‘Registrar’s brief is to register and not go into the issue of title’

The Registrar, under the Transfer of Property Act, is a keeper of record of titles to properties coming under his jurisdiction, period. He should not take it upon himself the task of verification of title to the goods by insisting on verification of agreement to sale and other documents. The Bombay High Court in Chairman/Secretary, Deep Apartment Co-operative Housing Society Ltd v. The State of Maharashtra & Others, found that the Registrar did not register the transfer of property despite the vendor and the purchaser presenting themselves before him with appropriate identification papers, but instead went off at a tangent and insisted on first ascertaining the title to the property before registering.

The Court pointed out that even if there was a defect in the title of the seller, it was for a civil court to adjudicate upon the issue. Moreover, a person cannot give a better title to the buyer than he himself has. With these safeguards in place, the Registrar must apply himself to the task of registration alone by focusing on whether the conveyance deed gave a full description of the property, the buyer and the seller etc. His energies are not meant to be frittered away on tasks others are mandated with.

(The author is a New Delhi-based chartered accountant)

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