REGISTRATION MANUAL
CHAPTER I
APPOINTMENT, REMUNERATION AND
RETIREMENT OF REGISTERING OFFICERS
Appointment
1. Permanent Appointments: - Under section 6 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) all permanent appointments to the office of Registrar, Sub-Registrar, or Joint Sub-Registrar, are made by the Local Government. In some cases the persons appointed are public officers who perform registration duties by virtue of their office in addition to their other duties ; in other cases persons specially selected are nominated to the office.
2. Classes Of Registering Officers: -The following are the classes of registering officers employed in the Punjab :--
(a) registering officers who are required to perform their duties without remuneration –
(i) the exofficio Registrar of each district, that is, the Deputy Commissioner in administrative charge of the district for the time being, or any officer appointed to act temporarily as Registrar in his place under the provisions of paragraph 11;
(ii) civil officers of and above the rank of Naib-Tehsildar, holding office either as Sub-Registrars or Joint Sub-Registrars ;
(iii) treasury or sub-treasury officers discharging the duties of Sub-Registrars at the headquarters of a district or sub-division.
(b) registering officers other than public officers appointed under section 6 and 7 (2) of the Act and entitled to remuneration for their duties as such, at the rates hereinafter provided –
(i) Departmental Sub-Registrars ;
(ii) Honorary Sub-Registrars.
(iii) Departmental or Honorary Sub-Registrars whose offices have been amalgamated with those of Registrars.
3. Appointments, Probation And Confirmation Of Honorary And Departmental Sub-Registrars: - All appointments of honorary and departmental sub-registrars will be made by Government on probation for a year. At the end of this period, the incumbent will, on receipt of a report from the Inspector-General of Registration as to his being fully acquainted with the Registration Manual, possessing a working knowledge of the Stamp Act, and exercising adequate supervision over his subordinate staff, be confirmed for a period of five years from the date of the order of confirmation. If however, the work or conduct of the imcumbent during the probationary period has in the opinion of Government not been satisfactory, Government may dispense with his services or in the alternative extend his term of probation by any period it may deem fit; and on the expiry of such extended term of probation may pass such order as it could have passed on the expiry of the first period of probation.
4. Departmental Sub-Registrars Government Servants: - Departmental Sub-Registrars are Government servants- within the meaning of the Civil Service Regulations. The services of those who were appointed Sub-Registrars before the 13th February, 1930, qualifies for pension with effect from April 1st, 1906, the date on which the roles in this behalf come into force. All appointments made after the 13th February, 1930, however, have been declared to be non-pensionable. Departmental and Honorary Sub-Registrars are, however, not whole-time servants of Government and are therefore not officials for any of the purposes of the Government of India Act.
5. Sub-Registrars, At Headquarters, Sub-Districts And Elsewhere: (1)-In a headquarters sub-district the Tehsildar or Naib-Tehsildar is ordinarily Joint Sub-Registrar, and the Sub-Registrar may be either a Departmental Sub-Registrar, or the Treasury Officer holding charge exofficio, or another officer of Government deputed by the Registrar to act for the time being.
(2) In a sub-district which is not a headquarter sub-district, the Tehsildar is ordinarily Sub-Registrar until a Departmental Sub-Registrar is appointed at the headquarters of the tehsil, and, upon such appointment occurring, the Tehsildar becomes Joint Sub-Registrar.
(3) When it is proposed to appoint a second Sub-Registrar in one sub-district, it is desirable that the incumbent, who holds, or is to hold, office at the headquarters of the sub-district, should be Sub-Registrar and the other incumbent should be Joint Sub-Registrar, the two incumbents working with concurrent jurisdiction throughout the sub-district. This is desirable, because experience has shown that administrative difficulty generally arises from the creation of separate sub-districts within one tehsil.
6. Creation Of Offices Of Departmental Sub-Registrars: (1)-The main object of creating posts of Departmental Sub-Registrars is to relieve public officers of the burden of registration work and this can best be achieved by creating such offices at the headquarters of tehsils and of districts. The multiplication of out-offices (that is to say, offices which are not situated at the headquarters of tehsils or of districts) is therefore to be deprecated and Government do not favour the creation of fresh out-offices or even the continuance of existing out-offices unless it is clear that their creation of continuance is desirable in the public interest.
(2) The Policy of Government is that out-offices, should gradually be abolished on the death or resignation of existing incumbents and registration work should eventually become concentrated in offices at the headquarters of the district or of the tehsil. Proposals for the continuance of or for new appointments to, out offices should therefore not be made except for very special reasons.
7. Instructions as To Proposals To The Appointment Of Registering Officers:-(1)-The greatest possible care should be exercised in making recommendations for the appointment of Sub-Registrars. Persons to be recommended should be under sixty years of age and should ordinarily be resident of the neighbourhood though, if no person so resident is available, persons from another locality may be recommended, provided that they undertake to change their residence or that satisfactory arrangements can be made for their regular attendance at the office during office hours. The Government may, however, waive off the condition of age to be below 60 years and appoint a Sub-Registrar who may be more than 60 years of age, but he shall not be retained as Honorary Sub-Registrar beyond 65 years of age. They should be of good family and character and in easy circumstances. As a matter of general policy, the appointments are to be reserved, so far as possible, for members of the hereditary landed gentry possessing rural influence and particularly for those who did valuable war work, either as combatants or recruiters, and for retired Indian Commissioned Officers. Candidates for the post of Honorary Sub-Registrars should be Matriculates of any recognised University with a working knowledge of the Regional language. In case of old political sufferers and ex-service-men, however, a pass in the Middle Standard with a good knowledge of the Regional language should suffice. For this purpose, the term “Political Sufferer” would mean a person who has undergone at least one year’s imprisonment before 1947 in one of the movements recognised by the Government as a National Movement. In case of persons possessing overwhelming merits or long experience of public life, the academic qualifications will be relaxed. A newly appointed Honorary Sub-Registrar would be required to undergo a training in registration and stamp laws for a period of two months from an experienced Honorary Sub Registrar selected by the Inspector-General of Registration and, therefore, he would be required to pass a test given by the I.G.R. If he is found to lack proper working for the post, his period of training be extended further as is deemed necessary by the I.G.R. During the period of training, he will be given a fixed allowance of Rs. 55 per mensem out of the grant under the head “15 – Registration – District Charges—Other Allowances and Honoraria”
A candidate for the post of Honorary Sub-Registrar shall submit his application in Form No.7 prescribed in Appendix III – Miscellaneous Forms – to the Punjab Registration Manual, 1929.
(2) Recommendations should be made by Commissioners direct to Government and should be made in a demi-official form. They should be accompanied by a tabular statement dealing with the claims of all the candidates whose names have come before the Deputy Commissioner with special reference to the qualifications mentioned above.
8. Departmental And Honorary Sub-Registrars: (1)-At the headquarters of all districts and of all tehsils, the Sub-Registrar, where there is one in addition to the Tehsildar or other ex officio Sub-Registrar, is usually a Departmental Sub-Registrar, and so also are the incumbents of the following out-offices :-
Mukerian … Tehsil Dasuya
Alawalpur … Tehsil Jullunder
Bunga … Tehsil Nawanshahr
Keylong … Tehsil Kulu
(2) The incumbent of the remaining out-offices will be classified as Honorary Sub-Registrar. If any man of good family is unwilling to accept the post of Departmental Sub-Registrar, but is willing to be an Honorary Sub-Registrar, a proposal to this effect may be made.
9. Amalgamation Of Office Of Sub-Registrar With That Of Registrar: - Section 7 of the Act allows the Local Government to amalgamate the office of a Sub-Registrar with that of a Registrar, and to authorize the Sub-Registrar to exercise and perform in addition to his own powers and duties, all or any of the powers of the Registrar. The Sub-Registrars at the headquarters of certain districts have accordingly been authorized to exercise and perform such powers and duties, with the exception of those specified in sections 68 and 72 of the Act. The Local Government may also declare that a Sub-Registrar shall be deemed to be Registrar for the purpose of sub-section (3) of section 35 and of part XII of the Act.
10. Temporary Appointments: - Provision is made in sections 11 and 12 of the Act for temporary appointments in cases where the registering officer is absent from his office for a short time only; and here it is necessary to remind registering officers that the “office” contemplated in sub-section (1) of section 7 is a fixed place, and not a movable establishment; that except in the cases otherwise specially provided for in the Act, all registrations must be made at such office; and that consequently when a registering officer proceeds into the interior of his district or sub-district, he cannot take his office with him. In such cases it becomes necessary for the Registrar to provide a substitute, in doing which he will be guided by the following general instructions.
11. When A Registrar is Absent: - Section 11 of the Act provides that when a Registrar “is absent from his office on duty in his district he may appoint any Sub-Registrar or other person in his district to perform, during such absence, all the duties of a Registrar, except those mentioned in sections 68 and 72.” In such cases, the person so appointed may, in the discretion of the district officer, be either the Treasury Officer or any other Civil Officer at the headquarters of the district.
12. When A Sub-Registrar is Absent: - Section 12 of the Act provides for temporary vacancies in the office of Sub-Registrar. When a subordinate registering officer proceeds on leave of absence, or is otherwise temporarily away from his office, the Registrar will provide for the performance of his duties during his absence in the following manner :--
(a) when the absent officer is the district Treasury Officer, the officer who succeeds him in charge of the Treasury should take over his registration duties also, except where the Deputy Commissioner himself takes charge of the Treasury, in which case the registration duties should be made over to the local Tehsildar or to some civil officer at headquarters. It is incompatible with the provisions of the Act for a Registrar to perform the duties of a Sub-Registrar, except where the two offices have been amalgamated under section 7 of the Act ; moreover, such an arrangement might be productive of inconvenience in cases where a party wished to appeal against an order issued by the Deputy Commissioner in the capacity of a Sub-Registrar;
(b) save as provided above, where there are two subordinate registering officers at the same place, during the temporary absence of one the other should ordinarily be required to perform the duties of both offices;
(c) save as provided above, when the absent officer is a Tehsildar, the Naib-Tehsildar, if available, should be placed in charge of the registration duties;
(d) in all other cases, the Registrar should make such arrangements as appear to him to be most suitable in the circumstances for maintaining the continuity of the business of the office.
13. One Sub-Registrar Cannot
Be Appointed To Two Sub-Districts At The Same Time: - It must be borne in mind that
although the Act permits the appointment of two or more Joint Sub-Registrars in
the same sub-district, it nowhere allows of one Sub-Registrar being in charge
of two separate sub-districts at the same time. This can only be affected by a gazetted notification under
section 5 of the Act, directing the temporary amalgamation of the two
sub-districts concerned.