Optional Registration
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soniriya0002Optional Registration
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soniriya0002`Documents of which registration is optional
Section 18 of the Registration Act provides that 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 then 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;
(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.
With respect to section 18, the Law Commission in its Sixth Report observed that clauses (a) to
(e) of the section are unnecessary as each of them is only an opposite of a corresponding clause
in section 17. Therefore, the purpose of section 18 would be served by retaining clause (f) with
verbal alternations. But the Commission in its 34 th Report recommended for retention of the
provision.
In Kusum Sharan v. Additional Member, Board of Revenue, (2019 Patna), the Court held that
section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908, makes the registration optional of a document/
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instrument relating to transfer of right, title or interest in immovable property of a value less than
Rs. 100/-.
In Satwant Singh v. Amar Kaur, (2019), the Punjab and Haryana High Court held that a Will is
not required to be compulsorily registered. Registration of Will is optional and not compulsory
as provided in section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908.
In Baldev Singh v. Surinder Mohan, (2004), the Punjab and Haryana High Court held that a
combined reading of sections 17 and 18 of the Registration Act and section 107 of the Transfer
of Property Act clearly reveals that a rent note which created lease for a term of one year only
and which did not reserve a yearly rent did not require compulsory registration.