In Brief
The appellant sought specific performance of a contract to purchase land and produced an unregistered agreement to sell dated July 2003 (executed after Section 17(1A) of the Registration Act, 1908 came into force). The High Court rejected all three documents as inadmissible. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that unregistered agreements to sell are admissible as evidence of a contract in suits for specific performance under Section 49 of the Registration Act, albeit with no effect for Section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. Questions of validity, genuineness, and applicability of statutory provisions must be decided at trial based on evidence, not at the threshold admissibility stage.
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