I.

INTRODUCTION

 Commencement and Application - The Registration Act, 1908 came into force on
1/1/1909. It extends to the whole of India except State of J&K. It is to be noted that
this Act, unlike the Transfer of Property Act, strikes only at documents and not at
transactions.
 Meaning of Registration - Registration means recording of the contents of a
document with a Registering Officer, and preservation of copies of original document.

II. OBJECTIVES OF THE ACT

 To consolidate the enactments relating to registration of documents;
 To provide information to people with respect to the nature and extent of the
rights which persons may have affecting that property;
 To enable people to find out as to whether any particular property is subject to
some particular legal obligation;
 To give solemnity of form and legal importance to certain classes of documents
by directing that they shall be registered;
 To provide safety and security to transactions relating to immovable property,
even if the document is lost or destroyed;
 Another purpose is conservation of evidence, assurance of title, publicity of
documents and prevention of fraud.

Case Law :- Suraj Lamp and Industries Pvt. Ltd. versus State of Haryana and
Another
Held :- The Supreme Court observed that this Act was enacted with the intention of
providing orderliness, discipline and public notice in regard to transactions relating
to immovable property and protection from fraud and forgery of documents of
transfer.

III. REGISTRATION ESTABLISHMENT

Note :- Section 4 & 9 of the Act have been repealed. Other sections pertaining to
registration establishment are as follows :- (IDROI) (AARES,R)

 Inspector General of Registration (Section 3) - The State Government shall

appoint an officer to be the Inspector-General of Registration for the territories
subject to such government:
 PROVIDED,  that the State Government instead of making such appointment,
may direct that the powers and duties of Inspector General shall be performed
by such officer as the State Government appoints in this behalf.
 Any Inspector-General may hold simultaneously any other office under the
Government.
 District and Sub-Districts (Section 5) - For the purposes of this Act, the State
Government shall form districts and sub-districts. It shall prescribe, and may alter,
the limits of such district and sub-districts.
  A notification in the official gazette has to be given pertaining to the districts
and sub-districts formed along withh the limits thereof, and every alteration of
such limits, shall be notified in the Official Gazette.
 Registrars and Sub-Registrars (Section 6) -The State Government may appoint
Registrars of the several districts and Sub-Registrar of the several sub-districts.
 Offices of Registrar and Sub-Registrar (Section 7) - The State Government shall
establish in every district and office to be styled the office of the Registrar and in
every sub-district an office or offices to be styled as the office of the Sub-Registrar or
the offices of the Joint Sub-Registrars.
 The State Government may amalgamate with any office of a Registrar any office
of a Sub-Registrar subordinate to such Registrar, and may authorize any Sub-
Registrar whose office has been so amalgamated to exercise and perform, in
addition to his own powers and duties, all or any of the powers and duties of
the Registrar to whom he is subordinate.
 PROVIDED that no such authorization shall enable a Sub-Registrar to hear an
appeal against an order passed by himself under this Act.

Case Law :- Heirs of N.C. Das & Smt. N.B. Das v. Beni Mohan Das

Held :- It is for the authority to decide administratively, documents of which area of the
District, Sub-District would be registered at Dhubri, and of which area at Lokraghan. There
is no bar for the authority to allow either sub-registrar's office to register a document from
any area of the sub-district. The legal mandatory requirement is that the land of the deed
must be situated within the Dhubri Sub-District.

 Inspectors of Registration Offices (Section 8) - The State Government may also

appoint officers, to be called Inspectors of Registration offices, and may prescribe the
duties of such officers. Every such Inspector shall be subordinate to the Inspector-
General.
 Absence of Registrar or vacancy in his office (Section 10) - This section provides
that :-
 When any Registrar, other than the Registrar of a district including a
Presidency-town, is absent otherwise than on duty in his district, or
 When his office is temporarily vacant,
 Any person whom the Inspector-General appoints in this behalf, or, in default
of such appointment, the Judge of the District Court within the local limits of
whose jurisdiction the Registrar's office is situate, shall be the Registrar during
such absence or until the State Government fills up the vacancy.
 When the Registrar of a district including a Presidency-town is absent
otherwise than on duty in his district, or when his office is temporarily vacant,
any person whom the Inspector-General appoints in this behalf shall be the
Registrar during such absence, or until the State Government fills up the
vacancy.
 Absence of Registrar on duty in his District (Section 11) - When any Registrar is
absent from his office on duty in his district, he may appoint any Sub-Registrar or
 other person in his district to perform, during such absence, all the duties of a
Registrar except those mentioned in sections 68 and 72.

 Absence of Sub-Registrar or vacancy in his office (Section 12) - When any Sub-
Registrar is absent, or when his office is temporarily vacant, any person whom the
Registrar of the district appoints in this behalf shall be Sub-Registrar during such
absence, or until the vacancy is filled up.
 Report to State Govt. of appointment u/s 10, 11 or 12 (Section 13) - All
appointments made under section 10, section 11 or section 12 shall be reported to
the State Government by the Inspector-General. Such report shall be either special or
general, as the State Government directs.
 Establishments of Registering officers (Section 14) - The State Govt. may allow
proper establishments for the several offices under this Act.
 Seal of Registering officers (Section 15) - The several Registrars and Sub-
Registrars shall use a seal bearing the following inscription in English and in such
other language as the State Govt. directs :-
"The seal of the Registrar (or of the Sub-Registrar of....)"
 Register-Books and Fire Proof boxes (Section 16) - The State Government shall
provide for the office of every registering officer the books necessary for the purposes
of this Act.
 The books so provided shall contain the forms from time to time prescribed by
the Inspector-General, with the sanction of the State Government, and the
pages of such books shall be consecutively numbered in print, and the number
of pages in each book shall be certified on the title-page by the officer by whom
such books are issued.
 The State Government shall supply the office of every Registrar with a fire-proof
box, and shall in each district make suitable provision for the safe custody of
the records connected with the registration of documents in such district.
 Keeping of books in computer floppies etc. (Section 16-A) - The books may also
be kept in computer floppies or diskettes or any other electronic form.