a power of attorney can be revoked or
terminated at any moment. Even an irreversible power of attorney
has no effect on transferring ownership to the grantee. A power of
attorney is merely a document of convenience; an attorney-holder
may use the power conferred under the power of attorney to execute
a deed of conveyance and so convey title on behalf of the grantor.

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Effects Of Non-Registration Of Documents Under The Registration Act, 1908

6. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of Suraj Lamps &
Industries Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Haryana [AIR 2012 SC 206] held as
under.
 In this case, it was decided that only a registered deed of
conveyance can legally and lawfully transfer or convey immovable
property.
 Transactions of the type of 'General Power of Attorney Sales,' 'Sale
by Agreement to Sell,' or 'Transfer by Will,' are incapable of
conveying title and cannot be recognized as acceptable modes of
immovable property transfer.
 Such transactions are not to be treated as finished or concluded
transfers or conveyances by the courts because they do not convey
title or create any interest in real property.
 Except to the degree that Section 53-A of the Transfer of Property
Act, 1882 allows, they cannot be recognized as deeds conferring
title.
 Such transactions cannot be trusted or used to justify changes to
municipal or revenue records. This regulation applies not just to
deeds of conveyance for freehold property, but also to leasehold
property transfers.
 Only a registered "Assignment of Lease" can legally transfer a lease.
An 'Agreement to Sell/General Power of Attorney/Will' transaction
does not transfer ownership or create an interest in real estate.

VI. CONCLUSION:

The purpose of registering a document is to notify the world that such a

document has been executed, to prevent fraud and forgery and to secure a
reliable and complete account of all transactions affecting the property’s title.
Consequently, it can be seen that registration of a document is of utmost
importance and should be done as soon as possible otherwise it would lead to
long years of a legal battle.

As such, the documents in respect of immovable properties, which are

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Effects Of Non-Registration Of Documents Under The Registration Act, 1908

compulsorily registerable as per the Indian Registration Act, have limited

evidentiary value if they are not registered as per the provisions thereof. Such
unregistered documents would not operate to create, declare, assign, limit or
extinguish in present or in future, any right, title or interest whether vested, or
contingent to or in immoveable property, except as provided in Section 49 of
the Indian Registration Act.

Reference/Bibliography

Article

1. https://www.e-stampdutyreadyreckoner.com/faq-registration.php

2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
314424567_The_Registration_Act_1908_Critical_Analysis_of_the_1908_Act

3. https://www.writinglaw.com/registration-of-documents/

4. https://www.mondaq.com/india/real-estate/1233940/mandatory-registration-of-
documents-relating-to-immovable-property

5. https://bnwjournal.com/2020/08/09/effect-of-registration-and-non-registration-
under-the-registration-act-1908/

Books

1. The Registration Act - 14Th Edition by Sir Dinshaw Fardunji Mulla

2. Malik's Commentary on The Registration Act, 1908 from Delhi Law House
3. Lawmann's Digest of Registration Act, 1908 from Kamal Publishers

Web Resources

1. https://legislative.gov.in/actsofparliamentfromtheyear/registration-act-1908
2. https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-8706-landmark-judgements-
under-registration-act-1908.html
3. https://indiankanoon.org/doc/561156/

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