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. v. 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Note :- Section 4 & 9 of the Act have been repealed.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 with 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 an 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) -
 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.