The Gazetteers Department

THE INDIAN REGISTRATION ACT was enacted to prevent execution of fraudulent and forged documents and thus save the illiterate public from possible exploitation by unscrupulous sawakars and greedy landlords. Accordingly, the Act has mainly provided for compulsory registration of all documents affecting immovable property of the value exceeding Rs. 100. Other documents affecting immovable property of a value below Rs. 100 (and their number is generally limited) and documents of adoptions and wills have been made optionally registrable thereunder. As a rule, fees are levied for registration, but as an encouragement to the co-operative movement, the State Government have exempted from payment of fees, documents relating to co-operative credit societies, land mortgage banks, urban banks (upto the value of Rs. 2,000) and housing societies (upto the value of Rs. 5,000). Similarly, awards under the Bombay Agricultural Debtors' Relief Act (XVIII of 1947) are also registered free. Marriages under the Parsi Marriages and Divorces Act (III of 1936), Bombay Registration of Marriages Act, 1953 (Act V of 1954) and the Special Marriage Act, 1954 (Act XLIII of 1955) are also registered.

Registration Offices Pre and Post-Merger Working.

Kolhapur, a merged State district, first adopted the Indian Registration Act in 1875. Till the merger, the Registration Department was a part of the Revenue Department, a senior clerk of the department being appointed as a Sub-Registrar of each taluka and the two Prant Officers being ex-officio District Registrars. The Sarsubha used to be the Inspector General of Registration. After the merger, the entire registration administration was brought on the lines obtaining in the other districts of the State. Accordingly, the sub-districts were reorganised. At present there are eight registration offices located respectively at Karvir, Gadhinglaj, Radhanagari, Panhala, Kagal, Shirol, Hatkanangle and Chandgad. Each office is manned by a Sub-Registrar. The Sub-Registrars at Gadhinglaj and Radhanagari have also to pay periodical visits to Ajra and Gargoti respectively for the convenience of the public of these talukas. The Sub-Registrar, Karvir, in addition to the work of registration of documents helps the District Registrar in the registration administration of the district.

DISTRICT REGISTRAR.

The Collector of Kolhapur District is ex-officio District Registrar. The District Registrar exercises supervision over the entire registration staff of the district. Though the Sub-Registrars are appointed by the Inspector General of Registration, the District Registrar is empowered to make temporary appointments of Sub-Registrars in local vacancies. He is mainly the appointing authority of Sub-Registry karkuns and peons in the district. The District Registrar carries out the instructions of the Inspector General of Registration in all departmental matters and keeps him fully informed about the registration system and its efficient working. The District Registrar attends to the needs and difficulties of the Sub-Registrars in their day to day work with the help of the Sub-Registrar at the headquarters. He visits each Sub-Registry Office at the time of taluka office inspection and routine matters of the office are inspected by him with the help of the Collector's revenue branch which is on tour with him. The District Registrar is empowered to register any document from the district (section 30) and he also receives sealed covers containing wills for deposit in his safe (section 42). He hears appeals and applications under section 72 and 73 of the Indian Registration Act against the refusal orders passed by Sub-Registrars under him. Under sections 25 and 34, he is empowered to condone delays in presentation of documents and appearance of executants provided the delay does not exceed four months, and to direct the documents concerned to be registered on payment of a fine not exceeding ten times the proper registration fee. Similarly, he sanctions refunds in surcharges. The District Registrar is thus the executive officer under the Indian Registration Act, the Inspector General of Registration being mainly concerned with general supervision of the department.

SUB-REGISTRAR.

The Sub-Registrar is immediately subordinate to the District Registrar. The Sub-Registrar's chief function is to register documents presented for registration. Before accepting a document for registration he has to satisfy himself that stamps of the value prescribed under the Stamps Act are affixed to it and also levy the necessary registration fee. He keeps an authenticated record of each such document and intimates all changes under the registered deeds to the Mamlatdar or the City Survey Officer according as the property is agricultural or city surveyed. The registration records are considered as valuable public records and are to be preserved permanently. They are open to inspection by the public on payment of fees, and certified copies thereof can be granted to parties on payment of fees. The Sub-Registrar is also assigned certain ex-officio duties. He is a Parsi Marriage Registrar and also a Registrar of Marriages under the Bombay Registration of Marriages Act, 1953. The extent of this extra work is, however, limited. The Sub-Registrar of Kolhapur is in addition empowered to solemnize marriages under the Special Marriages Act, 1954. In certain cases Sub-Registrars are also Notaries Public under the Negotiable Instruments Act. The Sub-Registrar, Karvir, is a Notary Public for Kolhapur district.

Inspection.

The District of Kolhapur is in charge of the Inspector of Registration, Satara Division, Satara, for inspection work. His jurisdiction comprises of North Satara, South Satara, Kolhapur and Ratnagiri districts. He is subordinate to the District Registrar and the Inspector General of Registration and has no administrative functions. His duty is mainly confined to the inspection of the technical work of the registration offices including the Central Record Room at the headquarters and the record rooms of the taluka sub-registrars, so that those records which are in danger of being destroyed may be recopied and authenticated according to law. He also examines the various books, registers, indexes, accounts and other records in the sub-registries once a year and sends one copy of his inspection memo to the District Registrar and another to the Inspector General of Registration simultaneously forwarding a copy to the Sub-Registrar concerned. The Inspector General of Registration on receiving such memo, directs the Sub-Registrar concerned through the District Registrar to carry out such of the instructions proposed by the Inspector of Registration as are approved by him (i.e. the Inspector General).

Statistics.

The average annual income of the Kolhapur Registration District is Rs. 95,977 and the average annual expenditure Rs. 41,983 (based on the figures for the triennum 1953-55). Seven of the eight offices in the district are working under the manuscript system. Only in Karvir Sub-Registry Office the copying of documents is done by means of photography. During 1956 in all 11,788 documents were registered in the district; composed of 11,335 documents falling under compulsory registration and of the aggregate value of Rs. 1,89,03,789; 188 documents falling under optional registration and of the aggregate value of Rs. 2,24,539; 228 documents affecting moveable property and of the aggregate value of Rs. 21,230; and 37 wills. 1443 memoranda of marriages were registered under the Bombay Registration of Marriages Act (V of 1954) and 2 marriages were solemnised under the Special Marriages Act, 1954.

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