Cancellation of Instruments

In one line

A document that is void against you can still hurt you while it exists, and cancellation is the order that has it delivered up and struck out of the register.

In the words a student can write in an exam: section 31 of the Specific Relief Act 1963 provides that any person against whom a written instrument is void or voidable, and who has reasonable apprehension that such instrument, if left outstanding, may cause him serious injury, may sue to have it adjudged void or voidable, and the court may in its discretion so adjudge it and order it to be delivered up and cancelled; where the instrument is registered, the court shall send a copy of its decree to the registering officer, who shall note the cancellation. Section 32 allows partial cancellation. Section 33 empowers the court to require restoration of benefit or compensation, both when it cancels and when a defendant successfully resists an instrument.

Why a void document needs cancelling

The obvious objection is that if a document is void, it is already nothing, so why involve a court?

The answer is practical, and it is the whole justification for the remedy. A void instrument still exists as a piece of paper, and while it exists it can do harm:

• it appears in the register of documents, and a search discloses it;
• it clouds the plaintiff's title, so buyers and lenders take fright;
• somebody may rely on it, or sue on it years later when the evidence to answer it has gone;
• the plaintiff may be put to proving its invalidity repeatedly.

So the law lets the person threatened by it obtain a decree declaring it void or voidable and directing that it be delivered up and cancelled, and, where it was registered, that the register be marked.

The words "reasonable apprehension of serious injury" are the gate. The remedy is not for a document that is merely a nuisance.

Section 31: when cancellation may be ordered

"(1) Any person against whom a written instrument is void or voidable, and who has reasonable apprehension that such instrument, if left outstanding may cause him serious injury, may sue to have it adjudged void or voidable; and the court may, in its discretion, so adjudge it and order it to be delivered up and cancelled.

(2) If the instrument has been registered under the Indian Registration Act, 1908, the court shall also send a copy of its decree to the officer in whose office the instrument has been so registered; and such officer shall note on the copy of the instrument contained in his books the fact of its cancellation."