Agreement to sell immoveable property not compulsorily registrable where it creates no present interest and only contemplates future conveyance.

An agreement to sell immoveable property that merely acknowledges earnest money and contemplates a future sale deed does not itself create or declare any present interest in the property. Because the instrument was only an executory contract, subject to the vendors proving title and executing a conveyance within the stipulated time, it fell within the Section 17 exception for documents that do not effect a present transfer. Earlier authorities on instruments that themselves recorded a completed sale were distinguished. The bargain-paper was therefore not compulsorily registrable and was admissible in evidence without registration.

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Issues: Whether the bargain-paper, being an agreement to sell immoveable property and acknowledging earnest-money, was compulsorily registrable under Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1877 and therefore inadmissible without registration.

Analysis: The document did not by its own terms create or declare any present interest in the property. It was only an executory contract contemplating a future conveyance, subject to the vendors making out a good title and executing a sale deed within the stipulated time. The exception in clause (h) of Section 17 applied because the instrument itself did not effect the transfer of interest but merely provided for a future transaction to be completed by a subsequent document. Earlier authorities requiring registration of instruments that themselves declared a completed sale were distinguished, and the present document was treated as falling outside that strict rule.

Conclusion: The bargain-paper was not compulsorily registrable and was admissible in evidence without registration.

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