The Registration Establishment under Sections 3 to 16A: The Inspector General, Registrars and Sub-Registrars, Their Powers and Control, Register Books and Public Access, Electronic Records, and the Limits of a Registering Officer's Authority

Before the Act can require a document to be registered, it needs an establishment to register it. Sections 3 to 16A build that machinery, and Sections 51 to 57 and 68 to 70 tell it what to do and who controls it. The State Government forms the territorial units and appoints the officers. An Inspector General of Registration superintends every registration office and frames the rules. A Registrar heads each district; a Sub-Registrar heads each sub-district and registers most documents. The single most important limit on all of them is that their authority is ministerial: once a document has been registered, no officer under this Act can undo it.

Who appoints whom, what each officer does, and the sections that supply the rest

1. The Officers and the Territory

Sections 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8, Registration Act, 1908, in substance

3. The State Government shall appoint an officer to be the Inspector General of Registration for the territories subject to that Government, and may appoint more than one, defining the local limits of their jurisdiction.

5. The State Government shall form districts and sub-districts for the purposes of this Act, and may alter their limits, by notification in the Official Gazette.

6. The State Government may appoint such persons as it thinks proper to be Registrars of the several districts and Sub-Registrars of the several sub-districts.

7. The State Government shall establish in every district an office of the Registrar, and in every sub-district an office of the Sub-Registrar, or shall declare an existing office to be such.

8. The State Government may also appoint Inspectors of registration offices, who work under the Inspector General.

	Inspector General	Registrar	Sub-Registrar
Appointment	State Government, s. 3	State Government, s. 6	State Government, s. 6
Territory	The State, or defined local limits	A district formed under s. 5	A sub-district formed under s. 5
Core function	General superintendence of all registration offices	Registers documents; supervises Sub-Registrars under s. 68	Registers most documents presented under ss. 28 to 30
Rule-making	Makes rules under s. 69, with the sanction of the State Government	None	None
Appellate and revisional	Superintendence only; no power to cancel a registration	Hears an appeal under s. 72 from refusal by a Sub-Registrar on grounds other than denial of execution, and an application under s. 73 where execution is denied	Refuses registration in a proper case and records his reasons in Book 2, ss. 71 and 76
Other powers	Remits fines under s. 70	Issues orders under s. 68(2) about acts or omissions of Sub-Registrars, and the rectification of errors as to the book or office	Enquires into execution, ss. 34 and 35; endorses and certifies, ss. 58 to 60

2. Absence, Vacancy and Control

Sections 10 and 11 provide for the absence of a Registrar or a Sub-Registrar and for a vacancy in either office, so that registration is not held up. In the situations the sections describe, another officer may perform the duties temporarily.
Section 13 requires appointments made under these provisions to be reported to the State Government, which may confirm or cancel them.
Section 68(1) places every Sub-Registrar under the superintendence and control of the Registrar of the district. Section 68(2) lets the Registrar issue orders, on complaint or otherwise, about any act or omission of a subordinate Sub-Registrar, or about the rectification of an error as to the book or office in which a document was registered.
Section 69 gives the Inspector General power, with the sanction of the State Government, to make rules on the safe custody of books and papers, the language of documents, the form of indexes and registers, and generally on the manner of registration. State rules made under this section supply much of the detail of daily practice.

3. Seals, Books, Indexes and Public Access

Section 15 requires every registering officer to use a seal in the prescribed form.
Section 16 requires the State Government to supply the register books, and the records to be kept in fire-proof boxes in the officer's custody.
Section 51 prescribes the books: Book 1, register of non-testamentary documents relating to immovable property; Book 2, record of reasons for refusal to register; Book 3, register of wills and authorities to adopt; Book 4, miscellaneous register for documents not relating to immovable property.
Section 52 requires the day, hour and place of presentation to be endorsed on the document, a receipt to be given, and the document to be copied into the proper book without unnecessary delay.
Sections 55 and 56 require indexes to be kept: of the names and additions of the executants and claimants, and of the property.
Section 57 is what makes the register useful to strangers. The books and indexes are open to inspection by any person, on payment of the prescribed fee, and certified copies are to be given to any applicant. Section 57(5) makes such copies admissible in evidence for the purpose of proving the contents of the original document.

4. Electronic Records and Computerisation

Section 16A, inserted by the Registration and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2001, provides that the books mentioned in Section 16 may be kept in computer floppies, diskettes or in any other electronic form, subject to such safeguards as may be prescribed to ensure their safety and preservation and to prevent loss, destruction or tampering. Section 16A is the foundation on which the States have built computerised registration, with online submission of data, electronic payment of fees, scanning and digital preservation of records, and in several States a facility for issuing digitally signed certified copies. Because that structure rests on State rules and is revised frequently, the position in the State concerned must be checked rather than assumed.

5. The Limits of a Registering Officer's Authority

📖 Satya Pal Anand v. State of Madhya Pradesh, (2016) 10 SCC 767

Facts: A plot allotted by a society was later the subject of an extinguishment deed, which was registered. The appellant applied to the Sub-Registrar to cancel the registration of that deed, and on refusal approached the Inspector General and then the High Court. The question before a three-judge bench was whether any authority under the Act could cancel or recall a registration already effected.

Held: The Court held that no authority under the Act can cancel a registration once the document has been registered. The registering officer's function is exhausted on registration and he becomes functus officio. There is no express provision empowering a Registrar to recall a registration; the superintendence conferred by Section 68 and the appellate power under Section 72 cannot be used for that purpose; and the Inspector General's power is limited to superintendence and rule-making. The remedy of an aggrieved person is a suit in a civil court for cancellation or annulment of the instrument.

Ratio: Registration is a ministerial act. Once a document is registered it becomes a fait accompli so far as the Act is concerned, and only a civil court can set the instrument aside.

The consequences are practical. Circulars and State amendments purporting to let a Registrar annul a registered document on a complaint of fraud have been struck down by High Courts following this decision.
The officer's enquiry is limited. Under Sections 34 and 35 he satisfies himself about the identity of the persons appearing and whether execution is admitted. He does not adjudicate title, genuineness of the transaction, or the executant's authority.
Refusal is a defined process. He may refuse for the reasons the Act allows, must record his reasons under Section 71 in Book 2, and the party may appeal to the Registrar under Section 72 or apply under Section 73, with a suit under Section 77 where registration is still refused.

6. Defects in Appointment or Procedure

Section 87, Registration Act, 1908

Nothing done in good faith pursuant to this Act or the Acts hereby repealed, by any registering officer, shall be deemed invalid merely by reason of any defect in his appointment or procedure.

⚠ Section 87 saves defects, not a want of jurisdiction

The section protects acts done in good faith against a defect in an officer's appointment or in the procedure he followed, so that titles do not fail because of an administrative irregularity. It has long been understood as not curing a fundamental want of authority, as where a document affecting immovable property is registered by an officer within whose sub-district no part of the property lies, contrary to Sections 28 to 30. The line between a procedural defect that Section 87 saves and a want of jurisdiction that it does not is drawn in the case law, and the current authority should be checked before the point is argued.

7. The Position Stated Shortly

The State Government forms districts and sub-districts under Section 5 and appoints officers under Sections 3, 6 and 8.
The Inspector General superintends all registration offices and makes rules under Section 69 with the State Government's sanction.
The Registrar heads a district, controls Sub-Registrars under Section 68, and hears appeals under Section 72 and applications under Section 73.
The Sub-Registrar registers most documents and records reasons for refusal in Book 2.
Sections 10, 11 and 13 provide for absence, vacancy and reporting; Sections 15 and 16 for seals, books and safe custody.
Section 51 prescribes the four books; Sections 55 to 57 the indexes, public inspection and certified copies.
Section 16A permits the books to be kept in electronic form, subject to prescribed safeguards.
Satya Pal Anand: once a document is registered, no authority under the Act can cancel the registration; the remedy is a civil suit.
Section 87 saves acts done in good faith from a defect in appointment or procedure, but not a want of jurisdiction.