Registering officer and powers and duties of registering officers has been provided under sections 52 to 62 of the Registration Act, 1908. As per the Indian laws, every document should be registered with Registering Officer (District Registrar).
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| Registering Officer: Powers and Duties |
Here, the document means a piece of content or information that is written, printed, or in electronic form that served as evidence in a court of law.
Such documents should be registered with the registrar.
The legal provisions relating to the registrar have been provided under sections 52 to 62 of the Registration Act 1908. And, these sections are contained in Part - XI of the said Act.
Who is Registering Officer
Registering Officer (RO) is an officer who is empowered under the Registration Act, 1908, and has to verify and register the document admitted to the registration of such documents.
The registrar has to clearly verify the document or instrument presented before him. The main work of an officer is to register documents like the register of deeds, register of wills, register of patents, probate registry, registrar of electors, copyright registration, deed registration, registrar of business, contacting land registry, and voters registrar etc.
Here, the registering officer will verify the date mentioned in the document, place of registration, and name and signature of the person who is presenting such documents before the registration officer.
Registering Officer: Powers and Duties
The duties of registering officer (district registrar) have been provided under sections 52 to 62 of the Registration Act, 1908. These sections are contained in Part - XI of the said Act.
Now, we will discuss some powers and duties of the registrar;
1. Duty to endorse
The registrar has to endorse (to check/to verify) the date, place, and signature of the person who is presenting the document at the time of presenting before the registrar registers the document. Such registration shall be endorsed on every such document.
If there is any mistake in the document presented before the registrar then the officer will reject the document. And advise the person to modify the typography errors and re-submit them.
Here, the registering officer is not empowered to verify or disclose the contents in the document presented before him for registration.
2. Power to examine a person
The registering officer is authorized to cross-check the name of the person as mentioned in the document. The registrar can analyze whether the signature mentioned in the document is true or not.
3. Duty to give a receipt
The registrar is bound to give the receipt for such a document registered. The registrar has to verify the document and then accept it and provide the receipt to the person who presented the document before the officer.
4. Duty to keep a copy of the presented documents
The registrar must keep a copy of the document which has been given to the person for registration.
Also, the registrar has to keep a copy of the document in the appropriate book of the registration of documents.
5. Duty to authenticate the document
The officer has to authenticate the book of records under the supervision and guidance of the Inspector General.
The registrar is bound to maintain the book and update it regularly.
6. Power to verify the document
The officer is bound to check the validity of the document presented before him/her for its registration. If any mistake is found in the document by the registrar then he is authorized to seize that document and check its credibility of that document.
7. Power to seize the document
When the person comes toward the officer for the purpose of registration of a document, then the officer has the power to verify the credibility of such document presented before him.
If the officer found any mistake in such a document then he is authorized to refuse to register the document.
8. Signature and thumb impression
The document presented before the officer for registration, the document must be duly signed by the person who is proposing it before the registrar.
If the person who is presenting the document is literate, then the document must be signed and the thumb impression must be given on the document.
If the person is illiterate, then the thumb impression must be given on the document.
9. Duty to issue a certified copy
The officer has to give a certified copy of the document registered in his/her office to the person who is presenting that document before the registrar for the registration.
10. Duty in case of an unknown language
When the document presented before the officer for the registration of the document is in a strange or unknown language to the officer then the officer has to ask the person to submit the translated document in the language known to the officer.
If the language of the document is unknown to the officer then the registration of the document will be rejected.
11. Certificate of registration
The registrar has to confirm that the certificate of registration contains the word registered document with other information like date and place of registration and with the registration number and page of the authenticated book in which the document has been registered.
12. Certificate to be signed by the registering officer
When all the documents submitted by the person for their registration before the registrar are verified then the officer has to provide a duly signed certificate by the officer to the person who presented it.
13. Duty to return registered documents
When the document registration process is completed then the officer has to return all the necessary documents to the person or any nominated person who presented them for their registration.
14. Power to seize certificate
If any forgery document was provided by the person before the officer then the registering officer has been empowered to seize the documents.
When the documents submitted by the person are found forgery when the officer issued a certificate of registration then the registrar has the power to seize the certificate of registration.
Conclusion
Registering officer meaning has been provided under the Registration Act, 1908, the officer is empowered to register the document which is presented by the person. If the registrar is not satisfied with the documents or the documents provided by the person are forgery documents then he is empowered to reject the registration procedure and even he can seize the document provided by the person.