Lease deeds, Power of Attorney to be compulsory under new bill

A bill to amend the century old Registration Act to help check the loss of revenue to the state seeks to make registration of lease deeds of immovable properties and Power of Attorney compulsory irrespective of their term.
The Bill also makes it mandatory for every person presenting the document at the registration office to affix his passport size photograph and get photographed by a digital camera on the document.
The Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2013, to further amend the Registration Bill, 1908, introduced in the Rajya Sabha today by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, also seeks to make provisions for the recovery of deficit registration fee and refund of excess fee.

It also provides that Wills or authority to adopt a Will and any document notified by the state government may be registered at the option of the parties.
The Bill also provides that immovable property can be registered only in the state in which it is actually located, but the Central or State government can allow a particular document to be registered in any registration office.
The Bill also includes a new section which prohibits the registration of certain documents relating to transaction which is prohibited by any central or state act, besides prohibiting registration of any document which is likely to affect the accrued interest in immovable properties of central or state government, local bodies and other properties as may be notified by state government.

The Rural Development Ministry's Bill has been brought in after incorporating the recommendations of a Committee headed by Secretary, Department of Land Resources to suggest amendments to the Registration Act, 1908.
As the century-old Act had many lacunae whereby many exploited its provisions by not getting their lease deeds below one year for their immovable property registered, thus causing revenue loss to the state.