Unregistered lease deed cannot prove manufacturing purpose; month-to-month tenancy and shorter notice period apply.

An unregistered lease deed for a term exceeding one year could not be used to prove the main terms of the tenancy or the alleged manufacturing purpose, because Section 107 of the Transfer of Property Act requires such leases to be by registered instrument and Sections 17 and 49 of the Registration Act bar reliance on an unregistered document for that core issue. The collateral-purpose exception did not apply where the disputed purpose formed the decisive term of the lease. The party asserting manufacturing use also failed to discharge the burden of proof. In the absence of reliable evidence of manufacturing occupation, the tenancy was treated as a month-to-month tenancy under Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act, with no entitlement to six months' notice.

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Issues: Whether an unregistered lease deed executed for a term exceeding one year could be relied upon to determine the purpose of the tenancy and thereby claim the six months' notice period applicable to manufacturing leases.

Analysis: A lease from year to year, or for any term exceeding one year, must be created by a registered instrument under Section 107 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, and non-registration attracts the bar under Sections 17 and 49 of the Registration Act, 1908. An unregistered instrument required to be registered cannot be used to prove the main terms of the lease or the purpose for which it was granted, because that purpose formed the core dispute and was not a collateral transaction. The Court further held that the burden of proving that the premises was let for manufacturing purposes lay on the party asserting that character, and the limited collateral-purpose exception could not be used to convert the unregistered deed into admissible proof of the decisive lease term. In the absence of reliable evidence establishing manufacturing use, the tenancy remained one from month to month within Section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882.

Conclusion: The unregistered lease deed could not be relied upon to establish manufacturing purpose or to claim six months' notice, and the tenancy was rightly treated as a month-to-month tenancy.

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