DOCUMENTS OF WHICH REGISTRATION IS COMPULSORY/ OPTIONAL & EFFECT OF NON-REGISTRATION OF DOCUMENTS

OBJECT AND PURPOSE:

The object and purpose of the Registration Act is to provide a method of public registration of documents so as to give information to people regarding legal rights and obligations arising out of or affecting a particular property, to perpetuate documents which may afterwards be of legal importance, and also to prevent fraud.

 

DOCUMENTS OF WHICH REGISTRATION IS COMPULSORY: (SECTION 17)

1. INSTRUMENTS OF GIFT OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY:
Instruments of gift of immovable property are compulsorily registerable under the Registration Act.
1987 SCMR 1403
The registration of hiba or gift under Islamic law is not compulsory.

2. OTHER NON-TESTAMENTARY INSTRUMENTS:
Which purport or operate to create, declare, assign, limit, or extinguish, whether in present or in future, any right, title, or interest, whether vested or contingent, of the value of one hundred rupees and upwards, to or in immovable property.
► Every document which is not a will or codicil is called a non-testamentary instrument.

3. INSTRUMENT RELATING TO RECEIPT OF ANY CONSIDERATION:
Non-testamentary instruments which acknowledge the receipt or payment of any consideration on account of the creation, declaration, assignment, limitation, or extinction of any such right, title, or interest:
Except:
The acknowledgment of a receipt or payment made in respect of any transaction to which an instrument registered under clause (a) relates.

4. LEASES OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY:
Lease of immovable property from year to year, or for any term exceeding one year, or reserving a yearly rent.
► Exception (Section 17(1) proviso):
The Provincial Government may, by order published in the official Gazette, exempt from the operation of this sub-section any leases executed in any district, or part of a district, the terms granted by which do not exceed five years and the annual rents reserved by which do not exceed fifty rupees.

5. INSTRUMENT RELATING TO DECREE AND ORDER:
Transferring or assigning any decree or order of a Court or any award when such decree, order, or award purports or operates to create, declare, assign, limit, or extinguish—
► Whether in present or in future, any right, title, or interest;
► Whether vested or contingent, of the value of one hundred rupees and upwards, to or in immovable property.

6. AUTHORITIES TO ADOPT A SON, executed after the first day of January, 1872, and not conferred by a will, shall also be registered.

 

DOCUMENTS OF WHICH REGISTRATION IS OPTIONAL: (SECTION 18)

Any document not required to be registered under Section 17 may also be registered under this Act. Section 17(2) provides the documents under Sub-section (2) whose registration is not compulsory and can be registered under Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908, i.e.,

1. COMPOSITION DEED

2. INSTRUMENT RELATING TO SHARES IN A JOINT STOCK COMPANY

3. DEBENTURE: Any debenture issued by any such company.

4. ENDORSEMENT UPON OR TRANSFER OF ANY DEBENTURE ISSUED BY ANY SUCH COMPANY

5. DOCUMENT OF THE VALUE OF ONE HUNDRED RUPEES AND UPWARDS:
   Any document not itself creating, declaring, assigning, limiting, or extinguishing any right, title, or interest of the value of one hundred rupees and upwards.

6. DECREE OR ORDER OF COURT:
   Any decree or order of a Court,
   Except: A decree or order expressed to be made on a compromise and comprising immovable property other than that which is the subject matter of the suit or proceeding.

7. GRANT OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY BY THE GOVERNMENT.

8. INSTRUMENT OF PARTITION MADE BY A REVENUE OFFICER.

9. ORDER GRANTING A LOAN OR INSTRUMENT OF COLLATERAL SECURITY GRANTED UNDER THE LAND IMPROVEMENT LOANS ACT, 1883.

10. ENDORSEMENT ON A MORTGAGE DEED:
    Acknowledging the payment of the whole or any part of the mortgage money, and any other receipt for payment of money due under a mortgage.

11. ANY CERTIFICATE OF SALE GRANTED TO THE PURCHASER OF ANY PROPERTY SOLD BY PUBLIC AUCTION BY A CIVIL OR REVENUE OFFICER.

 

TIME FROM WHICH REGISTERED DOCUMENT OPERATES: (SECTION 47)

A registered document shall operate from the time from which it would have commenced to operate if no registration thereof had been required or made, and not from the time of its registration.

 

REGISTERED DOCUMENTS RELATING TO PROPERTY WHEN TO TAKE EFFECT AGAINST ORAL AGREEMENTS: (SECTION 48)

All non-testamentary documents duly registered under this Act, and relating to any property, whether movable or immovable, shall take effect against any oral agreement or declaration relating to such property.
Except:
Where the agreement or declaration has been accompanied or followed by delivery of possession and the same constitutes a valid transfer under any law for the time being in force.

Provided that a mortgage by deposit of title-deeds as defined in Section 58 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, shall take effect against any mortgage-deed subsequently executed and registered which relates to the same property.

 

EFFECT OF NON-REGISTRATION OF DOCUMENTS: (SECTION 49)

No document required to be registered under this Act or under any earlier law providing for or relating to registration of documents shall—

1. Operate to create, declare, assign, limit, or extinguish, whether in present or in future, any right, title, or interest, whether vested or contingent, to or in immovable property; or

2. Confer any power to adopt, unless it has been registered.

 

CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH REGISTERED DOCUMENT WILL TAKE EFFECT AGAINST UNREGISTERED DOCUMENT: (SECTION 50)

The registered document will take effect against the unregistered document in the following cases:

1. Where the document is registered under any of the kinds in clauses (a), (b), (c), and (d) of Section 17(1).

2. Where the document is registered under Section 18, in so far as such document affects immovable property.

3. Where the document acknowledges the receipt or payment of any consideration in respect of any transaction relating to immovable property, if duly registered.

 

CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH REGISTERED DOCUMENT WILL TAKE EFFECT AGAINST UNREGISTERED DOCUMENT: (SECTION 50 — Provisos 1 and 2)

1. The person in possession of the property under an unregistered document prior in date would be entitled to the rights under Section 53-A of the Transfer of Property Act, if the conditions of that section are fulfilled.

2. The person in whose favor an unregistered document is executed shall be entitled to enforce the contract under the unregistered document in a suit for specific performance against a person claiming under a subsequent registered document, subject to the provisions of clause (b) of Section 27 of the Specific Relief Act, 1877.

 

EXEMPTION OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS EXECUTED BY OR IN FAVOUR OF THE GOVERNMENT: (SECTION 90)

The following are the documents which are exempted from registration:

1. Documents issued, received, or attested by any officer engaged in making a settlement or revision of settlement of land-revenue, and which form part of the records of such settlement; or

2. Documents and maps issued, received, or authenticated by any officer engaged on behalf of Government in making or revising the survey of any land, and which form part of the record of such survey; or

3. Documents which, under any law for the time being in force, are filed periodically in any revenue office by patwaris or other officers charged with the preparation of village records; or

4. Sanads, Inams, title-deeds, and other documents purporting to be or to evidence grants or assignments by Government of land or of any interest in land.

CONCLUDING STATEMENT:

The Registration Act serves to provide a public record of transactions relating to property, ensuring transparency, preventing fraud, and safeguarding the legal rights and interests of individuals by making registration compulsory for specified documents while allowing optional registration for others. It establishes the evidentiary value and legal operation of registered documents, securing certainty and protection in property dealings.