Registration requirement for security over immovable property: unregistered debentures creating a charge were invalid and unsecured.

Where immovable property is made security for payment of money, and the arrangement does not amount to a mortgage, the provisions governing a simple mortgage apply to the charge so far as they are compatible. Reading Sections 59 and 100 of the Transfer of Property Act together, the court stated that registration is not excluded merely because the security is a charge, and a charge over immovable property securing money must be registered where it falls within the statutory registration regime. On that basis, the debentures were treated as invalid for want of registration, and the holders could not rank as secured creditors.

---

---

Issues: Whether debentures creating security over immovable property were invalid for want of registration and whether the holders could rank as secured creditors.

Analysis: The debentures were issued against specified immovable property, and the question turned on the effect of Sections 59 and 100 of the Transfer of Property Act. Section 59 requires a registered instrument for a simple mortgage, and by Section 4 of that Act it operates supplementally with the Registration Act. After the 1929 amendment, Section 100 applied the provisions relating to a simple mortgage, so far as may be, to a charge created by act of parties or operation of law. The Court held that registration was not incompatible with a charge and that the words "so far as may be" did not exclude Section 59 from the operation of Section 100. On that footing, a charge over immovable property securing money required registration.

Conclusion: The debentures were invalid for non-registration, and the holders were not entitled to rank as secured creditors.

Ratio Decidendi: Where immovable property is made security for payment of money and the transaction does not amount to a mortgage, the provisions governing a simple mortgage apply to the charge to the extent they are compatible, and registration is required where the security falls within the statutory registration regime.

---