IMPORTANT POINT
Power-of-Attorney – By merely signing a document on behalf of Principal, a power-of-attorney holder does not lose his status as an agent of that principal and become ‘executant’ in his own right.

ORDER :

1. Leave granted.

2. These appeals turn open the validity of the registered Irrevocable General Power of Attorney dated 15.10.1990 allegedly executed by Ranveer Singh and his wife, Gyanu Bai, in favour of G. Rajender Kumar, their tenant, and in turn, the validity of the three registered sale deeds dated 16.11.1990, 18.07.1991 and 16.08.1991 respectively executed by G. Rajender Kumar, the power-of-attorney holder, in favour of his wife, G. Shashikala.

3. Ranveer Singh, in fact, denied the execution of this General Power of Attorney, by way of his written statement filed in the suit. In that context, the Trial Court framed an issue as to ‘whether Ranveer Singh had appointed G. Rajender as his General Power of Attorney and whether the sale deeds executed by G. Rajender in favour of G. Shashikala as a General Power of Attorney were valid’. Thereafter, pursuant to the revisionary order passed by the High Court, the very admissibility of the General Power of Attorney dated 15.10.1990 and the three sale deeds executed by the power-of-attorney holder was called in question before the Trial Court and four additional issues were framed. One of the additional issues was whether the alleged General Power of Attorney dated 15.10.1990 was authenticated by the Registrar, as required under Sections 32, 33, 34 and 35 of the Registration Act, 1908 (hereinafter ‘the Act’). Another additional issue was as to whether the Registrar had recognized G. Rajender Kumar, the alleged power-of-attorney holder, at the time of execution of the three sale deeds, as required under Section 34(3)(c) of the Act read with Rule 53 of the Rules framed thereunder.

4. While so, during the course of arguments before us on authentication of a power of attorney and the duty cast upon the Registrar while registering a sale deed executed by a power-of-attorney holder, the earlier decision of this Court in Rajni Tandon vs. Dulal Ranjan Ghosh Dastidar and Another, (2009) 14 SCC 782 was cited. In fact, the High Court placed reliance upon the said decision in support of its conclusions. Perforce, we had to study the decision and its ratio. In that case, by way of a notarized power of attorney, the principal had authorized the agent named therein to transfer his property and execute necessary documents. Pursuant thereto, the power-of-attorney holder executed a sale deed and presented it for registration. This action was assailed on the ground that the power-of-attorney holder had to present an authenticated power-of-attorney before the Sub-Registrar to get the sale deed registered. A co-ordinate Bench heard the case and framed the issue falling for consideration as under:

“19............whether a person who executes a document under the terms of the power of attorney, is, insofar as the registration office is concerned, the actual executant of the document and is entitled under Section 32(a) to present it for registration and get if registered.”

5. The Bench noted that one of the categories of persons eligible to present a document for registration, in terms of Section 32 of the Act, is the ‘person executing’ the document. The Bench opined that the expression ‘person executing’, as used in Section 32(a) of the Act, signifies the person actually executing the document and includes a principal who executes by means of an agent. Elaborating further, the Bench held that where a person holds a power of attorney which authorizes him to execute a document as an agent for someone else and he executes such document under the terms of the power of attorney, he is, so far as the registration office is concerned, the actual executant of the document and is entitled under Section 32(a) to present it for registration and get it registered. The Bench further held that, in such a situation, the duty cast on the registering officer under Section 32 of the Act is only to satisfy himself that the document was executed by the person by whom it purports to have been signed and upon being so satis