Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in its recent judgment dated January 02, 2024 in Kanwar Raj Singh (D) through LRS vs Gejo (D) through LRS (Civil Appeal No. 9098 OF 2013) settled a decades old dispute relating to the sale deed executed between the parties in 1975. The seller in this case altered the description of the property sold to the buyer by pen before the registration of the sale without the knowledge of the buyer but before its registration. The interpolation was made after the execution of the sale deed.
It was the case of the counsel representing the sell side that in terms of the decision of the Constitution Bench in the case of Ram Saran Lall v. Domini Kuer (AIR 1961 SC 1747), the sale would be completed when the sale deed was registered and, therefore, the description of the property recorded in the registered sale deed will prevail.
However, Hon’ble Supreme Court, relying on the Section 47 of the Registration Act, 1908, observed that the registered document operates from the time from which it would have commenced to operate if no registration thereof was required. Thus, when a compulsorily registerable document is registered according to the Registration Act, it can operate from a date before the date of its registration. The date of the operation will depend on the nature of the transaction. If, in a given case, a sale deed is executed and the entire agreed consideration is paid on or before execution of the sale deed, on its registered it will operate from the date of its execution.
Addressing the arguments of the counsel of sell side, Hon’ble Supreme Court analysed the decision of Constitution Bench in Ram Saran Lall v. Domini Kuer. In this case the Constitution Bench held that Section 47 of the Registration Act does not deal with the issue when the sale is complete. The Constitution Bench held that Section 47 applies to a document only after it has been registered, and it has nothing to do with the completion of the sale when the instrument is one of sale.
To conclude, Section 47 of the Registration Act does not deal with the completion of the sale; it only lays down the time from which a registered document would operate. In terms of Section 47 of the Registration Act, a registered sale deed where entire consideration is paid would operate from the date of its execution. Thus, in this case, the sale deed as originally executed will operate. The corrections unilaterally made by the seller after the execution of the sale deed without the knowledge and consent of the purchaser will have to be ignored. Only if such changes would have been made with the consent of the purchaser, the same could relate back to the date of the execution. Therefore, in this case, what will operate is the sale deed as it existed when it was executed.
