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FACT FILE

When a registration authority refuses to register any document for reasons stated in Section 71 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908, such reasons shall be recorded in Book-II. The authority may refuse to register a document where any party to a document denies the execution of the document by him or where the property covered in the document sought to be registered does not come within the territorial jurisdiction of the registering authority.

This book is maintained for the purposes of registration of wills and other documents dealing with adoption.

Section 42 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908, deals with the registration of a will.

The testator can either personally or through a duly authorised agent deposit a will (in a sealed cover) with the competent registration authority with a statement about the nature of the document.

The registration authority, on receiving the sealed cover, shall enter the same in Book-V with all the details of the testator, the hour, date, month and year of the presentation of the will.

The registrar shall keep the sealed cover as such without opening it in a fire-proof box (Section 43 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908).

If after making the will, the testator or his agent wishes to withdraw the will, he may do so and the registrar, on being satisfied of the genuineness of the testator or his agent’s intention to withdraw the will, may deliver the sealed cover containing the will back to the testator or his agent (Section 44 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908).

When the testator dies and an application is made to the registrar holding control of the will to open the sealed cover of the will and bring it into operation, the registrar on being satisfied that the testator is dead will order the opening of the sealed cover and have the contents of the will copied in Book-III.

The ultimate copying of the will is in Book-III. Only the original entry relating to the sealed cover is made in Book-V as mentioned above. Once the will is copied and entered in Book-III, the registrar will redeposit the original will in the sealed cover (Section 45 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908)

Any person can move the registration authority intimating the death of the testator who made the will and request for the will to be taken out of the sealed cover and entered in Book-III. The person applying need not have any claim under the will in respect of the property disposed of under the will. However, the certified copies of the will which is copied in Book-III can be issued by the registrar only to the testator and/or the beneficiary or beneficiaries during the life time of the testator and only to the beneficiary or beneficiaries after the death.

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