Law of Limitation and Registration
Limitation and registration are procedural gatekeepers: a good case lost to limitation fails, and a genuine deed left unregistered may not prove title.
Limitation Act, 1963
- Section 3(1) imposes a duty on the court to dismiss a suit instituted after the prescribed period, even if limitation is not pleaded. Section 5 condones delay in appeals and applications, not in suits.
- Section 12 excludes time for obtaining copies; s.14 excludes time spent in a bona fide court without jurisdiction; s.18 requires an acknowledgment in writing, signed, before expiry; s.19 covers part payment.
- Section 27 extinguishes the right to property after twelve years of adverse possession.
- Key articles: Art.54 (three years for specific performance), Art.65 (twelve years for possession of immovable property), Art.136 (twelve years to execute a decree), Art.137 (three years residuary).
Registration Act, 1908
- Section 17(1) makes registration compulsory for sale of immovable property of value of Rs.100 or more, leases exceeding one year, gifts and non-testamentary instruments creating rights.
- Section 49 bars an unregistered compulsorily registrable document from being received as evidence of a transaction affecting immovable property, but the proviso allows use for a collateral purpose, such as the nature of possession.
- Presentation within four months (s.23), with a further extension of four months by the Registrar (s.25); suit for refusal under s.75.
Worked example
A sells land by an unregistered deed in 2010 and delivers possession. In the 2020 suit, the deed cannot prove title. It may still be tendered for the collateral purpose of showing the character of B's possession, and B may plead s.53A of the Transfer of Property Act to resist eviction.
Traps
Section 5 is applied to suits; acknowledgement is accepted after expiry; and s.49 is treated as barring the document entirely, forgetting the collateral purpose proviso.