Registration Act, 1908
PART I - PART IX
PART I : PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent and commencement
(1) This Act may be called the 1[***] Registration Act, 1908.
2[(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir:
PROVIDED that the State Government may exclude any district or tracts of country from its operation.]
(3) It shall come into force on the first day of January, 1909.
2. Definitions
In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context-
(1) "addition" means the place of residence, and the profession, trade, rank and title, (if any) of a person described, and, in the case of 3[an Indian], 4[***] his father's name, or where he is usually described as the son of his mother, then his mother's name;
(2) "book" includes a portion of a book and also any number of sheets connected together with a view of forming a book or portion of a book;
(3) "district" and "sub-district" respectively means a district and sub-district formed under this Act;
(4) "District Court" includes the High Court in its ordinary original civil jurisdiction;
(5) "endorsement" and "endorsed" include and apply to an entry in writing by a registering officer on a rider or covering slip to any document tendered for registration under this Act;
(6) "immovable property" includes land, buildings, hereditary allowances, rights to ways, lights, ferries, fisheries or any other benefit to arise out of land, and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything which is attached to the earth, but not standing timber, growing crops nor grass;
5[(6A) "India" means the territory of India excluding the State of Jammu and Kashmir;]
(7) "lease" includes a counterpart, kabuliyat, an undertaking to cultivate or occupy, and an agreement to lease;
(8) "minor" means a person who, according to the personal law to which he is subject, has not attained majority;
(9) "movable property" includes standing timber, growing crops and grass, fruit upon and juice in trees, and property of every other description, except immovable property; and
(10) "representative" includes the guardian of a minor and the committee or other legal curator of a lunatic or idiot.
PART II : OF THE REGISTRATION-ESTABLISHMENT
3. Inspector-General of Registration
(1) 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 may, instead of making such appointment, direct that all or any of the powers and duties hereinafter conferred and imposed upon the Inspector-General shall be exercised and performed by such officer or officers, and within such local limits, as the State Government appoints in this behalf.
(2) Any Inspector-General may hold simultaneously any other office under the Government.
4. 6[Branch Inspector-General of Sindh]
5. Districts and sub-districts
(1) For the purposes of this Act, the State Government shall form districts and sub-districts, and shall prescribe, and may alter, the limits of such district and sub-districts.
(2) The districts and sub-districts formed under this section, together with the limits thereof, and every alteration of such limits, shall be notified in the Official Gazette.
(3) Every such alteration shall take effect on such day after the date of the notification as is therein mentioned.
6. Registrars and Sub-Registrars
The State Government may appoint such persons, whether public officers or not, as it thinks proper, to be Registrars of the several districts, and to be Sub-Registrar of the several sub-districts, formed as aforesaid, respectively.
7. Offices of Registrar and Sub-Registrar
(1) 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 the office of the Sub-Registrar or the offices of the Joint Sub-Registrars.
(2) The State Government may amalgamate with any office of a Registrar any office of a Sub-Registrar subordinate to such Registrar, and may authorise 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 authorisation shall enable a Sub-Registrar to hear an appeal against an order passed by himself under this Act.
8. Inspectors of Registration offices
(1) The State Government may also appoint officers, to be called Inspectors of Registration offices, and may prescribe the duties of such officers.
(2) Every such Inspector shall be subordinate to the Inspector-General.
9. 7[Military cantonments may be declared sub-districts or districts]
10. Absence of Registrar or vacancy in his office
(1) 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.
(2) 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.
11. Absence of Registrar on duty in his district
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.
12. Absence of Sub-Registrar or vacancy in his office.
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 8[the vacancy is filled up].
13. Report to State Government of appointments under sections 10, 11 and 12
(1) 9[***] All appointments made under section 10, section 11 or section 12 shall be reported to the State Government by the Inspector-General.
(2) Such report shall be either special or general, as the State Government directs.
10[***]
14. Establishments of registering officers
11[***]
(2) The State Government may allow proper establishments for the several offices under this Act.
15. Seal of registering officers
The several Registrars and Sub-Registrars shall use a seal bearing the following inscription in English and in such other language as the State Government directs:
"The seal of the Registrar (or of the Sub-Registrar) of".
16. Register-books and fire-proof boxes
(1) The State Government shall provide for the office of every registering officer the books necessary for the purposes of this Act.
(2) 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.
(3) 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.
PART III : OF REGISTRABLE DOCUMENTS
17. Documents of which registration is compulsory
(1) The following documents shall be registered, if the property to which they relate is situate in a district in which, and if they have been executed on or after the date on which, Act No. XVI of 1864, or the Indian Registration Act, 1866, or the Indian Registration Act, 1871, or the Indian Registration Act, 1877 or this Act came or comes into force, namely:-
(a) instruments of gift of immovable property;
(b) 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;
(c) 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; and
(d) leases of immovable property from year to year, or for any term exceeding one year, or reserving a yearly rent;
12[(e) non-testamentary instruments transferring or assigning any decree or order of a court or any award when such decree or 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:]
PROVIDED that the State 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 rent reserved by which do not exceed fifty rupees.
(2) Nothing in clauses (b) and (c) of sub-section (1) applies to-
(i) any composition-deed; or
(ii) any instrument relating to shares in a joint Stock Company, notwithstanding that the assets of such company consist in whole or in part of immovable property; or
(iii) any debenture issued by any such company and not creating, declaring, assigning, limiting or extinguishing any right, title or interest, to or in immovable property except insofar as it entitles the holder to the security afforded by a registered instrument whereby the company has mortgaged, conveyed or otherwise transferred the whole or part of its immovable property or any interest therein to trustees upon trust for the benefit of the holders of such debentures; or
(iv) any endorsement upon or transfer of any debenture issued by any such company; or
(v) any document not itself creating, declaring, assigning, limiting or extinguishing any right, title or interest of the value of one hundred rupees and upwards to or in immovable property, but merely creating a right to obtain another document which will, when executed, create, declare, assign, limit or extinguish any such right, title or interest; or
(vi) any decree or order of a court 13[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;] or
(vii) any grant of immovable property by government; or
(viii) any instrument of partition made by a revenue-officer; or
(ix) any order granting a loan or instrument of collateral security granted under the Land Improvement Act, 1871, or the Land Improvement Loans Act, 1883; or
(x) any order granting a loan under the Agriculturists Loans Act, 1884, or instrument for securing the repayment of a loan made under that Act; or
14[(xa) any order made under the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890, (6 of 1890) vesting any property in a Treasurer of Charitable Endowments or divesting any such treasurer of any property; or]
(xi) any 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 when the receipt does not purport to extinguish the mortgage; or
(xii) any certificate of sale granted to the purchaser of any property sold by public auction by a civil or revenue-officer.
15[Explanation: A document purporting or operating to effect a contract for the sale of immovable property shall not be deemed to require or ever to have required registration by reason only of the fact that such document contains a recital of the payment of any earnest money or of the whole or any part of the purchase money.]
(3) Authorities to adopt a son, executed after the 1st day of January, 1872, and not conferred by a will, shall also be registered.
18. Documents of which registration is optional
Any of the following documents may be registered under this Act, namely:-
(a) instruments (other than instruments of gift and wills) 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 a value less than one hundred rupees, to or in immovable property;
(b) instruments acknowledging the receipt or payment of any consideration on account of the creation, declaration, assignment, limitation or extinction of any such right, title or interest;
(c) leases of immovable property for any term not exceeding one year, and leases exempted under section 17;
16[(cc) instruments transferring or assigning any decree or order of a court or any award when such decree or 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 a value less than one hundred rupees, to or in immovable property;]
(d) instruments (other than wills) which purport or operate to create, declare, assign, limit or extinguish any right, title or interest to or in movable property;
(e) wills; and
(f) all other documents not required by section 17 to be registered.
19. Documents in language not understood by registering officer
If any document duly presented for registration be in a language which the registering officer does not understand, and which is not commonly used in the district, he shall refuse to register the document, unless it be accompanied by a true translation into a language commonly used in the district and also by a true copy.
20. Documents containing interlineations, blanks, erasures or alterations
(1) The registering officer may in his discretion refuses to accept for registration any document in which any interlineation, blank, erasure or alteration appears, unless the persons executing the document attest with their signatures or initials such interlineation, blank, erasure or alteration.
(2) If the registering officer registers any such document, he shall, at the time of registering the same, make a note in the register of such interlineation, blank, erasure or alteration.
21. Description of property and maps or plans
(1) No non-testamentary document relating to immovable property shall be accepted for registration unless it contains a description of such property sufficient to identify the same.
(2) Houses in towns shall be described as situate on the north or other side of the street or road (which should be specified) to which they front, and by their existing and former occupancies, and by their numbers if the houses in such street or road are numbered.
(3) Other houses and land shall be described by their name, if any, and as being the territorial division in which they are situate, and by their superficial contents, the roads and other properties on which they abut, and their existing occupancies, and also, whenever it is practicable, by reference to a government map or survey.
(4) No non-testamentary document containing a map or plan of any property comprised therein shall be accepted for registration unless it is accompanied by a true copy of the map or plan, or, in case such property is situate in several districts, by such number of true copies of the map or plans as are equal to the number of such districts.
22. Description of houses and land by reference to government maps of surveys
(1) Where it is, in the opinion of the State Government, practicable to describe houses, not being houses in towns, and lands by reference to a government map or survey, the State Government may, by rule made under this Act, require that such houses and lands as aforesaid shall, for the purposes of section 21, be so described.
(2) Save as otherwise provided by any rule made under sub-section (1), failure to comply with the provisions of section 21, sub-section (2) or sub-section (3), shall not disentitle a document to be registered if the description of the property to which it relates is sufficient to identify that property.
PART IV : OF THE TIME OF PRESENTATION
23. Time for presenting documents
Subject to the provisions contained in sections 24, 25 and 26, no document other than a will shall be accepted for registration unless presented for that purpose to the proper officer within four months from the date of its execution:
PROVIDED that a copy of a decree or order may be presented within four months from the date on which the decree or order was made or, where it is appealable, within four months from the day on which it becomes final.
17[23A. Re-registration of certain documents
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, if in any case a document requiring registration has been accepted for registration by a Registrar or Sub-Registrar from a person not duly empowered to present the same, and has been registered, any person claiming under such document may, within four months from his first becoming aware that the registration of such document is invalid, present such document or cause the same to be presented, in accordance with the provisions of Part VI for re-registration in the office of the Registrar of the district in which the document was originally registered; and upon the Registrar being satisfied that the document was so accepted for registration from a person not duly empowered to present the same, he shall proceed to the re-registration of the document as if it has not been previously registered, and as if such presentation for re-registration was a presentation for registration made within the time allowed therefor under Part IV, and all the provisions of this Act, as to registration of documents, shall apply to such re-registration; and such document, if duly re-registered in accordance with the provisions of this section, shall be deemed to have been duly registered for all purposes from the date of its original registration:
PROVIDED that, within three months from the twelfth day of September, 1917, any person claiming under a document to which this section applies may present the same or cause the same to be presented for re-registration in accordance with this section, whatever may have been the time when he first became aware that the registration of the document was invalid.]
24. Documents executed by several persons at different times
Where there are several persons executing a document at different times, such document may be presented for registration and re-registration within four months from the date of each execution.
25. Provision where delay in presentation is unavoidable
(1) If ,owing to urgent necessity or unavoidable accident, any document executed, or copy of a decree or order made, in 18[India] is not presented for registration till after the expiration of the time hereinbefore prescribed in that behalf, the Registrar, in cases where the delay in presentation does not exceed four months, may direct that, on payment of a fine not exceeding ten times the amount of the proper registration-fee, such document shall be accepted for registration.
(2) Any application for such direction may be lodged with Sub-Registrar, who shall forthwith forward it to the Registrar to whom he is subordinate.
26. Documents executed out of India
When a document purporting to have been executed by all or any of the parties out of 18[India] is not presented for registration till after the expiration of the time hereinbefore prescribed in that behalf, the registering officer, if satisfied-
(a) that the instrument was so executed, and
(b) that it has been presented for registration within four months after its arrival in 18[India]
may, on payment of the proper registration-fee, accept such document for registration.
27. Wills may be presented or deposited at any time
A will may at any time be presented for registration or deposited in manner hereinafter provided.
PART V : OF THE PLACE OF REGISTRATION
28. Place for registering documents relating to land
Save as in this Part otherwise provided, every document mentioned in section 17, sub-section (1), clauses (a), (b), (c), 19[(d) and (e), section 17, sub-section. (2), insofar as such document affects immovable property, and section 18, clauses (a), (b) 20[(c) and (cc)], shall be presented for registration in the office of a Sub-Registrar within whose sub-district the whole or some portion of the property to which such document relates is situate.
29. Place for registering other documents
(1) Every document 21[not being a document referred to in section 28 or a copy of a decree or order], may be presented for registration either in the office of the Sub-Registrar in whose sub-district the document was executed, or in the office of any other Sub-Registrar under the State Government at which all the persons executing and claiming under the document desire the same to be registered.
(2) A copy of a decree or order may be presented for registration in the office of the Sub-Registrar in whose sub-district the original decree or order was made or, where the decree or order does not affect immovable property, in the office of any other Sub-Registrar under the State Government at which all the persons claiming under the decree or order desire the copy to be registered.
30. Registration by Registrars in certain cases
(1) Any Registrar may in his discretion receive and register any document which might be registered by any Sub-Registrar subordinate to him.
(2) 22[The Registrar of a district in which a Presidency-Town is included and the Registrar of the Delhi district] 23[***] may receive and register any document referred to in section 28 without regard to the situation in any part of 18[India] of the property to which the document relates.
31. Registration or acceptance for deposit at private residence
In ordinary cases the registration or deposit of documents under this Act shall be made only at the office of the officer authorised to accept the same for registration or deposit:
PROVIDED that such officer may on special cause being shown attend at the residence of any person desiring to present a document for registration or to deposit a will, and accept for registration or deposit such document or will.
PART VI : OF PRESENTING DOCUMENTS FOR REGISTRATION
32. Persons to present documents for registration
Except in the cases mentioned in 24[sections 31, 88 and 89], every document to be registered under this Act, whether such registration be compulsory or optional, shall be presented at the proper registration office-
(a) by some person executing or claiming under the same, or, in the case of a copy of a decree or order, claiming under the decree or order, or
(b) by the representative or assignee of such a person, or
(c) by the agent of such a person, representative or assign, duly authorised by power-of-attorney executed and authenticated in manner hereinafter mentioned.
33. Power-of-attorney recognisable for purposes of section 32
(1) For the purposes of section 32, the following powers-of-attorney shall alone be recognised, namely:-
(a) if the principal at the time of executing the power-of-attorney resides in any part of 18[India] in which this Act is for the time being in force, a power-of-attorney executed before and authenticated by the Registrar or Sub-Registrar within whose district or sub-district the principal resides;
(b) if the principal at the time aforesaid 25[resides in any part of India in which this Act is not in force], a power-of-attorney executed before and authenticated by any Magistrate;
(c) if the principal at the time aforesaid does not reside in 18[India], a power-of-attorney executed before and authenticated by Notary Public, or any court, Judge, Magistrate, 26[Indian] Consul or vice-consul, or representative 27[***] of the Central Government:
PROVIDED that the following persons shall not be required to attend at any registration-office or court for the purpose of executing any such power-of-attorney as is mentioned in clauses (a) and (b) of this section, namely-
(i) persons who by reason of bodily infirmity are unable without risk or serious inconvenience so to attend;
(ii) persons who are in jail under civil or criminal process; and
(iii) persons exempt by law from personal appearance in court.
5[Explanation: In this sub-section "India" means India, as defined in clause (28) of section 3 of the General Clauses Act, 1897.]
(2) In the case of every such person the Registrar or Sub-Registrar or Magistrate, as the case may be, if satisfied that the power-of-attorney has been voluntarily executed by the person purporting to be the principal, may attest the same without requiring his personal attendance at the office or court aforesaid.
(3) To obtain evidence as to the voluntary nature of the execution, the Registrar or Sub-Registrar or Magistrate may either himself go to the house of the person purporting to be the principal, or to the jail in which he is confined, and examine him, or issue a commission for his examination.
(4) Any power-of-attorney mentioned in this section may be proved by the production of it without further proof when it purports on the face of it to have been executed before and authenticated by the person or court hereinbefore mentioned in that behalf.
34. Enquiry before registration by registering officer
(1) Subject to the provisions contained in this Part and in sections 41, 43, 45, 69, 75, 77, 88 and 89, no document shall be registered under this Act, unless the person executing such document, or their representatives, assigns or agents authorised as aforesaid, appear before the registering officer within the time allowed for presentation under sections 23, 24, 25 and 26:
PROVIDED that, if owing to urgent necessity or unavoidable accident all such persons do not so appear, the Registrar, in cases where the delay in appearing does not exceed four months, may direct that on payment of a fine not exceeding ten times the amount of the proper registration fee, in addition to the fine, if any, payable under section 25, the document may be registered.
(2) Appearances under sub-section (l) may be simultaneous or at different times.
(3) The registering officer shall thereupon-
(a) enquire whether or not such document was executed by the person by whom it purports to have been executed;
(b) satisfy himself as to the identity of the persons appearing before him and alleging that they have executed the document; and
(c) in the case of any person appearing as a representative, assignee or agent, satisfy himself of the right of such person so to appear.
(4) Any application for a direction under the proviso to sub-section (1) may be lodged with a Sub-Registrar, who shall forthwith forward it to the Registrar to whom he is subordinate.
(5) Nothing in this section applies to copies of decrees or orders.
35. Procedure on admission and denial of execution respectively
(1)(a) If all the persons executing the document appear personally before the registering officer and are personally known to him, or if he be otherwise satisfied that they are the persons they represent themselves to be, and if they all admit the execution of the document, or
(b) If in the case of any person appearing by a representative, assignee or agent, such representative, assignee or agent admits the execution, or
(c) If the person executing the document is dead, and his representative or assignee appears before the registering officer and admits the execution,the registering officer shall register the document as directed in sections 58 to 61, inclusive.
(2) The registering officer may, in order to satisfy himself that the persons appearing before him are the persons they represent themselves to be, or for any other purpose contemplated by this Act, examine any one present in his office.
(3)(a) If any person by whom the document purports to be executed denies its execution, or
(b) if any such person appears to the registering officer to be a minor, an idiot or a lunatic, or
(c) if any person by whom the document purports to be executed is dead, and his representative or assignee denies its execution,the registering officer shall refuse to register the document as to the person so denying, appearing or dead:
PROVIDED that, where such officer is a Registrar, he shall follow the procedure prescribed in Part XII:
28[PROVIDED FURTHER that the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare that any Sub-Registrar named in the notification shall, in respect of documents the execution of which is denied, be deemed to be a Registrar for the purposes of this sub-section and of Part XII. ]
PART VII : OF ENFORCING THE APPEARANCE OF EXECUTANTS AND WITNESSES
36. Procedure where appearance of executant or witness is desired
If any person presenting any document for registration or claiming under any document, which is capable of being so presented, desires the appearance of any person whose presence or testimony is necessary for the registration of such document, the registering officer may, in his discretion, call upon such officer or court as the State Government directs in this behalf to issue a summons requiring him to appear at the registration-office, either in person or by duly authorised agent, as in the summons may be mentioned, and at a time named therein.
37. Officer or court to issue and cause service of summons
The officer or court, upon receipt of the peon's fee payable in such cases, shall issue the summons accordingly, and cause it to be served upon the person whose appearance is so required.
38. Persons exempt from appearance at registration office
(1) (a) A person who by reason of bodily infirmity is unable without risk or serious inconvenience to appear at the registration-office, or
(b) a person in jail under civil or criminal process, or
(c) persons exempt by law from personal appearance in court, and who would but for the provisions next hereinafter contained be required to appear in person at the registration-office, shall not be required so to appear.
(2) In the case of every such person the registration-officer shall either himself go to the house of such person, or to the hall in which he is confined, and examine him or issue a commission for his examination.
39. Law as to summonses, commissions and witnesses
The law in force for the time being as to summonses, commissions and compelling the attendance of witnesses and for their remuneration in suits before civil courts, shall, save as aforesaid and mutatis mutandis, apply to any summons or commission issued and any person summoned to appear under the provisions of this Act.
PART VIII : OF PRESENTING WILLS AND AUTHORITIES TO ADOPT
40. Persons entitled to present Wills and authorities to adopt
(1) The testator, or after his death any person claiming as executor or otherwise under a will, may present it to any Registrar or Sub-Registrar for registration.
(2) The donor, or after his death the donee, of any authority to adopt, or the adoptive son, may present it to any Registrar or Sub-Registrar for registration.
41. Registration of Wills and authorities to adopt
(1) A will or an authority to adopt presented for registration by the testator or donor, may be registered in the same manner as any other document.
(2) A will or authority to adopt presented for registration by any other person entitled to present it shall be registered if the registering officer is satisfied-
(a) that the will or authority was executed by the testator or donor, as the case may be;
(b) that the testator or donor is dead; and
(c) that the person presenting the will or authority is, under section 40, entitled to present the same.
PART IX : OF THE DEPOSIT OF WILLS
42. Deposit of Wills
Any testator may, either personally or by duly authorised agent, deposit with any Registrar his will in a sealed cover superscribed with the name of the testator and that of his agent (if any) and with a statement of the nature of the document.
43. Procedure on deposit of Wills
(1) On receiving such cover, the Registrar, if satisfied that the person presenting the same for deposit is the testator or his agent, shall transcribe in his Register-book No.5 the superscription aforesaid, and shall not in the same book and on the said cover the year, month, day and hour of such presentation and receipt, and the names of any persons who may testify to the identity of the testator or his agent, and any legible inscription which may be on the seal of the cover.
(2) The Registrar shall then place and retain the sealed cover in his fireproof box.
44. Withdrawal of sealed cover deposited under section 42
If the testator who has deposited such cover wishes to withdraw it, he may apply, either personally or by duly authorised agent, to the Registrar who holds it in deposit, and such Registrar, if satisfied that the applicant is actually the testator or his agent, shall deliver the cover accordingly.
45. Proceedings on death of depositor
(1) If, on the death of a testator who has deposited a sealed cover under section 42, application be made to the Registrar who holds it in deposit to open the same, and if the Registrar is satisfied that the testator is dead, he shall, in the applicant's presence, open the cover, and, at the applicant's expense, cause the contents thereof to be copied into his Book No.3.
(2) When such copy has been made, the Registrar shall re-deposit the original will.
46. Saving of certain enactments and powers of courts
(1) Nothing hereinbefore contained shall affect the provisions of section 259 of the Indian Succession Act, 1865, or of section 81 of the Probate and Administration Act, 1881, or the power of any court by order to compel the production of any will.
(2) When any such order is made the Registrar shall, unless the will has been already copied under section 45, open the cover and cause the will to be copied into his Book No.3 and make a notice on such copy that the original has been removed in to court in pursuance of the order aforesaid.
Continued at Page 2
PART I : PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent and commencement
(1) This Act may be called the 1[***] Registration Act, 1908.
2[(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir:
PROVIDED that the State Government may exclude any district or tracts of country from its operation.]
(3) It shall come into force on the first day of January, 1909.
2. Definitions
In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context-
(1) "addition" means the place of residence, and the profession, trade, rank and title, (if any) of a person described, and, in the case of 3[an Indian], 4[***] his father's name, or where he is usually described as the son of his mother, then his mother's name;
(2) "book" includes a portion of a book and also any number of sheets connected together with a view of forming a book or portion of a book;
(3) "district" and "sub-district" respectively means a district and sub-district formed under this Act;
(4) "District Court" includes the High Court in its ordinary original civil jurisdiction;
(5) "endorsement" and "endorsed" include and apply to an entry in writing by a registering officer on a rider or covering slip to any document tendered for registration under this Act;
(6) "immovable property" includes land, buildings, hereditary allowances, rights to ways, lights, ferries, fisheries or any other benefit to arise out of land, and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything which is attached to the earth, but not standing timber, growing crops nor grass;
5[(6A) "India" means the territory of India excluding the State of Jammu and Kashmir;]
(7) "lease" includes a counterpart, kabuliyat, an undertaking to cultivate or occupy, and an agreement to lease;
(8) "minor" means a person who, according to the personal law to which he is subject, has not attained majority;
(9) "movable property" includes standing timber, growing crops and grass, fruit upon and juice in trees, and property of every other description, except immovable property; and
(10) "representative" includes the guardian of a minor and the committee or other legal curator of a lunatic or idiot.
PART II : OF THE REGISTRATION-ESTABLISHMENT
3. Inspector-General of Registration
(1) 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 may, instead of making such appointment, direct that all or any of the powers and duties hereinafter conferred and imposed upon the Inspector-General shall be exercised and performed by such officer or officers, and within such local limits, as the State Government appoints in this behalf.
(2) Any Inspector-General may hold simultaneously any other office under the Government.
4. 6[Branch Inspector-General of Sindh]
5. Districts and sub-districts
(1) For the purposes of this Act, the State Government shall form districts and sub-districts, and shall prescribe, and may alter, the limits of such district and sub-districts.
(2) The districts and sub-districts formed under this section, together with the limits thereof, and every alteration of such limits, shall be notified in the Official Gazette.
(3) Every such alteration shall take effect on such day after the date of the notification as is therein mentioned.
6. Registrars and Sub-Registrars
The State Government may appoint such persons, whether public officers or not, as it thinks proper, to be Registrars of the several districts, and to be Sub-Registrar of the several sub-districts, formed as aforesaid, respectively.
7. Offices of Registrar and Sub-Registrar
(1) 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 the office of the Sub-Registrar or the offices of the Joint Sub-Registrars.
(2) The State Government may amalgamate with any office of a Registrar any office of a Sub-Registrar subordinate to such Registrar, and may authorise 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 authorisation shall enable a Sub-Registrar to hear an appeal against an order passed by himself under this Act.
8. Inspectors of Registration offices
(1) The State Government may also appoint officers, to be called Inspectors of Registration offices, and may prescribe the duties of such officers.
(2) Every such Inspector shall be subordinate to the Inspector-General.
9. 7[Military cantonments may be declared sub-districts or districts]
10. Absence of Registrar or vacancy in his office
(1) 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.
(2) 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.
11. Absence of Registrar on duty in his district
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.
12. Absence of Sub-Registrar or vacancy in his office.
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 8[the vacancy is filled up].
13. Report to State Government of appointments under sections 10, 11 and 12
(1) 9[***] All appointments made under section 10, section 11 or section 12 shall be reported to the State Government by the Inspector-General.
(2) Such report shall be either special or general, as the State Government directs.
10[***]
14. Establishments of registering officers
11[***]
(2) The State Government may allow proper establishments for the several offices under this Act.
15. Seal of registering officers
The several Registrars and Sub-Registrars shall use a seal bearing the following inscription in English and in such other language as the State Government directs:
"The seal of the Registrar (or of the Sub-Registrar) of".
16. Register-books and fire-proof boxes
(1) The State Government shall provide for the office of every registering officer the books necessary for the purposes of this Act.
(2) 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.
(3) 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.
PART III : OF REGISTRABLE DOCUMENTS
17. Documents of which registration is compulsory
(1) The following documents shall be registered, if the property to which they relate is situate in a district in which, and if they have been executed on or after the date on which, Act No. XVI of 1864, or the Indian Registration Act, 1866, or the Indian Registration Act, 1871, or the Indian Registration Act, 1877 or this Act came or comes into force, namely:-
(a) instruments of gift of immovable property;
(b) 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;
(c) 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; and
(d) leases of immovable property from year to year, or for any term exceeding one year, or reserving a yearly rent;
12[(e) non-testamentary instruments transferring or assigning any decree or order of a court or any award when such decree or 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:]
PROVIDED that the State 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 rent reserved by which do not exceed fifty rupees.
(2) Nothing in clauses (b) and (c) of sub-section (1) applies to-
(i) any composition-deed; or
(ii) any instrument relating to shares in a joint Stock Company, notwithstanding that the assets of such company consist in whole or in part of immovable property; or
(iii) any debenture issued by any such company and not creating, declaring, assigning, limiting or extinguishing any right, title or interest, to or in immovable property except insofar as it entitles the holder to the security afforded by a registered instrument whereby the company has mortgaged, conveyed or otherwise transferred the whole or part of its immovable property or any interest therein to trustees upon trust for the benefit of the holders of such debentures; or
(iv) any endorsement upon or transfer of any debenture issued by any such company; or
(v) any document not itself creating, declaring, assigning, limiting or extinguishing any right, title or interest of the value of one hundred rupees and upwards to or in immovable property, but merely creating a right to obtain another document which will, when executed, create, declare, assign, limit or extinguish any such right, title or interest; or
(vi) any decree or order of a court 13[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;] or
(vii) any grant of immovable property by government; or
(viii) any instrument of partition made by a revenue-officer; or
(ix) any order granting a loan or instrument of collateral security granted under the Land Improvement Act, 1871, or the Land Improvement Loans Act, 1883; or
(x) any order granting a loan under the Agriculturists Loans Act, 1884, or instrument for securing the repayment of a loan made under that Act; or
14[(xa) any order made under the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890, (6 of 1890) vesting any property in a Treasurer of Charitable Endowments or divesting any such treasurer of any property; or]
(xi) any 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 when the receipt does not purport to extinguish the mortgage; or
(xii) any certificate of sale granted to the purchaser of any property sold by public auction by a civil or revenue-officer.
15[Explanation: A document purporting or operating to effect a contract for the sale of immovable property shall not be deemed to require or ever to have required registration by reason only of the fact that such document contains a recital of the payment of any earnest money or of the whole or any part of the purchase money.]
(3) Authorities to adopt a son, executed after the 1st day of January, 1872, and not conferred by a will, shall also be registered.
18. Documents of which registration is optional
Any of the following documents may be registered under this Act, namely:-
(a) instruments (other than instruments of gift and wills) 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 a value less than one hundred rupees, to or in immovable property;
(b) instruments acknowledging the receipt or payment of any consideration on account of the creation, declaration, assignment, limitation or extinction of any such right, title or interest;
(c) leases of immovable property for any term not exceeding one year, and leases exempted under section 17;
16[(cc) instruments transferring or assigning any decree or order of a court or any award when such decree or 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 a value less than one hundred rupees, to or in immovable property;]
(d) instruments (other than wills) which purport or operate to create, declare, assign, limit or extinguish any right, title or interest to or in movable property;
(e) wills; and
(f) all other documents not required by section 17 to be registered.
19. Documents in language not understood by registering officer
If any document duly presented for registration be in a language which the registering officer does not understand, and which is not commonly used in the district, he shall refuse to register the document, unless it be accompanied by a true translation into a language commonly used in the district and also by a true copy.
20. Documents containing interlineations, blanks, erasures or alterations
(1) The registering officer may in his discretion refuses to accept for registration any document in which any interlineation, blank, erasure or alteration appears, unless the persons executing the document attest with their signatures or initials such interlineation, blank, erasure or alteration.
(2) If the registering officer registers any such document, he shall, at the time of registering the same, make a note in the register of such interlineation, blank, erasure or alteration.
21. Description of property and maps or plans
(1) No non-testamentary document relating to immovable property shall be accepted for registration unless it contains a description of such property sufficient to identify the same.
(2) Houses in towns shall be described as situate on the north or other side of the street or road (which should be specified) to which they front, and by their existing and former occupancies, and by their numbers if the houses in such street or road are numbered.
(3) Other houses and land shall be described by their name, if any, and as being the territorial division in which they are situate, and by their superficial contents, the roads and other properties on which they abut, and their existing occupancies, and also, whenever it is practicable, by reference to a government map or survey.
(4) No non-testamentary document containing a map or plan of any property comprised therein shall be accepted for registration unless it is accompanied by a true copy of the map or plan, or, in case such property is situate in several districts, by such number of true copies of the map or plans as are equal to the number of such districts.
22. Description of houses and land by reference to government maps of surveys
(1) Where it is, in the opinion of the State Government, practicable to describe houses, not being houses in towns, and lands by reference to a government map or survey, the State Government may, by rule made under this Act, require that such houses and lands as aforesaid shall, for the purposes of section 21, be so described.
(2) Save as otherwise provided by any rule made under sub-section (1), failure to comply with the provisions of section 21, sub-section (2) or sub-section (3), shall not disentitle a document to be registered if the description of the property to which it relates is sufficient to identify that property.
PART IV : OF THE TIME OF PRESENTATION
23. Time for presenting documents
Subject to the provisions contained in sections 24, 25 and 26, no document other than a will shall be accepted for registration unless presented for that purpose to the proper officer within four months from the date of its execution:
PROVIDED that a copy of a decree or order may be presented within four months from the date on which the decree or order was made or, where it is appealable, within four months from the day on which it becomes final.
17[23A. Re-registration of certain documents
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, if in any case a document requiring registration has been accepted for registration by a Registrar or Sub-Registrar from a person not duly empowered to present the same, and has been registered, any person claiming under such document may, within four months from his first becoming aware that the registration of such document is invalid, present such document or cause the same to be presented, in accordance with the provisions of Part VI for re-registration in the office of the Registrar of the district in which the document was originally registered; and upon the Registrar being satisfied that the document was so accepted for registration from a person not duly empowered to present the same, he shall proceed to the re-registration of the document as if it has not been previously registered, and as if such presentation for re-registration was a presentation for registration made within the time allowed therefor under Part IV, and all the provisions of this Act, as to registration of documents, shall apply to such re-registration; and such document, if duly re-registered in accordance with the provisions of this section, shall be deemed to have been duly registered for all purposes from the date of its original registration:
PROVIDED that, within three months from the twelfth day of September, 1917, any person claiming under a document to which this section applies may present the same or cause the same to be presented for re-registration in accordance with this section, whatever may have been the time when he first became aware that the registration of the document was invalid.]
24. Documents executed by several persons at different times
Where there are several persons executing a document at different times, such document may be presented for registration and re-registration within four months from the date of each execution.
25. Provision where delay in presentation is unavoidable
(1) If ,owing to urgent necessity or unavoidable accident, any document executed, or copy of a decree or order made, in 18[India] is not presented for registration till after the expiration of the time hereinbefore prescribed in that behalf, the Registrar, in cases where the delay in presentation does not exceed four months, may direct that, on payment of a fine not exceeding ten times the amount of the proper registration-fee, such document shall be accepted for registration.
(2) Any application for such direction may be lodged with Sub-Registrar, who shall forthwith forward it to the Registrar to whom he is subordinate.
26. Documents executed out of India
When a document purporting to have been executed by all or any of the parties out of 18[India] is not presented for registration till after the expiration of the time hereinbefore prescribed in that behalf, the registering officer, if satisfied-
(a) that the instrument was so executed, and
(b) that it has been presented for registration within four months after its arrival in 18[India]
may, on payment of the proper registration-fee, accept such document for registration.
27. Wills may be presented or deposited at any time
A will may at any time be presented for registration or deposited in manner hereinafter provided.
PART V : OF THE PLACE OF REGISTRATION
28. Place for registering documents relating to land
Save as in this Part otherwise provided, every document mentioned in section 17, sub-section (1), clauses (a), (b), (c), 19[(d) and (e), section 17, sub-section. (2), insofar as such document affects immovable property, and section 18, clauses (a), (b) 20[(c) and (cc)], shall be presented for registration in the office of a Sub-Registrar within whose sub-district the whole or some portion of the property to which such document relates is situate.
29. Place for registering other documents
(1) Every document 21[not being a document referred to in section 28 or a copy of a decree or order], may be presented for registration either in the office of the Sub-Registrar in whose sub-district the document was executed, or in the office of any other Sub-Registrar under the State Government at which all the persons executing and claiming under the document desire the same to be registered.
(2) A copy of a decree or order may be presented for registration in the office of the Sub-Registrar in whose sub-district the original decree or order was made or, where the decree or order does not affect immovable property, in the office of any other Sub-Registrar under the State Government at which all the persons claiming under the decree or order desire the copy to be registered.
30. Registration by Registrars in certain cases
(1) Any Registrar may in his discretion receive and register any document which might be registered by any Sub-Registrar subordinate to him.
(2) 22[The Registrar of a district in which a Presidency-Town is included and the Registrar of the Delhi district] 23[***] may receive and register any document referred to in section 28 without regard to the situation in any part of 18[India] of the property to which the document relates.
31. Registration or acceptance for deposit at private residence
In ordinary cases the registration or deposit of documents under this Act shall be made only at the office of the officer authorised to accept the same for registration or deposit:
PROVIDED that such officer may on special cause being shown attend at the residence of any person desiring to present a document for registration or to deposit a will, and accept for registration or deposit such document or will.
PART VI : OF PRESENTING DOCUMENTS FOR REGISTRATION
32. Persons to present documents for registration
Except in the cases mentioned in 24[sections 31, 88 and 89], every document to be registered under this Act, whether such registration be compulsory or optional, shall be presented at the proper registration office-
(a) by some person executing or claiming under the same, or, in the case of a copy of a decree or order, claiming under the decree or order, or
(b) by the representative or assignee of such a person, or
(c) by the agent of such a person, representative or assign, duly authorised by power-of-attorney executed and authenticated in manner hereinafter mentioned.
33. Power-of-attorney recognisable for purposes of section 32
(1) For the purposes of section 32, the following powers-of-attorney shall alone be recognised, namely:-
(a) if the principal at the time of executing the power-of-attorney resides in any part of 18[India] in which this Act is for the time being in force, a power-of-attorney executed before and authenticated by the Registrar or Sub-Registrar within whose district or sub-district the principal resides;
(b) if the principal at the time aforesaid 25[resides in any part of India in which this Act is not in force], a power-of-attorney executed before and authenticated by any Magistrate;
(c) if the principal at the time aforesaid does not reside in 18[India], a power-of-attorney executed before and authenticated by Notary Public, or any court, Judge, Magistrate, 26[Indian] Consul or vice-consul, or representative 27[***] of the Central Government:
PROVIDED that the following persons shall not be required to attend at any registration-office or court for the purpose of executing any such power-of-attorney as is mentioned in clauses (a) and (b) of this section, namely-
(i) persons who by reason of bodily infirmity are unable without risk or serious inconvenience so to attend;
(ii) persons who are in jail under civil or criminal process; and
(iii) persons exempt by law from personal appearance in court.
5[Explanation: In this sub-section "India" means India, as defined in clause (28) of section 3 of the General Clauses Act, 1897.]
(2) In the case of every such person the Registrar or Sub-Registrar or Magistrate, as the case may be, if satisfied that the power-of-attorney has been voluntarily executed by the person purporting to be the principal, may attest the same without requiring his personal attendance at the office or court aforesaid.
(3) To obtain evidence as to the voluntary nature of the execution, the Registrar or Sub-Registrar or Magistrate may either himself go to the house of the person purporting to be the principal, or to the jail in which he is confined, and examine him, or issue a commission for his examination.
(4) Any power-of-attorney mentioned in this section may be proved by the production of it without further proof when it purports on the face of it to have been executed before and authenticated by the person or court hereinbefore mentioned in that behalf.
34. Enquiry before registration by registering officer
(1) Subject to the provisions contained in this Part and in sections 41, 43, 45, 69, 75, 77, 88 and 89, no document shall be registered under this Act, unless the person executing such document, or their representatives, assigns or agents authorised as aforesaid, appear before the registering officer within the time allowed for presentation under sections 23, 24, 25 and 26:
PROVIDED that, if owing to urgent necessity or unavoidable accident all such persons do not so appear, the Registrar, in cases where the delay in appearing does not exceed four months, may direct that on payment of a fine not exceeding ten times the amount of the proper registration fee, in addition to the fine, if any, payable under section 25, the document may be registered.
(2) Appearances under sub-section (l) may be simultaneous or at different times.
(3) The registering officer shall thereupon-
(a) enquire whether or not such document was executed by the person by whom it purports to have been executed;
(b) satisfy himself as to the identity of the persons appearing before him and alleging that they have executed the document; and
(c) in the case of any person appearing as a representative, assignee or agent, satisfy himself of the right of such person so to appear.
(4) Any application for a direction under the proviso to sub-section (1) may be lodged with a Sub-Registrar, who shall forthwith forward it to the Registrar to whom he is subordinate.
(5) Nothing in this section applies to copies of decrees or orders.
35. Procedure on admission and denial of execution respectively
(1)(a) If all the persons executing the document appear personally before the registering officer and are personally known to him, or if he be otherwise satisfied that they are the persons they represent themselves to be, and if they all admit the execution of the document, or
(b) If in the case of any person appearing by a representative, assignee or agent, such representative, assignee or agent admits the execution, or
(c) If the person executing the document is dead, and his representative or assignee appears before the registering officer and admits the execution,the registering officer shall register the document as directed in sections 58 to 61, inclusive.
(2) The registering officer may, in order to satisfy himself that the persons appearing before him are the persons they represent themselves to be, or for any other purpose contemplated by this Act, examine any one present in his office.
(3)(a) If any person by whom the document purports to be executed denies its execution, or
(b) if any such person appears to the registering officer to be a minor, an idiot or a lunatic, or
(c) if any person by whom the document purports to be executed is dead, and his representative or assignee denies its execution,the registering officer shall refuse to register the document as to the person so denying, appearing or dead:
PROVIDED that, where such officer is a Registrar, he shall follow the procedure prescribed in Part XII:
28[PROVIDED FURTHER that the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare that any Sub-Registrar named in the notification shall, in respect of documents the execution of which is denied, be deemed to be a Registrar for the purposes of this sub-section and of Part XII. ]
PART VII : OF ENFORCING THE APPEARANCE OF EXECUTANTS AND WITNESSES
36. Procedure where appearance of executant or witness is desired
If any person presenting any document for registration or claiming under any document, which is capable of being so presented, desires the appearance of any person whose presence or testimony is necessary for the registration of such document, the registering officer may, in his discretion, call upon such officer or court as the State Government directs in this behalf to issue a summons requiring him to appear at the registration-office, either in person or by duly authorised agent, as in the summons may be mentioned, and at a time named therein.
37. Officer or court to issue and cause service of summons
The officer or court, upon receipt of the peon's fee payable in such cases, shall issue the summons accordingly, and cause it to be served upon the person whose appearance is so required.
38. Persons exempt from appearance at registration office
(1) (a) A person who by reason of bodily infirmity is unable without risk or serious inconvenience to appear at the registration-office, or
(b) a person in jail under civil or criminal process, or
(c) persons exempt by law from personal appearance in court, and who would but for the provisions next hereinafter contained be required to appear in person at the registration-office, shall not be required so to appear.
(2) In the case of every such person the registration-officer shall either himself go to the house of such person, or to the hall in which he is confined, and examine him or issue a commission for his examination.
39. Law as to summonses, commissions and witnesses
The law in force for the time being as to summonses, commissions and compelling the attendance of witnesses and for their remuneration in suits before civil courts, shall, save as aforesaid and mutatis mutandis, apply to any summons or commission issued and any person summoned to appear under the provisions of this Act.
PART VIII : OF PRESENTING WILLS AND AUTHORITIES TO ADOPT
40. Persons entitled to present Wills and authorities to adopt
(1) The testator, or after his death any person claiming as executor or otherwise under a will, may present it to any Registrar or Sub-Registrar for registration.
(2) The donor, or after his death the donee, of any authority to adopt, or the adoptive son, may present it to any Registrar or Sub-Registrar for registration.
41. Registration of Wills and authorities to adopt
(1) A will or an authority to adopt presented for registration by the testator or donor, may be registered in the same manner as any other document.
(2) A will or authority to adopt presented for registration by any other person entitled to present it shall be registered if the registering officer is satisfied-
(a) that the will or authority was executed by the testator or donor, as the case may be;
(b) that the testator or donor is dead; and
(c) that the person presenting the will or authority is, under section 40, entitled to present the same.
PART IX : OF THE DEPOSIT OF WILLS
42. Deposit of Wills
Any testator may, either personally or by duly authorised agent, deposit with any Registrar his will in a sealed cover superscribed with the name of the testator and that of his agent (if any) and with a statement of the nature of the document.
43. Procedure on deposit of Wills
(1) On receiving such cover, the Registrar, if satisfied that the person presenting the same for deposit is the testator or his agent, shall transcribe in his Register-book No.5 the superscription aforesaid, and shall not in the same book and on the said cover the year, month, day and hour of such presentation and receipt, and the names of any persons who may testify to the identity of the testator or his agent, and any legible inscription which may be on the seal of the cover.
(2) The Registrar shall then place and retain the sealed cover in his fireproof box.
44. Withdrawal of sealed cover deposited under section 42
If the testator who has deposited such cover wishes to withdraw it, he may apply, either personally or by duly authorised agent, to the Registrar who holds it in deposit, and such Registrar, if satisfied that the applicant is actually the testator or his agent, shall deliver the cover accordingly.
45. Proceedings on death of depositor
(1) If, on the death of a testator who has deposited a sealed cover under section 42, application be made to the Registrar who holds it in deposit to open the same, and if the Registrar is satisfied that the testator is dead, he shall, in the applicant's presence, open the cover, and, at the applicant's expense, cause the contents thereof to be copied into his Book No.3.
(2) When such copy has been made, the Registrar shall re-deposit the original will.
46. Saving of certain enactments and powers of courts
(1) Nothing hereinbefore contained shall affect the provisions of section 259 of the Indian Succession Act, 1865, or of section 81 of the Probate and Administration Act, 1881, or the power of any court by order to compel the production of any will.
(2) When any such order is made the Registrar shall, unless the will has been already copied under section 45, open the cover and cause the will to be copied into his Book No.3 and make a notice on such copy that the original has been removed in to court in pursuance of the order aforesaid.
Continued at Page 2
Foot Notes
1 Word "Indian" omitted by Act No. 45 of 1969.
2 Substituted by Act No. 3 of 1951.
3 Substituted by the AO 1950, for the words "a Native of India".
4 The words "his caste (if any) and" omitted by Act No. 17 of 1956.
5 Inserted by Act No. 3 of 1951.
6 Repealed by Govt. of India (AIL) Orders, 1937.
7 Repealed by the Repealing and Amending Act, 1927.
8 Substituted for the words "the Local Government fills up the vacancy" by Act No. 4 of 1914.
9 The words and figure "All appointments made by the Inspector-General under section 6 and", inserted by Act No. 4 of 1914 and later omitted by the Act of 1937.
10 Sub-section (3) omitted by the Act of 1937.
11 Sub-section (1) omitted by the Act of 1937.
12 Added by Act No. 21 of 1929.
13 Substituted by Act No. 21 of 1929 for the words "and any award".
14 Inserted by Act No. 39 of 1948.
15 Inserted by Act No. 2 of 1927.
16 Inserted by Act No. 33 of 1940.
17 Inserted by Act No. 15 of 1917.
18 Substituted by Act No. 3 of 1951, for the words "the States".
19 Substituted by Act No. 33 of 1940.
20 Substituted by Act No. 33 of 1940, for word and figure "and (c)".
21 Substituted by Act No. 32 of 1940 for the words and figure "other than a document referred to in section 28 and a copy of a decree or order".
22 Substituted by Act No. 45 of 1969, for words "The Registrar of a district including a Presidency-town".
23 The words "and the Registrar of the Lahore District" omitted by the AO 1948.
24 Substituted by Act No. 39 of 1948 for words and figures "s. 31 and s. 89".
25 Substituted by Act No. 3 of 1951, for the words "resides in any other part of the State".
26 Substituted by the AO 1950, for the word "British".
27 The words "of His Majesty or" omitted by AO 1950, for word "British".
28 Added by Act No. 13 of 1926.
29 The Words "and also for the destruction of such books, papers and documents as need no longer be kept" repealed by Act No. 5 of 1917.
30 The words "Subject to the control of the GG in C" omitted by Act No. 38 of 1920.
31 The words "the Branch Inspector-General of Sindh", omitted by AO 1937.
32 Substituted by Act No. 39 of 1948.
33 Section 91 renumbered as sub-section (1) by the Delegated Legislation Provisions (Amendment) Act, 1983, w.e.f. 15th. March, 1984.
34 Substituted for the words "State Government prescribes in this behalf", ibid.
35 Inserted by the Delegated Legislation Provisions (Amendment) Act, 1983, w.e.f. 15th. March, 1984.
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