A document presented for registration within the time prescribed under Section 23 of the Registration Act must be registered, even if the executant refuses to appear before the Sub-Registrar.

JUDGMENT :- The plaintiff is the appellant in the second appeal and she filed this suit for registration of a sale deed in her favour under S.77 of the Indian Registration Act.

2. The defendant-respondent executed a sale deed in favour of the plaintiff of a house on 23rd April 1957. On 22nd August 1957, the plaintiff presented the sale deed before the Sub-Registrar, for registration. While presenting the document for registration, she filed a petition for excusing the delay in presenting the document before the Sub Registrar. The delay obviously was in waiting till almost the last day for presentation of the document. The Sub Registrar ordered notice to the defendant. The defendant appeared before the Sub Registrar on 30th August 1957. He admitted execution of the document, but stated that he was not willing to register the document as a large portion of the amount due under the sale deed was not paid to him. The Sub Registrar refused to register the document, and an appeal by the plaintiff to the District Registrar, also proved futile.

2a. The plaintiff filed the suit praying for a decree directing the document to be registered by the Sub Registrar.

3. The trial Court found all the issues in favour of the plaintiff and granted a decree as prayed for. On appeal, the lower appellate court reversed the findings of the trial court and dismissed the suit with costs. It found that the plea put forward by the plaintiff was not accepted by the District Registrar, and as the District Registrar had in exercise of his discretion refused to register the document, it is not a fit case for interference by the civil court.

4. Section 23 of the Registration Act provides that subject to the provisions contained in Ss.24, 25 and 26, no document shall be accepted for registration unless presented for that purpose to the proper officer within 4 months from the date of its execution. Section 24 deals with the execution of a document by several persons and provides that the document should be presented for registration within four months from the date of each execution, Sec.25 relates to failure of presentation of document within 4 months due to urgent necessity or unavoidable accident and provides that the Registrar may excuse the delay in presentation if it does not exceed four months. Section 26 relates to documents executed outside the provinces.

So far as the present document is concerned, Ss.24, 25 and 26 have no application, and this document has to be presented for registration within four months from the date of its execution. The document was, in fact, presented on 22nd August 1957, that is within four months from the date of its execution. There is, therefore, no dispute that this document was presented by a proper person, that is a person claiming under the document, within the time prescribed, and the execution was also admitted by the executant. The executant refused to register the document on the ground that the full consideration was not paid to him. The Act makes a provision for enforcing the appearance of the executant and the witness, if desired by the person presenting the document, under S.36 of the Act. It may be noticed that the period of four months prescribed under S.23 is for presentation of the document and when once the document is presented within time it will have to be accepted for registration. In this case, difficulty arose because the plaintiff, though he presented the document for registration within the time allowed, chose to file a petition for excusing the delay m presentation. The Sub Registrar felt that there was no sufficient reason for excusing the delay and the District Registrar agreed with him. There was no need at all for presenting any petition for excusing the delay, as the document itself was presented within time.

The learned counsel appearing for the respondent sought to justify the order of the lower courts on the ground that under S.34 of the Act no document shall be registered under the Act