Compulsory registration of release deeds extinguishing property charges requires prior income-tax clearance under the Registration Act.

An instrument acknowledging extinction of a charge over immovable property is treated as a non-testamentary document declaring extinction of rights and is compulsorily registrable under the Registration Act, 1908. Where the document falls within the relevant classes of registrable instruments, registration is barred unless the prescribed income-tax clearance certificate under section 230A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is produced. The effect is that a discharge or release deed extinguishing a mortgage-like charge cannot be registered without first satisfying the statutory tax-clearance requirement.

---

---

Issues: Whether a discharge or release deed acknowledging extinction of a charge created over immovable property is compulsorily registrable and, if so, whether its registration requires production of an income-tax clearance certificate under section 230A of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: A charge created by a registered instrument gives the charge-holder a right over the property, and a written instrument extinguishing that charge falls within the category of non-testamentary instruments declaring extinction of rights in immovable property. Such an instrument is therefore registrable under section 17(1)(c) of the Registration Act, 1908, and the statutory scheme, including section 17(2)(xi), supports compulsory registration of acknowledgments that extinguish a mortgage or analogous charge. Section 230A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 operates notwithstanding any other law and bars registration of documents falling within section 17(1)(a) to (e) of the Registration Act unless the prescribed tax certificate is produced.

Conclusion: The discharge or release deed was held to be compulsorily registrable, and registration could not be insisted upon without the income-tax clearance certificate under section 230A.

Ratio Decidendi: An instrument executed to acknowledge and extinguish a charge over immovable property is a registrable document, and where such document falls within section 17(1)(a) to (e) of the Registration Act, 1908, registration is barred unless the certificate required by section 230A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is first obtained.

---