14

14. Reports of changes of incumbency: - Section 13 of the Act requires that temporary appointments of the nature treated of in paragraphs 11 and 12 shall be reported by the Inspector-General to the Local Government and such report may be either special or general. Changes of incumbency in ex officio appointments made in accordance with ordinary rule may be deemed to have been made under the orders of Government, and no special report thereof is necessary, but all exceptional arrangements, and all changes in offices filled by Departmental and Honorary Sub-Registrars or Joint Sub-Registrars, must be communicated to the Inspector-General’s office, for report to Government under section 13 of the Act, in quarterly schedules in the form given in Appendix III, which should be submitted with the other monthly returns. At the foot of the return 31^st March, and 30^th September will be entered a certificate of the dates on which the iron safe, for deposit of sealed wills, etc., was opened and its contents examined during the half quarter, as required, by paragraph 44, if no such examination has been made, the certificate should set this forth and state the reason.

REMUNERATION

15. Remuneration of honorary sub-registrar: - Honorary Sub-Registrars are entitled to receive by way of remuneration, a proportion of the fees collected by them according to the following scale: -

(a)	when the fees collected by any one officer in any one month do not exceed Rs.50	33-1/2 percent of the fees so collected.
(b)	when such fees exceed Rs.50	33-1/2 percent of the first Rs.50 collected and 16-2/3 percent of the amount in excess

16. Remuneration of departmental sub-registrars:- A departmental Sub-Registrar is entitled to draw remuneration consisting of a fixed substantive salary of Rs.25 per mensem (or of more than Rs.25 if a higher salary has been sanctioned by Government in respect of the particular office which he holds) plus 10 per cent of the fee-income of his office; but if he is a person drawing a pension for service in any department of Government, instead of drawing any such salary, he shall draw such percentage of the fee-income as shall be equal in amount to the fixed salary of the post plus 10 per cent of the fees.

The amount of fees which Sub-Registrars in the Punjab are entitled to receive as remuneration, shall with effect from the 10^th February, 1932 be subjected to a reduction of 20 per cent and the maximum amount of fees payable to any Sub-Registrar who is not a Government pensioner shall be limited to Rs.5,000 (Five Thousand) per annum.

In the case of Sub-Registrar, Lahore, this limit, has, however, been fixed at Rs.6,000 (Six Thousand) per annum.

17. Remuneration to departmental or honorary sub-registrars whose offices have been amalgamated with the registrar:- Departmental or Honorary Sub-Registrars whose offices have been amalgamated with those of Registrars are entitled to a share of the fees prescribed in paragraphs 15 and 16.

18. Calculation of Fee-Income: In calculating all percentages of fee-income under these rules the following fees only shall be taken into account :--

(a) ordinary registration fees (article I of Appendix I)’

“In respect of all documents registered under section 25, a portion of the fine equal to the ordinary registration fee leviable tearson.”

(b) fees for searches (article II);

(d) fees for authenticating powers of attorney (article VIII);

(e) safe custody fees (article X).

19. Payment of commission: - When a commission is issued under section 33 or 38 of the Act, half of the fee prescribed in article V of Appendix I subject to the maximum of Rs. 5 is payable to the person by whom the commission is executed. When a registering officer himself proceeds to a private residence or a jail, under section 31, 33 or 38, of the Act, he is entitled to half the fee prescribed in article V of Appendix I subject to the maximum of Rs.5 in addition to any other registration fee to which he may be entitled; but this rule does not apply to the officers mentioned in paragraph 2(a) who will be entitled only to the travelling allowance admissible under ordinary rules:

Provided that a Departmental or Honorary Sub-Registrar for a person by whom a commission is executed may, in lieu of the share of fees prescribed by the above paragraph, draw travelling allowance at the rates prescribed in Article V of Appendix I.

20. No allowance granted during absence on leave: - No part of the income from fees can be drawn by any officer in respect of any period during which he is on privilege or other leave.

21. Fixed salary alone counts for pension: - The fixed salary alone shall be allowed to count for pension, and not the fee percentage drawn in addition to salary.

22. Remuneration of sub-registrars who are pensioners: - Sub-Registrars, who are pensioners, will draw no fixed pay, but only a percentage calculated in accordance with the last sentence of paragraph 16. The total of fee-income and pension must not exceed Rs.6,000 a year, in the case of those Sub-Registrars who are in receipt of an annual pension of Rs.4,500 or above, or Rs.5,000 in any other case.

23. Method of drawing fixed pay and percentage: (1)-The fixed pay of Departmental Sub-Registrars should be drawn in the monthly district registration establishment pay bills. The 10 per cent. fee-income to which they are entitled will be calculated by them and communicated to the Registrar on the form of commission bill E in Appendix II (see also paragraph 176).

(2) It will be necessary for pensioners to calculate each month what percentage of the fee-income will yield the equivalent of Rs.25 salary (or such other salary as has been fixed) plus 10 per cent, of the fees collected, and this rate of percentage should be entered by them in the form of commission bill referred to above.

(3) The fixed pay drawn for Departmental Sub-Registrars should be shown by Registrars in the monthly expenditure statement, form B in Appendix II, column 6 of the same being sub-divided to show “Pay” and “Percentage”. It is also necessary to maintain service books for them as required by Rule 12.2 of Subsidiary Rules (other than Travelling Allowance Rules), Punjab Financial Hand Book No.2, Volume II.

24. If fees decrease, departmental officer should be made honorary: - It should be borne in mind that if the fee income of any departmental office falls much below the present average amount, it would be possible to save disproportionate expense by turning the incumbent into an Honorary Sub-Registrar, and Registrars should report such cases to the Inspector-General.

24-A. Leave to Sub-Registrars: - Rules governing the grant of leave to Departmental Sub-Registrars are given in Chapter 17 of the Subsidiary Rules, Volume II of Punjab Financial Hand Book No.2, and are reproduced below:

Subject to the deduction of the amount of leave actually enjoyed from the amount of leave of the same sort which has been earned, a Departmental Sub-Registrar may be granted leave as follows:--

(a) Leave on full pay not exceeding one year in the whole of his service up to one eleventh of the period spent on duty, subject to a maximum amount of leave of four and a half month may be leave without medical certificate and the rest leave on medical certificate and

(b) leave on medical certificate on half pay for not more than six months during his service after the completion of six years of duty, and

(c) leave without pay other than leave on medical certificate for a period not exceeding one year during the whole of his service.

(d) leave without pay on medical certificate without any limit.

(e) any combination of leave under clauses (a), (b), (c) and (d) provided that no combination under clauses (a), (b) and (c) at one time exceeds one year.

(2) The percentage due to Sub-Registrars should be drawn by Registrars on a commission bill.

25. Deleted.

26. Submission of retire- maturity etc :-(1)-On or before the 1^st October of each year Registrars shall forward to the Inspector-General a report in the Sub-Registrars who will attain the prescribed age of retirement or who se extension of service will be during the next official year.

(2) The Inspector-General of Registration will enter his recommendation and forward it to the Local Government for orders.

26-A. Rules regulating the control and discipline of Departmental and Honorary Sub-Registrar in the Punjab.

Rules

1. Short Title: -These rules may be called the Punjab Sub-Registrars Conditions of Service (Control and Discipline) Rules, 1943.

2. Definitions:

(a) “Government” means the Provincial Government;

(b) “Sub-Registrar” means a Departmental or Honorary Sub-Registrar;

3. Discipline, Penalties and Appeals: (1)-In all matters relating to discipline, penalties and appeals, members of the service shall be governed by the provisions of the Government of India Act; 1935, and by the rules published in section III of Chapter XIV of the Civil Services Rules (Punjab), Volume I, Part I, provided that the nature of penalties which may be inflicted, the authorities empowered to impose such penalties and subject to the provisions of clause (b) of sub-section (3) of section 241 of the said Act, the appellate authority shall be as specified in Appendix A.

(2) The authority competent to pass an order under clause (e) of rule 14 : 14 of the said section III and the appellate authority shall be as specified in Appendix B.

APPENDIX A

[Rule 3 (1)]

Designation of official	Nature of penalty	Punishing authority	Appellate authority
Sub-Registrar	(a) Censure (b) Recovery from emoluments of the whole or part of any pecuniary loss caused to Government by negligence or breach of orders.	Registrar	Government
	(c) Suspension.
	(d) Removal from civil service of the Crown which does not disqualify from future employment. (e) Dismissal from the civil service of the Crown which ordinarily disqualifies from future employment.	Government	No appeal

APPENDIX - B

[Rule 3 (2)]

Order referred to in clause (e) of rule 14.14 of section III, Chapter XIV of Civil Services Rules (Punjab), Volume I, Part I.

Designation of official

Nature of order

Authority empowered to pass order

Appellate authority

Sub-Registrar

(a) Terminating the appointment of a member of the service otherwise than upon his reaching the age of 55 years.

Government

No appeal

CHAPTER - II

ESTABLISHMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

27. Budget provision for temporary establishment: - The Inspector-General will provide in his budget a sum over and above the cost of the permanent district establishment as a reserve from which to meet the cost of temporary establishment. This reserve will not be distributed over districts but allotted by the Inspector General as occasion arises. The Inspector-General has full authority to regulate and sanction charges on account of the temporary establishments of registering officers, so long as the annual allotment for these charges is not exceeded:

Provided that the salaries of a temporary muharrir and of a peon shall not exceed Rs.60 and Rs.14 per mensem, respectively, and the period of employment of such temporary staff shall not extend beyond the current financial year without the express sanction of Government.

28. Cost of permanent muharrirs: - All permanent Registration muharrirs are members of the ordinary district office establishment and their pay is regulated according to the scale of the grade to which they belong as members of that establishment.

29. Establishment for sub-registrars: - To each Registrar, a muharrir will be allowed either separately or in connection with the establishment of the Sub-Registrar at the headquarters of the district according to locality and the amount of work in the district.

30. Cost of permanent muharrirs: (1) - The strength of the establishments of Sub-Registrars will vary according to the amount of work to be performed in each office. As a general rule (which however will not be rigidly enforced, liberal allowance being made for special circumstances and localities) these establishments will be regulated according to the following scale :

(a) where the number of registrations does not exceed 1,000 per annum a single muharrir should suffice.

(b) where the number exceeds 1,000 but does not exceed 3,000 per annum one head muharrir and from 1 to 3 muharrirs may be employed;

(2) In the case of small offices where the number of registrations does not exceed 400 per annum the registration muharrir’s work may be made over with the previous sanction of the Inspector-General of Registration to a muharrir employed on any other work in addition to his own. If the muharrir to whom the registration muharrir’s work is made over in addition to his own is a member of the district office establishment no allowance will be given as allowance of usually Rs.5 per mensem, with the previous sanction of the Inspector-General. In special cases, the Sub-Registrar may be allowed, with the previous sanction of the Inspector-General, to make his own arrangements for the performance of the muharrir’s work receiving therefor from the Registration Department a sum not exceeding the copying fees collected.

31. Temporary establishments: - When, in any office owing to special or temporary causes, it is beyond the power of the permanent staff to cope with the number of registrations in any one month, the Registrar of the district may appoint an additional muharrir on Rs.30 per mensem to that office, as a temporary arrangement, reporting it at once for the confirmation of the Inspector-General. This additional muharrir shall be retained only so long as may be absolutely necessary.

32. Registration muharrirs to be employed solely or registration work: - Registration muharrirs are not to be employed on other work without the approval of the Inspector-General of Registration, Punjab, which should be obtained by the Deputy Commissioner before they are given any such work. Registration muharrirs are also strictly prohibited from drawing up or engrossing instruments in the registration of which they may subsequently be required to take part.

33. Appointments, Transfers and Dismissals: - The power of appointing, transferring and dismissing Registration muharrirs is vested in the Registrar of the district, subject, however, in the case of appointments and transfers, to the general control of Inspector-General of Registration who has authority, for sufficient reasons to disallow any arrangement which is made by the Registrar. This power of interference by the Inspector-General will, however, be cautiously exercised and must not be taken as limiting, in any way, the responsibility of the Registrar for the employment of fit and proper persons as Registration Muharrirs. Appeals against punishments or dismissals ordered by the Registrar lie to the Commissioner of the Division.

34. Qualifications of muharrirs: - Registrars in appointing muharrirs to their own offices should, if possible, select men possessing, in addition to a good vernacular education a sufficient knowledge of English to be able to prepare the monthly and annual returns and to copy the Registrar’s English correspondence. The head muharrirs of offices where English documents are occasionally presented for registration should also know enough English to be able to copy these documents into their proper books. It should be considered as indispensable qualification for all registration muharrirs to be able to write the vernacular character expeditiously in a clear, good hand.

35. Chaprasis for Sub-Registrars: - As a general rule and if funds permit one chaprasi should be allowed for each Departmental or Honorary Sub Registrar. But where such officer is also an Honorary Magistrate, before sanction to the entertainment of a chaprasi is applied for, it should be ascertained whether a chaprasi is not already entertained, as there in no need that more than one should be employed.

CONTINGENCIES

36. Registrar’s contingencies: (1) - The contingencies of the Registration Department have been declared to be contract contingencies and Registrars have been given fixed grants for this purpose.

(2) The powers of Registrars to incur expenditure from these grants are given in the Book of Financial Powers, Punjab Financial Hand-book No.1. For detailed instruction they should consult chapter VI of the Civil Account Code.

(3) The contract contingent grant does not cover expenditure on the purchase of strong boxes, padlocks and seals which are supplied by the Inspector-General and paid for out of his office contingencies.

(4) The Inspector-General of Registration, who is the Drawing and Disbursing Officer in respect of the head “15—Registration” will provide funds from contingent expenditure in connection with the purchase of strong boxes, padlocks and seals.

37. Postage charges: - Service labels and postcards should be supplied by the Registrar to Sub-Registrars from time to time as required. An account of them should be kept in columns added for the purpose in the despatch register of each sub-registration office, the balance being struck in red ink at the close of each month. Registrars should see that economy is used in the transmission of papers by post ; and when extra postage has to be paid owing to the omission on the part of any Sub-Registrar to affix his signature to a cover, or by an irregularity in its subscription, such extra payment and the postage entailed by consequent correspondence should be recovered from the officer concerned, and should not be allowed to appear in the Registrar’s contingent accounts.

38. Sub-registrars contingencies: - All the contingent expenses of the offices of Departmental and Honorary Sub-Registrars, excepting stationery, hot and cold weather charges and other charges incurred for their personal convenience, should be defrayed from provincial funds. Expenditure chargeable to Government should be defrayed by the Sub-Registrars in the first instance and recouped by contingent bills. It is not necessary to make a separate advance to a tehsildar or naib-tehsildar in charge of a registration office for expenses connected with that office, as such expenses can be defrayed out of the permanent advance held in the tehsil for general expenses. Scrutiny of details will be left to the Registrar who will see that no unnecessary expenditure is incurred on contingencies.

39. Punkha Coolies - Departmental and Honorary Sub-Registrars are not permitted to entertain punkha coolies at Government expense but such coolies may be provided for central record offices and paid out of contingencies.

40. Belts, Badges and Liveries to Chaprasis: - Belts and badges may be supplied to Sub-Registrar’s chaprasis on the terms laid down in paragraph 14 of Punjab Government Resolution No.19630, dated 4^th September, 1925, but the provision of liveries is inadmissible. The maximum cost of a belt is Rs.8. Each Registrar must fixe the cost of a badges according to the circumstances of his district but the cost should not ordinarily exceed Rs.4.

CHAPTER III

CUSTODY, PRESERVATION AND DESTRUCTION

OF RECORDS

Custody and Preservation

41. Responsibility for preservation and safe custody of records: - Registering officers are responsible for the preservation and safe custody of all registration records, including those of previous years, which have accumulated in their offices or have been transferred thereto. This responsibility applies not only to the registers and records maintained under the Act, but also to those under the previous Indian Registration Acts, III of 1877, VIII of 1871, and XX of 1866, as well as to those maintained under local rules before the extension of the last named Act to the Punjab.

42. Strong Boxes: (1)-The offices of all registering officers have been supplied with one or more strong, tin-lined boxes or almirahs secured by locks of approved pattern; in these boxes the registration books and all papers and documents connected therewith shall be kept; and no money or valuables of any kind shall be deposited therein. The boxes shall be placed in the room where the registering officer transacts his public business, and shall be opened and closed by that officer himself, or in his presence, and he shall retain the keys of the locked boxes in his own possession. The duplicate keys of the locks supplied to Sub-Registrars shall remain in the custody of the Registrar of the district who should label each with the name of the sub-district to which it belongs, and deposit it in some safe place.

(2) The locks and duplicate keys of a registration office which has been permanently closed should be returned to the Inspector-General’s office, unless a new registration office has been simultaneously opened in the same district.

(3) The boxes or almirahs of a registration office which has been permanently closed, if not required for the purposes of any other registration office in the district, should be auctioned and the proceeds credited to the head “XXXV – Miscellaneous – Sale of old stores and material.”

43. Weekly examination of records: - To prevent injury occurring to the older records by damp, white ants, and on the boxes should be thoroughly exptied out and their contents examined once a week and all Sub-Registrars should submit alongwith their monthly returns, a certificate to the Registrar of their district to the effect that the records in their charge have been examined according to rule. Should any injury happen to any of the records, whether by white-ants, fire, flood or otherwise, or should any of them be lost, an immediate report should be made to the Inspector-General by the Registrar of the district, who should record at the same time his opinion as to whether any one, and if so who, is to blame, and to the measures to be taken to repair the injury or loss so far as may be possible.

44. Preservation of wills and authorities to adopt: (1)-The Registrar of every district has been supplied with a fire-proof safe. In this safe shall be kept wills in sealed covers, and authorities to adopt, which may have been deposited under the provisions of the Indian Registration Act, 1866, and authorities to adopt executed before the 1^st January, 1872, which may have been deposited under section 2 of the Indian Registration Act, 1871; also wills in sealed covers which have been deposited or may be presented for deposit under section 43, and wills which have been or may be opened under section 45 of the Indian Registration Act, 1871, the Indian Registration Act, 1877, or the Indian Registration Act, 1908. It shall not be used for any other purpose whatever. The key of the safe shall remain in the personal custody of the Registrar who alone shall open and close it ; the duplicate key should be carefully labelled and forwarded to the Inspector-General’s office for safe custody and issue, as required. The safe shall be placed where it can not be affected by damp, and it shall be opened and examined once in every six months with a view to ascertaining that its contents (if any) are correct and in good condition, and that the look is in order ; and on the 1^st April and 1^st October in every year the Registrar shall report to the Inspector-General the result of this examination, or if owing to some unavoidable cause no such examination has been made, the reason why no examination has been made.

(2) If any will through age or damp has been subjected to such decomposition that it appears likely to become useless, the depositor – or his legal representative, if the depositor is dead – should be called upon the replace it, and informed that unless he does so, it will be destroyed when no longer legible, such destruction should be carried out in the presence of a gazetted officer, who should record a note thereof in his own handwriting in the register.

(3) When several wills are kept together arranged one above the other the seals are apt to wear out and the inscription thereon to become effaced owing to constant contact. It has also been observed that in some cases the inscriptions on the seals fade with the advance of years. In order, therefore, to prevent damage, such covers should, before they are deposited in the safe, be placed in outer transparent covers with eyeleted flaps and a string should be passed through the eyelets and tied and sealed. The outer cover should not be opened unless there is a permanent change in the personnel of the Registrar or unless an occasion arises for the opening of the inner sealed cover for its removal to court.

45. No need for verification of existence of testators: - The Government of India have decided that it is not incumbent on Registrars to verify from time to time the existence of testators, whose wills have been deposited with them for safe custody. All depositors of wills should, therefore, be informed that no steps will be taken by Government to ascertain when they die, and to communicate after their death with the beneficiaries.

Central Record Office

46. Opening of central record offices: - In the majority of Punjab districts a central record office for registered documents has been opened, and the system should be extended to the remaining districts as circumstances permit. The following paragraphs prescribe how such an office should be constituted and administered.

47. Central office to be in registrar’s office: - The Registrar’s office shall contain the central office record for each district and such registers of his own and those of subordinate offices as are to be preserved in perpetuity, shall be transferred to it from time to time.

48. Catalogue of permanent records: (1)-A catalogue shall be kept up in every registration office, so many pages being set apart for entering up serially the volumes of each species of register, where necessary, year by year. Only permanent records shall be entered, such records being of the following character:--

(a) for the period prior to the year 1847 (in the south-eastern districts of the Punjab only –

(i) such filed copies of documents, alongwith relevant, indexes and diaries, as may still exist ;

(ii) any register books that there may be into which deeds were copies along with relevant indexes ;

(b) for the period 1847 – 1856 –

(i) the single register books into which deeds were copied ;

(ii) the indexes to such registers if any ;

(i) the file books of the copies or the bundles of the copies which were taken from presenters and which, after comparison with originals, were filed;

(ii) the register books in which record was made of the names, etc., of the persons who presented the copies and of the nature of the transaction ;

(iii) the annual indexes to these register books :

(d) for the period 1868 to date –

all volumes of books *1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 all annual indexes I, II, III and IV (vide sections 51, 54 and 55 of the Act).

(2) In future, when a new catalogue has to be prepared, the following form should be adopted. Existing catalogues need not be altered: -

Book or Index No. _______________________

DATE OF COMMENCE-MENT

DATE OF COMP-LETION

DATE OF DESPATCH TO CENTRAL RECORD ROOM

Signature of Registering Officer

Remarks

Serial No.

Volume No.

Date

Month

Year

Date

Month

Year

Date

Month

Year

49. Transfer of records to central office: - When a central office has been opened no time should be lost in transferring to it from the Registrar’s and Sub-Registrar’s offices the records mentioned in clauses (a), (b) and (c) of the preceding paragraph, if there are any such, and at the beginning of each Financial year such of the records mentioned in clause (d) as are completely filled up and in which the last entry dates back over 12 years, or such period as the Inspector-General may approve should be transferred to the central office. All records so transferred shall be accompanied by any invoice in duplicate (vide form 3, appendix III). One copy of the invoice shall, after careful verification, be receipted and returned to the office from which it was received with as little delay as possible. Despatching officers will be responsible for seeing that the records are securely packed before despatch, and that every precaution is taken to guard against their loss or damage in transit.

50. Special Record-Room:- Where possible, a special record-room for these records shall be provided in the Registrar’s office, and shall be supplied with racks and presses or with strong wooden or sheet iron almirahs fashioned by secure locks.

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NOTE. – Book I includes also supplementary book 1 paragraph 66.

51. Supervision of Central Office:- The central office may, with the sanction of the Inspector-General, be placed directly under the supervision of the Sub-Registrar at headquarters, but in any case it shall keep a catalogue as prescribed in paragraph 48.

52. Catalogues to be signed on charges of personnel: - Whenever there is a change of registering officers or of registration muharrirs of head registration muharrirs where there is more than one muharrir, the catalogue of permanent records referred to in paragraphs 48 and 51 shall be signed by the relieved and relieving registering officers or muharrirs or head muharrirs, as the case may be.

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