Remedies Against Refusal to Register a Document

Remedies for Document Registration Denial by a Sub-Registrar

Introduction:

The registration authority, specifically the Sub-Registrar, may refuse to register a document if any illegality is found in the document or the transaction it contains. However, individuals who have been denied registration can avail themselves of several remedies to address this situation effectively.

I. Appeal to the Registrar:

One possible remedy is to file an appeal with the Registrar. Section 72 of the Registration Act allows for an appeal to be made to the Registrar when the sub-registrar refuses registration on grounds other than denial of execution. If the appeal is made within thirty days of the sub-registrar's order and all necessary conditions are met, the Registrar has the power to reverse or alter the order, without necessarily rejecting the document for registration.

II. Application to the Registrar:

Another remedy available is to make an application to the Registrar. Sections 73, 74, and 75 outline the procedure to be followed when applying against the sub-registrar's refusal to register a document based on the grounds of denial of execution. This application is distinct from the appeal mentioned earlier. If the application is made within thirty days of the refusal and complies with the required conditions, the Registrar will inquire into whether the document has been executed and if the legal requirements for registration have been met. If satisfied, the Registrar will order the document to be registered.

III. Civil Suit for Direction to Register:

If the Registrar refuses to order the document to be registered under Section 72 or Section 76, the affected person, or their representative, assignee, or authorized agent, can initiate a civil suit within thirty days of the refusal. This suit should be filed in the Civil Court having jurisdiction over the office where the document was intended for registration. The purpose of the suit is to obtain a decree directing the registration of the document. However, certain conditions must be met, such as presenting the document for registration within the prescribed time, ensuring authorized presentation, and following the appeal or application processes outlined in Sections 72 and 73. It is only when the remedy of appeal to the Registrar has already been exhausted.

IV. Appeal Against the Determination of the Civil Court:

If a decree is passed in the civil suit directing the registration of the document, an appeal can be filed against the court's determination. Even if the document has been registered as per the decree before the appeal is filed, an appeal is still possible. Additionally, the appellate court may issue an order to stay the execution of the decree.

Relevant Provisions

Sections 71 to 77 Registration Act deal with the procedure; effects and remedies of refusal by the registry officer to register a document.

When Registration May Be Refused?

Under Section 71, the Sub-Registrar has been empowered to refuse the registration of a document. The following conditions, however, must be fulfilled:

• (1) An order must be recorded to this effect.
• (2) The order must contain the reasons for doing so.
• (3) The ground must not be that the property to which registration relates is not situated within the sub-district of the Sub-Registrar
• (4) The order and its reasons must be recorded in Book No. 2.
• (5) The words “registration refused” must be endorsed on the document.
• (6)A copy of the reasons so recorded shall also be given to a person who makes an application for the same:
1. (a) Such a person/applicant must be either an executant or a claimant under the document.
2. (b) No payment shall be demanded for issuing such copies.
3. (c) No unnecessary delay shall be caused in issuing the copies.

Reasons/Grounds for Refusal of Registration

The following have been held to be valid grounds/reasons for refusal of registration:

1. The description of the property was not sufficient to identify the same. (Ss. 21 & 22)
2. Presentation of the document out of time. (S. 23)
3. Failure to pay the fine imposed under Section 25 in due time.
4. Presentation of a document in the wrong registration office. (S. 28)
5. Failure to pay the registration fee.
6. Presentation of a document by an improper person. (S. 32)
7. Non-appearance of executing party within time. (S. 34)
8. The executant appears to the registering officer to be a minor, an idiot, or a lunatic.
9. Failure to summon heirs of deceased executant under S. 36

Remedies Against Refusal of Registration

There are the following remedies for a person who has been refused registration:

• (1) Appeal to Registrar
• (2) Application to Registrar
• (3) Suit for direction to register
• (4) Appeal from the Civil Court’s order

(1) Appeal to Registrar

Section 72 provides for an appeal to a Registrar from orders of sub-registrars refusing registration on a ground other than denial of execution. Section 73 provides for an application to a Registrar where a sub-registrar refuses to register on the ground of denial of execution. Section 76 applies to an order of refusal by a Registrar made under Section 72 as well as under Section 75. Section 77 provides for a suit if the Registrar refuses to order a document to be registered. Section 72 deals with appeals to the Registrar from the orders passed by the Sub-Registrar in those cases where he refuses to register a document on grounds other than denial of execution. But where in an application under Section 36 to the Sub-Registrar a prayer is made for summoning the document in question and the Sub-Registrar directs that the application be represented along with the document of which execution is sought, he does not refuse to register the document and therefore, no appeal is competent to the Registrar under Section 72. 

(a) Powers of registrar:

When a Sub-Registrar refuses to register a deed on a ground other than the denial of execution, all that the Registrar need do is to reverse or alter such order without necessarily rejecting the document to be registered, that is to say, it is in the power of a Registrar. if the Sub-Registrar has on some wrong ground which did not entitle him to do so, to remand the case to him with a direction to continue in accordance with the Registration Act from the stage immediately before that where the Sub-Registrar had acted contrary to the Registration Act. AIR 1940 Oudh 313 

(b) Conditions for appeal:

The following conditions are precedent for preferring an appeal to the Registrar:

• (i) The Sub-Registrar must have refused to admit the document for registration, even if the registration is compulsory.
• (ii) Appeal must be preferred within thirty days from the date of the order of the Sub-Registrar. 
• (iii)  Refusal must not be on the ground of denial of Execution.

(2) Application to Registrar 

Sections 73, 74, and 75 lay down the procedure to be followed when an application against the order of the Sub-Registrar refusing to register a document on the grounds that the alleged executant denies its execution is made under this section. 

Though the order of the District Sub-Registrar is described as an appellate order under Section 72 of the Indian Registration Act, it will strictly come within the scope of Section 73 of that Act and not of Section 72. Section 72 applies only when refusal to register is made on any ground than denial of execution. Where however it was the denial of execution by some of the alleged executants of the document, that was responsible for the Sub-Registrar’s refusal to register the same. The appropriate Section is, therefore, Section 73, and the order of the District Sub-Registrar is strictly speaking not an order in appeal but an order on an application under Section 73 of the Act. Section 7(2) of the Act authorizes the Provincial Government to confer on a District Sub-Registrar all the powers of a Registrar except the power to hear an appeal against his own order.

Sub‑Registrar had refused to register a document on the ground of denial of execution. No appeal under section 72 of the Act lay and it was a case falling to be dealt with under section 73 of the Registration Act, 1908. In other words, this was a case in which the Sub‑Registrar had refused to register a document on the ground of denial of execution by the petitioner and, therefore, the remedy of the respondent was to apply to the Registrar "within thirty days after the making of the order of refusal" in order to establish his right to have the document registered. [1990 MLD 2104 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT]

Valuation of property

Fixation of the valuation of the property was exclusively a matter between the vendor and vendee. The vendor can sell his property at a price less than market value; similarly, the vendee can purchase any property at a higher rate than the market price. Sub-Registrar would be bound to register an instrument containing the agreed price therein, under S. 71 of the Registration Act, 1908, provided same had been properly. [1995  CLC  187 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT]

Illustrative Case 

The plaintiff presented a receipt purporting to be executed by the defendant in his favour, to the Sub-Registrar. The defendant having denied execution, registration was refused. The plaintiff appealed from the order of the Sub-Registrar to the District Registrar, but his appeal was dismissed on the ground that no appeal lay. The plaintiff brought a suit in the Civil Court for a decree directing the document to be registered, 

Held that under Section 72, no appeal lay to the Registrar, and the plaintiff should have proceeded under Section 73, Held, further, that by virtue of the provisions of Section 77 of the Registration Act, the Court was not competent to order registration. 2 OC 77 

(a) Conditions for application to the registrar:

The following conditions must be fulfilled in order to avail of this remedy: 

• (i) Sub-Registrar must have refused registration. 
• (ii) The grounds of such refusal must be that any person by whom it purports to be executed denies its execution. 
• (iii) The application can only be made by a person claiming under the document or his representative, assign, or agent authorized duly. 
• (iv) The application must be made within thirty days after the making of the order of refusal. 
• (v) The application must be in writing and shall be accompanied by a copy of the reasons recorded for denial. 
• (vi) The statements in the application must be verified by the applicant just as verification of the plaint. 

(b) Procedure of registration application:

These are some kinds of procedures to register an application: 

(i) Enquiry:

When a Sub-Registrar has refused to register a document on the ground that its execution is denied and an application is presented in the manner laid down by Section 73, or where the execution of a document tendered, for registration to Registrar, or under Section 30 or 40, is denied in a proceeding before him, the Registrar has jurisdiction to enquire only two things, namely: 

• (i) whether the document has been executed; and 
• (ii) whether the requirements of law have been complied with so as to entitle the document to registration. 

The registrar is not to enter into approving inquiry into the probabilities and surrounding circumstances and put himself the question: Does the document, whatever its history, represent the substance of the agreement between the parties? That is a wholly otiose and irrelevant inquiry. The Registrar has got to ask himself merely this: Is this document now tendered to me to be registered actually in the state in which it was executed by the parties to it? 

(ii) Order to register:

Under Section 15, if the Registrar finds that the document has been executed and that the said requirements have been complied with he shall order the document to be registered. 

(iii) Compliance of order by sub-registrar:

Under Section 75(2), if the document is duly presented for registration within thirty days after the making of such order, the registering officer shall obey the same and thereupon shall, so far as may be practicable follow the procedure prescribed in Sections 58, 59 and 60. Such registration shall take effect as if the document had been registered when it was first duly presented for registration.

(iv) Order of refusal by registrar:

Under Section 76(1), every registrar refusing:

(a) to register a document except on the grounds that the property to which it relates is not situated within his district or that the document ought to be registered in the office of a Sub-Registrar, or

(b) to direct the registration of a document under Section 72 er Section 75, shall make an order of refusal and record the reasons for such order in his Book No. 2, and, on an application made by any person executing or claiming under the document, shall without unnecessary delay, give him a copy of the reasons so recorded.

(3) Remedy of Civil Suit 

Where the Registrar refuses to order the document to be registered, under Section 72 er Section 76, any person claiming under such document, or his representative, assign or agent, may, within thirty days after the making of the order of refusal, institute in the Civil Court, within the local limits of whose original jurisdiction is situated the office in which the document is sought to be registered, a suit for a decree directing the document to be registered in such office if it be duly presented for registration within thirty days after the passing of such decree. 

(a) Scope of Court’s Enquiry:

In a suit for a decree directing the registration of certain documents, the inquiry in Court is to be directed to two points only, namely: 

(a) whether the documents had been executed; and whether the certain requirements of the law as to presentation for registration in due time to, the proper office and in the manner generally prescribed by the Registration Act had been complied with by the person presenting the document for registration. 

In such cases, the Court is concerned not with the validity but with the genuineness of the document sought to be registered, that is whether the document has been executed by the person by whom it is alleged to have been executed. AIR 1938 Rang. 176

(b) conditions precedent to the institution of a civil suit:

No suit for a decree directing a document to be registered can lie under this section;

• (a) unless the document has been presented for registration within the time prescribed by Sections 23-26 
• (b) unless the presentation is by a person authorized to do so under Section 32 of the Act; 
• (c) unless there has been a refusal by the Sub-Registrar to register; 
• (d) unless there has been an appeal to the Registrar under Section 72 or an application under Section 73 above, and such appeal or application is made within thirty days from the date of the Sub-Registrar’s order of refusal. [See comments to Sec. 73] Application to be made within thirty days.
• (e) unless there has been a refusal by the Registrar to register under Section 76; and 
• (f) unless the suit has been filed within thirty days from the date of the Registrar’s order of refusal. 

(4) Appeal against the Determination of Civil Court

An appeal lies from a decree passed in a suit under this section. An appeal will lie even if the document has been registered pursuant to the decree before the appeal is filed. If a decree is passed directing registration, the appellate Court may make an order directing a stay of execution. (63) AMP 234

Conclusion

When faced with the refusal of registration by a sub-registrar, individuals have multiple remedies at their disposal. These include filing an appeal with the Registrar, making an application to the Registrar, initiating a civil suit for a decree directing registration, and appealing against the determination of the civil court. By following the appropriate procedures and meeting the necessary conditions, individuals can seek redress and ensure the registration of their documents.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q. Can a sub-registrar, without assigning any reason, refuse to register a document?

Answer:

No, a sub-registrar cannot refuse to register a document without providing any reason. The Registration Act requires that if a sub-registrar decides to refuse registration, an order must be recorded with the reasons for the refusal. This ensures transparency and accountability in the registration process, allowing individuals to seek appropriate remedies in case of refusal.

Q. What is the remedy against the refusal to register a document?

As Discussed Above the remedy against the order of a sub-registrar refusing to register a document can be pursued through various options. These remedies include: (1) filing an appeal to the Registrar, (2) making an application to the Registrar, (3) initiating a civil suit for a decree directing registration, and (4) appealing against the determination of the civil court. These avenues provide individuals with opportunities to challenge the refusal and seek appropriate resolutions to ensure the registration of their documents and protect their legal rights.