The main legal point established in the judgment is that the requirements of the law for the time being in force, as mentioned in Clause (b) of Section 74 of the Indian Registration Act, must be the requirements of the law relating to registration which entitle the Registrar to refuse registration if not complied with.

Alfred Henry Lionel Leach, C.J.

1. In this appeal the Court is called upon to construe Clause (b) of Section 74 of the Indian Registration Act.

2. The appellant presented to the Sub-Registrar a conveyance of Immovable property for registration. The vendor (the respondent in this appeal) did not attend at the office of the Sub-Registrar when he was required to do so for the purpose of the registration; and the Sub-Registrar regarded his absence as a denial of execution. Consequently he refused to register the document. Thereupon the appellant appealed to the Registrar under Section 73 of the Act. Without inquiring whether the vendor had executed the deed the Registrar refused to register it because the respondent had not complied with the requirements of Section 145(2) of the Madras Estates Land Act. He considered that compliance with the provision of law contained therein was necessary before the vendee was entitled to have the document registered.

3. This resulted in a suit being filed by the appellant under Section 77 in the Court of the District Munsiff of Dindigul. The District Munsiff agreed with the Registrar and dismissed the suit. The appellant appealed to the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Dindigul. The Subordinate Judge held that the Registrar should have registered the document. The respondent then appealed to this Court. His appeal was heard by Horwill, J., who allowed it, as he agreed with the opinion of the District Munsiff. The present appeal is from the judgment of the learned Judge under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent.

4. Section 73 of the Registration Act provides for an application to the Registrar, if the Sub-Registrar refuses to register a document. Section 74 says :

In such case, and also where such denial as aforesaid is made before a Registrar in respect of a document presented for registration to him, the Registrar shall, as soon as conveniently may be, enquire--(a) whether the document has been executed; (b) whether the requirements of the law for the time being in force have been complied with on the part of the applicant or person presenting the document for registration, as the case may be, so as to entitle the document to registration.

5. Section 75 relates to the order of the Registrar and the procedure to be followed thereon.

6. Sub-section (2) of Section 145 of the Madras Estates Land Act says :

Where a holding or any portion thereof is transferred by the act of a ryot, the landholder on receiving notice thereof in writing from the transferor and the transferee shall recognise the transfer. Any person presenting for registration any document transferring a holding or any portion thereof shall present therewith a notice in writing signed by the transferor and transferee, and addressed to the landholder asking for recognition of the transfer and shall also pay to the registering officer such fee as the Provincial Government may prescribe for the transmission of such notice to the landholder. The landholder shall recognise the transfer on receipt of the said notice.

Mr. Justice Horwill held that the words " whether the requirements of the law for the time being in force have been complied with " in Clause (b) of Section 74 of the Registration Act meant the requirements of any law which had reference to registration. He read the second clause of Sub-section (2) of Section 145 of the Madras Estates Land Act as being a law which the Registrar was bound to have regard to when a document was presented to him for registration by a vendee of land held by a ryot. The vendee in this case was a ryot and the land conveyed was ryoti land within the meaning of the Madras Estates Land Act.

7. For the appellant it is said that Clause (b) of Section 74 of the Registration Act has reference only to the requirements of the Registration Act or of any statutory provision which the Legislature has said shall be regarded as being supplemental to the Registration Act. An example of this is to be found in Section 4 of