Unregistered relinquishment deeds affecting immovable property are inadmissible, and insufficient stamping cannot cure their evidentiary defect.

A document described as a relinquishment deed was treated according to its substance, which showed a transfer of rights in immovable property. Because it was unregistered, it attracted compulsory registration and was inadmissible as substantive evidence. It was also held to be insufficiently stamped. In that setting, applications for handwriting comparison and for impounding were refused as serving no useful purpose, since the document could not be relied on for its principal evidentiary use. An inadmissible document may be rejected by the trial court under Order 13 Rules 3 and 6 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

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Issues: Whether the document dated 12-04-2006, described as a relinquishment deed, was inadmissible for want of registration and insufficient stamping, and whether the applications to send it for handwriting comparison and for impounding could be allowed.

Analysis: The document was read as a relinquishment of rights in immovable property, and its substance prevailed over its nomenclature. Since it affected immovable property and was not registered, it attracted compulsory registration and could not be used as substantive evidence. The document was also found to suffer from insufficiency of stamp duty. In that situation, sending it for handwriting comparison or for impounding and collection of duty and penalty would serve no purpose, because the document itself was not admissible for the principal purpose for which it was relied upon. The court further held that under Order 13 Rules 3 and 6 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, an inadmissible document could properly be rejected by the trial court.

Conclusion: The document was rightly treated as inadmissible, and the refusal to send it for expert comparison or impounding was correct.

Ratio Decidendi: A document which, on its face and by its recitals, operates as a relinquishment of rights in immovable property is inadmissible if unregistered and insufficiently stamped, and such a document may be rejected under Order 13 Rules 3 and 6 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 when it is relied upon for its substantive purpose.

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