REGISTRATION AND STAMPING OF THE INSTRUMENTS

INTRODUCTION-

The concept of registration came into play because it converts the basic documents into strong evidence which gains the validity in the court of Law in the matter of disputes arising between the parties, by way of making the records of the documents with the government and other original documents within the possession of the parties to whom such documents belong. Registration makes it possible for the government to have a track on those documents and transactions related to the same as they contain a really important role.

Along with registration, stamping also ensures the legality of the instruments and is generally introduced to generate revenue in the form of taxes from these instrument holders so that the government can raise funds for making the records of the instruments flexibly.

THE REGISTRATION ACT 1980-

Indian registration act is an act authorized to deal with the provisions of registration of documents.

WHAT IS REGISTRATION-

Registration is the act of making the records of the content of the documents present for registration. The purpose behind this recording is to safeguarding the title of the owners and converting them into strong evidence.

OBJECTIVES OF REGISTRATION-

1. Registration provides more authenticity to the documents.
2. It converts them into strong shreds of evidence and presentable in the court of law.
3. Prevents the possibilities of fraud and other misappropriations by providing access to government authorities.
4. It preserves the record of documents with registrar which makes it flexible to deal with future issues.

AUTHORITY RESPONSIBLE FOR REGISTRATION-

There are a registrar and sub-registrar at the district and sub-district level under Section 6 of the Act who could be whether public officer or a private one is responsible for registration documents.

DOCUMENTS MANDATORILY NEEDS TO BE REGISTERED-

Section 17 of the Indian Contract Act deals with the documents which mandatorily needs registration-

1. instruments of the gift of immovable property
2. Non-testamentary documents confer some rights in the present or future.
3. Other non-testamentary documents which acknowledge any consideration.
4. Leases of immovable property from year to year, or for any term exceeding one year, or reserving a yearly rent.
5. Non-testamentary instruments transferring or assigning any decree or order of a court.[1]

A document which doesn’t fall under the ambit of section 17 doesn’t need registration and it is optional for them according to Section 18 that whether they go for registration or not.

TIME LIMITATION TO PRESENT DOCUMENT-

Section 23 along with Section 24, 25, and 26 deals with the provision for time limitation to present the document for registration –

• All documents except will need to be present in the proper office within four months of its execution.
• Section 24 talks that when a document is executed by several persons then it needs to be present for registration within four months of each execution.
• Section 26 talks that a document executed outside India needs to be registered within four months of its arrival in India.
• Section 25 talks that in cases where the delay in presentation does not exceed four months, there may be on payment of a fine not exceeding ten times the amount of registration-fee, such document shall be accepted for registration.
• Section 27 talks about will which can be presented any time for the registration, there’s no time limit attached to it.

EFFECTS OF NON-REGISTRATION OF MANDATORY DOCUMENT-

 Section 49 talks about the effects when the document which mandatory requires registration under section 17 doesn’t get registered-

1. That immovable property cannot get sell further;
2. It disallows the further adoption in further in case the previous adoption deed doesn’t get registered;
3. That document cannot be used as evidence in the court of law, but there is an exception as in suit for specific performance it can be used as a piece of evidence.
4. Will not allow any rights and benefits of the property with the registration.

INDIAN STAMP ACT, 1899-

Indian Stamp act is an act authorized to deal with the provisions for stamping of the documents in India. It gets introduced on the first day of July 1899 but historically it gets introduced in the year 1694 to raise funds for the war.

WHAT IS STAMPING-

Stamping is a tax that gets collected of the documents related to the property transactions, so in short, it is a tax that gets imposed on the documents transferring, extending, or creating any rights or liabilities. According to section 3 of the act, this tax is levied on the instruments that fall under the ambit of Schedule I whereas, no this duty get imposed on the instruments executed on behalf or for the benefit of government or any instrument for the sale, transfer or mortgage of the vessels registered under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, or under Act 19 of 1938, or the Indian Registration of Ships Act, 1841.[2]

OBJECTIVES BEHIND THE STAMPING-

• The foremost objective of the tax is to raise revenues for the government as with this sole purpose get introduced in 1694.
• It regularizes the documents and reduced the chances of future doubts by making it a valid document that is presentable in the court of law.
• It provides the rights to the rightful owner with the reduction in frauds and other misappropriation in the future.

MODES AVAILABLE PAYMENT OF STAMP DUTY–

There is three modes available for the payment of stamping of the document-

1. Paper Stamping- This is a handy method where one needs to buy the physical non-judicial stamp paper from the vendors and then needs to fill the details of the property in it but it is comparatively more expensive.
2. E-Stamping- It is another innovative model that gets introduced to avoid the possibilities of fraud. It ensures security with the help of an authority Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL) by authorizing the official vendors to sell for the stamps.
3. Franking- Here the authorized agent stamped the document after ensuring that the stamp duty has been paid through stamp paper. Its process is like firstly the documents need to be made then took them to the bank who is working as a franking agent or to the other franking agent where the charges need to be paid after which the documents get marked or stamped which indicates that the document is well stamped.

CONCLUSION-

The acts and provisions related to the registration and Stamping get introduced to ensure the security and validity of the documents as these documents contains the bulky authority of ensuring the rights and liabilities of the person and transfer, create, extend the other rights of the persons, so it is an urgent need of the system that there should be some valid provisions are there to govern the validity of these instruments and reduce the chances of future chaos

Sources:

[1] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/561156/

[2]https://www.advocatekhoj.com/library/bareacts/indianstamp/3.php?Title=Indian%20Stamp%20Act,%201899&STitle=Instruments%20chargeable%20with%20duty

This blog is written by Anjali Tripathi, Nirma University

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