Registration and Court Fees
Registration and Court Fees tests formal validity of documents and the pecuniary basis of court access. The key statutes are the Registration Act 1908 and the Court-fees Act 1870, as amended in West Bengal.
Registration
Section 17 makes registration compulsory for instruments of gift of immovable property, non-testamentary instruments creating or declaring an interest in immovable property of value Rs 100 or more, and leases exceeding one year. Section 18 covers optional registration. Under s 23, a document must ordinarily be presented within four months of execution. Section 47 gives it effect from the date of execution if registered within time. Section 49 makes an unregistered compulsory document inadmissible to affect the property, though it may be used for a collateral purpose.
Court fees
Court fee is ad valorem in money suits and fixed in many declaratory or matrimonial matters. Deficiency can be allowed to be made up under s 149 CPC, but limitation is not thereby extended. In West Bengal, specific amendments govern valuation and fees in partition, declaration and land matters.
Worked example
A sells land by an unregistered sale deed and later sues for injunction. The deed cannot prove transfer of title. It may, however, be used to explain the nature of possession if the collateral-purpose exception applies. Registration would not cure undervaluation or stamp duty deficiency.
Traps
Do not say an unregistered sale deed is wholly inadmissible for every purpose. Do not confuse registration with stamping. Do not overlook the four-month presentation rule. Do not treat deficit court fee as automatically fatal without an opportunity to cure.