TMI Blog1970 (3) TMI 167X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... this appeal. He presented it for registration and the document was registered. The vendees thereupon sought to redeem the mortgage and applied under s. 9 of the Punjab Redemption of Mortgages Act, 1913. They deposited the entire amount clue under the mortgage in the Collector s court and we understand that the amount is still lying there, because of the later proceedings from which this appeal arises. The Collector ordered the redemption of the mortgage. The Appellants who are the sons of the original mortgagee thereupon filed a suit under s. 12 of the Act on August 7, 1963. It is necessary to refer to their petition of plaint, not with a view to finding out what they stated there, but to see what reliefs they claimed in the suit. In para 10 of the petition of plaint, the appellants as plaintiffs stated The plaintiffs pray that a decree for declaration to the effect that the defendants are neither the owners of the above mentioned land nor they have any right to get the aforesaid land redeemed as per the orders of the S.D.O. Mukatsar exercising the powers of Collector, dated the 6th August, 1963 which is illegal and against law and the plaintiffs are not bound by it and neither ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... He argued that the authentication should have shown on its face that the Notary Public had satisfied himself that Vernon Chotia was the real person who had signed the power of attorney before him. He contended, therefore, that the first power of attorney was invalid because it was not authenticated before any of the persons named in s. 85 and the second power of attorney was invalid, because it did not show on its face that the Notary Public had satisfied himself that it was Vernon Chotia who executed the document. He also contended that, in any event, the execution of the second power of attorney was ineffective after the expiry of four months during which registration had to be obtained and further that the act of Mr. Chawla in presenting the document for registration under the invalid first power of attorney, could not be cured by the execution of a second power of attorney. Mr. Hardev Singh referred us to the provisions of ss. 32 and 33 of the Indian Registration Act. Under s. 32, it is provided that a document to be registered, whether the registration is compulsory or optional, must be by the presentation at the proper registration office either by some person executing o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he first power of attorney which was executed in his favour on May 30, 1963, we would be forced to say that it did not comply with the requirements of the law and was ineffective to clothe Mr. Chawla with the authority to execute the sale deed or to present it for registration. Mat power of attorney was not authenticated as required by s. 33 of the Indian Registration Act which in the case of an Indian residing abroad, requires that the document should be authenticated by a Notary Public. The document only bore the signature of a witness without anything to show that he was a Notary Public. In any event there was no authentication by the Notary Public if he was one) in the manner which the law would consider adequate. The second power of attorney however does show that it was executed before a proper Notary Public who complied with the laws of California and authenticated the document as required by that law. We are satisfied that that power of attorney was also duly authenticated in accordance with our laws. The only complaint was that the Notary Public did not say in his endorsement that Mr. Chawla had been identified to his satisfaction. But that flows from the fact that he endo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Canis ratihabitio retrotrahitur at mandate priori sequiparatur - that is to say, ratification is thrown back to the date of the act done, and the agent is put in the same position as if he had authority to do the act at the time the act was done by him. The learned authors quote the case of the House of Lords which we have above cited and add to it certain other cases with which we do not consider necessary to encumber this judgment. It therefore follows that the second power of attorney was a valid document and it authorised Mr. Chawla to execute the document as well as to present it for registration. This being a document ratifying a former inconclusive act related back to the time when the first document was made and cured the illegality in the presentation for registration which had taken place. The case of the Privy Council on which great reliance was placed, namely, 58 I.A. 58 (cit. supra) no doubt states that presentation by a person who is not properly authorised by a power of attorney is ineffective and the registration void, but there the Judicial Committee was not considering the case of a subsequent ratification. They were only concerned with an invalid document a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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