Cancellation of instrument

A forged sale deed in your name sits in the sub-registrar’s office. You never signed it. Nobody has tried to use it yet, but one day a bank or a buyer might rely on it, and then you will spend years undoing the damage. Must you wait for the harm to happen? The law lets you go to court first and have the paper declared worthless, cancelled, and, if it was registered, noted as cancelled in the register.

In two minutes

Under s.31 of the Specific Relief Act 1963 a person against whom a written instrument is void or voidable, and who reasonably apprehends that it may cause him serious injury if left outstanding, may sue to have it adjudged void or voidable and delivered up and cancelled; ss.32 and 33 deal with partial cancellation and with restoring benefits.

The rest of this chapter

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