Prayagraj: The registration of a will is not necessary in Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad High Court ruled in an important judgment. On August 23, 2004, the Uttar Pradesh government had made the registration of wills mandatory.
The high court delivered the verdict on Friday while resolving a "reference" forwarded to it by the chief justice in response to a petition filed by Pramila Tiwari.
'Will not be void'
"Wills in Uttar Pradesh are not required to be registered and a will, for its non-registration, will not be void whether before or after the Uttar Pradesh Amendment Act, 2004," the court said.
The division bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar declared that section 169(3) of the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act would be void to the extent that it mandates the registration of a will. The high court made it clear that a will will not be considered invalid if it is not registered.
The high court ruled that section 169(3) of the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950, which mandates the registration of a will, contradicts the Indian Registration Act, 1908, where the registration of a will is optional.
Therefore, the court held that the amendment to section 169(3) of the 1950 Act, which mandates the compulsory registration of a will, is invalid. Consequently, the court struck down this provision.
Uttar Pradesh govt had mandated registration of wills
The requirement for mandatory registration of wills was implemented by the Uttar Pradesh government from August 23, 2004.
In the Shobhnath case, the high court stated that the registration of a will became necessary after the law came into effect. However, in the Jahan Singh case, it was argued that a will becomes effective after death, and thus, it should be registered at the time of presentation.
For clarification on the two conflicting views, the Chief Justice forwarded the reference to the division bench, which summed up the issue that "whether a will reduced into writing prior to August 23, 2004, is required to be compulsorily registered in the event the testator dies after the said date".
During the proceedings, the court examined whether the state legislature, without the president's assent, could have made the registration of wills compulsory by incorporating a legal provision to this effect as wills, intestacy and succession under the Constitution are subject matters of the Concurrent List and a central law is already there on the subject of registration of wills under the Registration Act, 1908.
(With PTI inputs)
