Registration Act, 1908 – s.69 – Registration (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 2008 – ss.22-A, 22-B – Registration Rules – r.55A – Vires of r. 55A – Refusal of the Sub-registrar to register the sale deed on the ground that the title of the vendor and the appellant not established – Correctness – Sub-Registrar refused to register sale deed executed in favour of the appellant – On direction by the Sub-Registrar to reconsider, the Sub-Registrar again refused registration – Writ petition thereagainst rejected – Writ appeal challenging the rejection also dismissed – Interference: Held: On plain reading of ss.22-A and 22-B, on the ground of failure to produce documents of title of the vendor, registration could not have been refused – No provision under the 1908 Act confers power on any authority to refuse registration of a transfer document on the ground that the documents regarding the title of the vendor are not produced, or if his title is not established – r.55A provides that unless documents are produced to prove that the executant has a right in respect of the property subject matter of the instrument, the registration of the same shall be refused – Under the scheme of the 1908 Act, it is not the function of the Sub-Registrar or Registering Authority to ascertain whether the vendor has title to the property which he is seeking to transfer – Once the registering authority is satisfied that the parties to the document are present before him and the parties admit execution thereof before him, subject to making procedural compliances, the document must be registered – Rule making power u/s.69 cannot be exercised to make a Rule that is inconsistent with the provisions of the 1908 Act – r.55A(i) is inconsistent with the provisions of the 1908 Act, thus, r.55 declared ultra vires the 1908 Act – Impugned judgment quashed and set aside. [Paras 9,11-17]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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