REG 075 Authentication and Registration of Power of Attorney — Law of Registration Notes for Judiciary

Authentication and Registration of a Power of Attorney: Section 33 Against Section 18(f), and Why Neither Satisfies the Other

This is the single most useful distinction in the law of powers of attorney, and the one most often collapsed. Registration of a power of attorney is optional, under Section 18(f), and puts the instrument on the public record. Authentication under Section 33 is compulsory where the agent is to present a document for registration, and it is not about the record at all: it is about who may present. A registered power is not thereby authenticated, and an authenticated power need not be registered. The consequence of missing the second is severe, because presentation by a person not competent under Section 32 is a defect of jurisdiction, which Section 87 does not cure.

The two requirements side by side, and what happens when each is missing

1. Registration: Optional

Section 18(f), Registration Act, 1908

18. Documents of which registration is optional. Any of the following documents may be registered under this Act, namely: (f) all other documents not required by section 17 to be registered.

A power of attorney is outside Section 17. It does not create, declare, assign, limit or extinguish any right, title or interest in immovable property; it creates an agency. It therefore falls into the residuary clause of Section 18.
Registration is therefore optional, and Section 49 has no application: an unregistered power of attorney is fully valid and fully admissible.
It is nonetheless prudent. A registered power is a public document, a certified copy may be had under Section 57, and its existence and its revocation can be traced by anyone who searches.
Several States have made it compulsory by local amendment, particularly for a power authorising the sale of immovable property. The State position must always be checked, because it differs sharply.
The draft Registration Bill, 2025, published for consultation on 27 May 2025, proposes to make powers of attorney authorising the transfer of immovable property compulsorily registrable throughout India. It has not been enacted.

2. Authentication: Compulsory for Presentation

Sections 32 and 33, Registration Act, 1908, in substance

32. Persons to present documents for registration. Every document to be registered under this Act shall be presented at the proper registration office (a) by some person executing or claiming under the same, or (b) by the representative or assign of such a person, or (c) by the agent of such a person, representative or assign, duly authorised by power of attorney executed and authenticated in manner hereinafter mentioned.

33(1). For the purposes of section 32, the following powers of attorney shall alone be recognised:

(a) If the principal at the time of executing the power resides in any part of India in which this Act is for the time being in force, a power executed before and authenticated by the Registrar or Sub Registrar within whose district or sub district the principal resides.

(b) If the principal at the time aforesaid resides in any part of India in which this Act is not in force, a power executed before and authenticated by any Magistrate.

(c) If the principal at the time aforesaid does not reside in India, a power executed before and authenticated by a Notary Public, or any Court, Judge, Magistrate, Indian Consul or Vice Consul, or representative of the Central Government.

Proviso. In the case of a person who by reason of bodily infirmity is unable to appear, or who is exempted by law from personal appearance in court, or who is in jail, the Registrar or Sub Registrar or Magistrate may attend at his residence or the jail to take his execution.

The words "shall alone be recognised" are exhaustive. A power not authenticated in one of the three ways is not recognised for the purposes of Section 32, whatever else may be said for it.
Which officer authenticates is decided by where the principal resides at the time of executing the power, and not by where the property lies or where the document will be registered.
Authentication is an act of the officer certifying that the power was executed before him. He satisfies himself of the identity of the principal and records that the execution took place in his presence.
It is needed only where the agent is to present. Where the executant himself presents the document, no power and no authentication arises.
Section 33(2) to (4) deal with the case of a principal who has died or become incapable, and with powers executed by persons unable to appear.

3. The Two Compared

	Authentication, Section 33	Registration, Section 18(f)
The provision	Section 33, read with Section 32(c)	Section 18(f): all other documents not required by Section 17 to be registered
Compulsory?	Yes, if the agent is to present a document for registration	No; optional, subject to State amendments
What it is about	Who may present a document	Putting the power itself on the public record
What it achieves	Recognition of the agent as a competent presentant under Section 32(c)	A public record, and a certified copy on demand under Section 57
Who performs it	The Registrar or Sub Registrar, a Magistrate, a Notary Public, a Court, Judge, Indian Consul or Vice Consul, or a representative of the Central Government	The registering officer, by copying the document into the register
Which officer	Decided by where the principal resides, Section 33(1)(a), (b) and (c)	The proper office under Sections 28 to 31
Evidential effect	Section 84 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 presumes it was so executed and authenticated	Section 57(5): a certified copy proves the contents of the original
If it is missing	The officer must refuse to register the document the agent presents; and presentation by an incompetent person is a defect of jurisdiction	Nothing, except the loss of the advantages of a public record
Does it satisfy the other?	No. An authenticated power is not thereby registered	No. A registered power is not thereby authenticated

4. Why the Distinction Matters So Much

⚠ Presentation by an unauthorised person is a defect of jurisdiction

Section 32 is not a matter of form. Where a document is presented by a person who is not competent to present it, the registering officer has no jurisdiction to register it, and the registration has long been treated as a nullity rather than a curable irregularity. Section 87, which saves an act done in good faith from a defect in the officer's appointment or in the procedure he followed, does not cure a want of jurisdiction. A purchaser whose deed was presented by an agent holding an unauthenticated power may therefore find the registration itself open to attack, years later, when the title is examined. This is not a theoretical risk; it is one of the standard grounds on which a registered sale deed is challenged.

1. The officer is obliged to enquire under Section 34(3)(c) into the right of a person appearing as a representative, assign or agent to appear.

2. If the power is not authenticated in one of the three ways, the officer must refuse, because Section 33 says such powers alone are recognised.

3. A refusal on that ground is a refusal under Section 71, and the remedies in Sections 72 to 77 follow.

4. Registration effected on an unauthenticated power is open to attack in a civil court, and no writ will lie to have it cancelled, because the Sub Registrar cannot cancel a registered document, Satya Pal Anand v. State of M.P., (2016) 10 SCC 767.

5. The defect cannot be cured by registering the power afterwards. Registration and authentication are different acts, and the second is what Section 32(c) requires.

5. Powers Executed Abroad

1. Clause (c) of Section 33(1) governs, where the principal does not reside in India at the time of executing the power.

2. It may be executed before and authenticated by a Notary Public, or by a Court, Judge, Magistrate, Indian Consul or Vice Consul, or a representative of the Central Government.

3. Section 84 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, corresponding to Section 85 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, provides that the Court shall presume that every document purporting to be a power of attorney, and to have been executed before and authenticated by a Notary Public or any of the officers named, was so executed and authenticated.

4. The presumption is as to execution and authentication only. It does not presume that the contents are true, that the principal had capacity, or that the authority extends to the act done.

5. The Diplomatic and Consular Officers (Oaths and Fees) Act, 1948 empowers Indian diplomatic and consular officers abroad to administer oaths and do notarial acts, and a power authenticated by such an officer falls within clause (c).

6. Apostille or legalisation arises under the Hague Convention of 1961 and under the practice of the receiving authority. It goes to proof of the foreign officer's seal and signature, and is a separate question from Section 33.

7. Stamp duty is payable in India. Under Section 18 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, an instrument executed out of India must be stamped within three months after it is first received in India.

6. A Checklist for a Purchaser

What to check	Why
The original power, not a copy	A copy proves nothing about whether the power still exists or has been called in
That it expressly authorises the sale of this property	A power is construed strictly, and general words do not confer a power to sell
That it is authenticated under Section 33, by the right officer for the principal's residence	Otherwise the agent cannot present the deed, and registration on his presentation is open to attack
That the principal was alive and of sound mind at the date of the sale	The agency terminates on death or unsoundness of mind under Section 201, unless coupled with an interest
That it has not been revoked	Search the register if the power was registered; call for a declaration from the principal
That the agent executes in the principal's name	He should sign as "A by his attorney B", not in his own name
That the agent is not buying from himself	Section 215 of the Contract Act entitles the principal to repudiate such a transaction
That the power is properly stamped, and within three months of receipt if executed abroad	Section 18 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899; an unstamped power is inadmissible for any purpose

7. Registration of the Revocation

A power of attorney is revocable at the principal's will under Sections 201 and 203 of the Contract Act, subject to Section 202 where the agency is coupled with an interest.
Under Section 208, termination does not affect the agent before he knows of it, or third persons before they know of it. A revocation kept private therefore protects nobody.
A revocation should be registered where the power was registered, so that the same public record shows both.
It should be communicated to the agent in writing, and the original power called in.
It should be notified to the persons likely to deal with him, and advertised where the power was acted on publicly.
Registration of the revocation is optional in the same way, under Section 18(f), but it is the only way of making the revocation discoverable by a searcher.

8. The Position Stated Shortly

1. Registration of a power of attorney is optional under Section 18(f), because a power creates no interest in immovable property and is outside Section 17.

2. Section 49 therefore has no application, and an unregistered power is fully valid and admissible.

3. Authentication under Section 33 is compulsory where the agent is to present a document for registration under Section 32(c).

4. The words "shall alone be recognised" make the three modes in Section 33(1) exhaustive.

5. Which officer authenticates is decided by where the principal resides: the Registrar or Sub Registrar of his district in India, a Magistrate where the Act is not in force, and a Notary Public or consular officer abroad.

6. A registered power is not thereby authenticated, and an authenticated power need not be registered.

7. Presentation by a person not competent under Section 32 is a defect of jurisdiction, and Section 87 does not cure it.

8. Section 84 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 presumes execution and authentication of a power authenticated by a Notary or the officers named, and nothing beyond that.

9. A power executed abroad must be stamped in India within three months of first receipt, Section 18 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899.

10. A purchaser must see the original power, check that it authorises this sale, that it is authenticated, and that it subsists.

11. A revocation should be registered where the power was registered and notified to the agent and to third parties, because of Section 208 of the Contract Act.