Place of Registration under Sections 28 to 31 of the Registration Act, 1908: Documents Relating to Land, Other Documents, the Registrar's Discretion, Registration at a Private Residence, and the Effect of Registration Without Territorial Jurisdiction

A register is searched by place. Someone buying land in a village looks in the office for that sub-district, and if documents affecting it could be registered anywhere in India, the search would be worthless. Section 28 therefore requires a document affecting immovable property to be presented where the property, or some part of it, lies. Section 29 deals with everything else, allowing registration where the document was executed or at an office the parties agree on. Sections 30 and 31 provide the two relaxations: the Registrar's discretion to receive any document his Sub-Registrars could, and attendance at a private residence on special cause shown.

Which section governs, and the two exceptions to the office rule

1. Documents Relating to Land: Section 28

Section 28, Registration Act, 1908, in substance

Save as otherwise provided, every document mentioned in Section 17(1)(a) to (e), in Section 17(2) so far as it affects immovable property, and in Section 18(a), (b), (c) and (cc), shall be presented for registration in the office of a Sub-Registrar within whose sub-district the whole or some portion of the property to which the document relates is situate.

Some portion is enough. Where the property lies in more than one sub-district, the document may be presented in any one of them.
It is the property that fixes the office, not the residence of the parties or the place of execution.
Copies are then circulated. Sections 65 to 67 provide for a Sub-Registrar to forward copies and memoranda to other offices, so the transaction appears in the records of each district where the property lies.
The saving clauses in Sections 24, 25, 26, 30, 31, 88 and 89 operate as stated exceptions.

2. Other Documents: Section 29

A document not within Section 28, and not a copy of a decree or order, may be presented either in the office of the Sub-Registrar in whose sub-district it was executed, or in the office of any other Sub-Registrar under the State Government at which all the persons executing and claiming under it desire it to be registered.
The agreement must be of everyone concerned. One party cannot choose the office.
A copy of a decree or order may be presented where the original decree or order was made; and where the decree or order does not affect immovable property, at any other office all persons claiming under it desire.
The rationale differs from Section 28. Where no land is involved, there is no property whose register must record the transaction, so convenience governs.

3. The Two Relaxations

Sections 30 and 31, Registration Act, 1908, in substance

30. Any Registrar may in his discretion receive and register any document which might be registered by any Sub-Registrar subordinate to him.

31. Save as otherwise provided in this Part, no registering officer shall register any document except at his office: Provided that he may on special cause being shown attend at the residence of any person desiring to present a document for registration or to deposit a will, and accept for registration or deposit such document or will.

Section 30 is a discretion, not a right. A party cannot insist on going to the Registrar, and the discretion does not extend beyond what a subordinate Sub-Registrar could have done.
Section 31 requires special cause, such as serious illness, and is commonly used for aged or infirm executants and for the deposit of wills.
Fees are usually higher for attendance at a residence, under the State fee rules.
It does not dispense with anything else. The enquiry under Section 34 and the admission of execution under Section 35 take place at the residence just as they would at the office.

4. Registration in the Wrong Office

📖 Harendra Lal Roy Chowdhuri v. Hari Dasi Debi, (1914) 41 IA 110 (PC)

Facts: A document was registered in a district in which the property it really dealt with did not lie. Jurisdiction had been secured by including in the document a small item of property said to be situated in that district, which was fictitious, so that the office would have territorial jurisdiction under what is now Section 28.

Held: The Privy Council held the registration invalid. Where jurisdiction is founded on a property that does not exist, or is included in the document only to attract the jurisdiction of a particular office, the registering officer has no authority, and the registration is a nullity so far as the real property is concerned.

Ratio: Territorial jurisdiction under Section 28 is a condition of valid registration, and it cannot be manufactured by describing property that is fictitious or not genuinely comprised in the transaction. Citation to be verified before publication.

⚠ Section 87 does not cure a want of territorial jurisdiction

Section 87 protects acts done in good faith from a defect in the officer's appointment or procedure. It has long been understood as not curing registration by an officer who had no authority over the property at all, since that is a want of jurisdiction rather than an irregularity in its exercise. Sections 88 and 89 provide separately for documents executed by government officers and for copies of certain orders. The distinction between a curable procedural defect and a fatal want of jurisdiction is drawn in the case law, and the current authority should be checked before the point is argued.

5. Territorial and Administrative Jurisdiction

	Territorial jurisdiction	Administrative jurisdiction
What it is	The power of a particular office to register this document, fixed by Sections 28 to 31	The chain of control and supervision within the department
Source	The location of the property, or the place of execution	Sections 68 and 69: the Registrar controls the Sub-Registrar, the Inspector General superintends all
Consequence of breach	The registration may be a nullity	A departmental matter; the registration itself is not thereby void
Who decides	Ultimately the civil court	The Registrar and the Inspector General

6. The Position Stated Shortly

Section 28: a document affecting immovable property is presented where the whole or some portion of the property lies.
Section 29: other documents, where executed or at any office all the parties desire; a copy of a decree, where the original was made.
Section 30: a Registrar may in his discretion receive any document a subordinate Sub-Registrar could register.
Section 31: on special cause shown, the officer may attend a private residence to accept a document or a will.
Harendra Lal Roy Chowdhuri: jurisdiction founded on fictitious property makes the registration a nullity.
Section 87 saves procedural defects, not a want of territorial jurisdiction.
Territorial jurisdiction goes to validity; administrative jurisdiction is a matter of internal control.