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Section 20: Documents containing interlineations, blanks, erasures or alterations

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Act 1908
Section 19 All 93 Sections of Registration Act Section 21

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 20

Section 20 empowers the registering officer to refuse registration of any document containing un-attested interlineations, blanks, erasures, or alterations, unless attested by the executants with their signatures or initials.

  • Interlineation & Erasures Bar: Registering officer may in his discretion refuse to accept for registration any document in which any interlineation, blank, erasure, or alteration appears.
  • Attestation Exception: Permissible if the persons executing the document attest with their signatures or initials every such interlineation, blank, erasure, or alteration.
  • Note of Alterations in Record: If the registering officer accepts the document, he shall make a note in the register regarding such alterations at the time of copying.
  • Prevention of Fraudulent Tampering: Shields instruments from post-execution alterations and interpolations.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • K.B. Saha & Sons Pvt. Ltd. v. A.M. Elm Trading Co., (2008) 8 SCC 564: The Supreme Court noted that statutory precautions under Section 20 ensure the immutability of contractual terms once presented for registration.
  • Veena Singh v. District Registrar, (2022) 7 SCC 1: The Supreme Court emphasized that unauthorized additions or suspicious erasures not initialed by the executant justify refusal under Section 20.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

Never execute a deed with blank spaces, handwritten insertions, or correction fluid marks without having both the seller and buyer initial each alteration in the margin.

Section 19 All 93 Sections of Registration Act Section 21