Methodist Church in India Trust Association vs The Inspector General of Registration, Madras and The District Registrar, Madras 1

Srinivasan, J.—The impugned order has been passed by the Inspector General of Registration on an invitation of the petitioner herein

seeking his opinion as to the provision under which registration fee for the relevant document is to be charged. I do not find any provision of law

which empowers the Inspector-General of Registration or any other authority for that matter to give opinion as if they exercise advisory jurisdiction

in these matters. The question as to the exact fee payable by the petitioner for registration of the document concerned has to be decided by the

registering authority when the document is presented for registration. If the party is aggrieved by the decision of the registering authority, then he

can have lis remedy under the Registration Act. It is not open to any party to ask for this sort of of opinion and direct the registering authority to act

on such opinion. The petitioner invited this opinion by making an application to the Inspector-General of Registration. The proper course for the

petitioner is to present the document for registration before the concerned Sub Registrar and if the Sub Registrar fixes a fee, which, according to

the petitioner is higher than that payable under law, it is open to the petitioner to seek appropriate remedies as against such levy of fee. With these

observations, this writ petition is dismissed.