Registration circulars cannot override income-tax thresholds; clearance certificates are unlawful where statutory limits are not crossed.

Executive circulars under the Registration Act cannot enlarge or override the statutory conditions for registration imposed by the Income-tax Act. Section 230A applied only where the transferred property exceeded the prescribed value threshold, and Chapter XXC provisions operated only when their own threshold was crossed. Because the transactions concerned undivided shares or portions of property and did not satisfy those limits, the registering authorities could not insist on income-tax clearance certificates or no-objection certificates. The circulars were treated as inconsistent with the statutory scheme and as impermissibly interfering with the registering authority's quasi-judicial function, so they were held invalid.

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Issues: Whether the circulars issued by the Inspector-General of Registration could require production of income-tax clearance or no-objection certificates for registration of sale deeds conveying undivided shares or portions of property below the statutory thresholds, and whether such circulars were validly issued under the Registration Act.

Analysis: Section 230A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, applied only where the property transferred was valued at more than two lakhs rupees, while Chapter XXC, including sections 269UA, 269UC and 269UL of the Income-tax Act, 1961, operated only where the prescribed value threshold was exceeded. On the facts, the transactions involved transfer of undivided shares or portions and did not cross the statutory limits. The Inspector-General of Registration, though vested with superintendence under section 60 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908, could not add to or override the conditions enacted in the Income-tax Act or direct subordinate registering authorities to insist on certificates not required by law. The circulars were therefore inconsistent with the statutory scheme and interfered with the quasi-judicial function of the registering authorities.

Conclusion: The circulars were held to be illegal and invalid, and the petitioners were entitled to registration without the demanded certificates.

Ratio Decidendi: Executive circulars issued under the Registration Act cannot enlarge or override the mandatory conditions for registration laid down in the Income-tax Act, and where the statutory value thresholds are not crossed, insistence on clearance or no-objection certificates is unlawful.

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