Acts, Rules & Policies

The Registration Act, 1908

The Registration Act, 1908 is a Central Act which was enacted to consolidate the laws relating to the registration of documents. The provisions relating to the registration of documents were earlier scattered about in seven enactments and therefore, the Registration Act, 1908 collated these provisions and incorporated them into one single Act. It is a significant piece of procedural legislation that provides for the registration of certain documents.

The “Registration of deeds and documents” is a concurrent subject under the Constitution of India. This item has been mentioned against Entry No. 6 in the List III (Concurrent List) of the Schedule VII of the Constitution. The administration of the Registration Act, 1908 was transferred to the Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India in the year 2006.

Significant technological and administrative changes have occurred since commencement of this pre-Independence Act, such as computerization of land records and registration offices in the country, integration of textual and spatial data, issuance of digitally signed documents, integration of Land Records and Registration Offices, automatic generation of mutation notices, blocking of particular Survey numbers from further transactions, capturing and storage of the biometrics of the executants, and establishment of centralized data bases (State Data Centers), online payment of stamp duty, fees etc. These developments necessitated certain changes in the provisions of the existing Act. Therefore, ‘the Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2013’ was introduced in Rajya Sabha on 8 August, 2013. The Bill is presently before the Group of Ministers for their consideration and recommendation.

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013.

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabiliation and Resettlement Act was enacted on 26th September, 2013. The objective of the Act is to ensure, in consultation with institutions of local self-government and Gram Sabhas established under the Constitution, a humane, participative, informed and transparent process for land acquisition for industrialisation, development of essential infrastructural facilities and urbanisation with the least disturbance to the owners of the land and other affected families and to provide just and fair compensation to the affected families whose land has been acquired or proposed to be acquired or are affected by such acquisition and make adequate provisions for such affected persons for their rehabilitation and resettlement and for ensuring that the cumulative outcome of compulsory acquisition should be that affected persons become partners in development leading to an improvement in their post acquisition social and economic status and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The RFCTLARR Act has been operational from 1st January, 2014.

The benefits of the compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement provided in the Act are extended in cases of land acquisition made under the 13 Acts specified in the Fourth Schedule.