An award on reference to arbitration without the intervention of a Court is not compulsorily registrable under Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908, and an unregistered award can be enforced by pronouncing judgment according to it under Section 17 of the Arbitration Act, 1940.

Sinha, J.

1. This Full Bench has been constituted to consider the following questions of law:

1. Is an award on reference to arbitration without the intervention of a Court made subsequent to the coming into force of the Indian Arbitration Act, 3940, deciding questions of title to the immoveable property worth one hundred rupees and upwards compulsorily registrable?

2. Can such award, if not registered, be enforced so as to enable the Court to pronounce judgment according to it under Sec.17 of the Indian Arbitration Act, 1940? and

3. Can an objection to the award that, for want of registration or for any other reason, it could not be enforced filed after the expiry of the time for making an application to set it aside, be entertained, and if not, is the Court bound to pronounce judgment according to it under Sec.17 of the Indian Arbitration Act, 1940 ?

2. I would like to indicate the brief facts which gave rise to this reference.

3. On 6th July, 1950, the plaintiff and the defendant agreed to refer their dispute to the arbitration of five named persons, who gave their award in favour of the plaintiff. The award was filed in Court on 15th May, 1951, and notice of the filing of the award was served on the defendant on 21st June, 1951. He objected to the award by filing a written statement on 7th September, 1951. The objection was on various grounds, one of which was that the award, not having been registered, could not be enforced, as it purported to affect title to immovable properties of value of more than one hundred rupees. The Court below overruled these objections, and pronounced judgment according to the award. The defendant, being aggrieved by the order of the Court below rejecting his objections, preferred this appeal to this Court. The matter was heard by Choudhary and Dayal JJ., and, in view of several decisions of this Court and of other Courts, with which their Lordships did not agree, the matter was referred to the Hon ble the Chief Justice for referring the questions mentioned above to a larger Bench, and this Full Bench has been constituted accordingly.

4. The Indian Arbitration Act, 1940 will hereafter be referred to as the Act.

5. So far as the first point is concerned, it has to be seen whether an award, without the intervention of the Court, made subsequent to the coming into force of the Indian Arbitration Act, 1940 deciding questions of title to immovable property worth one hundred rupees and upwards is compulsorily registrable. We have, therefore, to consider the provisions of Sec.17 of the Registration Act, which falls under Part III "Of Registrable Documents", the relevant portions of which are contained in Sec.17 (1) (b), which reads thus :

"Documents of which registration "is compulsory 1. The following documents shall be registered, if the property to which they relate is situate in a district in which, and if they have been executed on or after the date on which, Act No. 16 of 1804, or the Indian Registration Act, 1866 (20 of 1866), or the Indian Registration Act, 1871 (8 of 1871), or the Indian Registration Act, 1877 (3 of 1877), or this Act came or comes into force, namely.

(b) other non-testamentary instruments which purport or operate to create, declare, assign, limit or extinguish, whether in present or in future, any right, title or interest, whether vested or contingent, of the value of one hundred rupees and upwards, to or in immoveable property."

We have to find out whether an award in respect of immovable property worth one hundred rupees and upwards requires registration. In other words, whether such an award purports or operates to create, declare, assign, limit or extinguish, whether in present or in future, any right, title or interest to or in immovable property. It has to be mentioned that the exception to the general rule provided in the section, namely, Sub-section (2) of Sec.17, does not now, after the amendment of the Registration Act of 1929, expressly refer to an award.