Partnership registration depends on the deed reflecting the true firm constitution; separate benami arrangements do not defeat it.

Registration under section 26A turned on whether the partnership deed and application truly reflected the constitution of the firm and the shares agreed among all partners. A separate benami or beneficial ownership arrangement affecting one partner's share did not, by itself, make the instrument false or unregistrable unless it formed part of the firm's own agreement. The controlling test was whether there was any agreement among all partners that the share standing in one partner's name really belonged to another; absent such a finding, registration could not be refused merely because legal and beneficial ownership diverged in respect of one share.

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Issues: Whether a firm could be registered under section 26A where one partner was alleged to be a benamidar for another, and the partnership deed and application otherwise correctly recorded the constitution of the firm and the shares agreed among all partners.

Analysis: Registration under section 26A depended on a firm being constituted by an instrument of partnership that correctly specified the individual shares of the partners and truly reflected the position binding on the firm. The relevant test was whether the deed and the application set out the actual agreement among all the partners. A private or collateral benami arrangement between some partners, if not part of the agreement of the firm, did not by itself make the instrument false or unregistrable. The material question was whether there was any agreement among all the partners that the share standing in one partner's name really belonged to another; absent such a finding, the firm could not be denied registration merely because of a divergence between legal and beneficial ownership in relation to one partner's share.

Conclusion: The firm was entitled to registration under section 26A; the answer to the reference was in the affirmative and in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A partnership deed is registrable under section 26A if it correctly records the constitution of the firm and the shares agreed between all the partners, and a separate benami or beneficial ownership arrangement not binding on the firm does not defeat registration.

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