By Saurabh Garg, founder·7 min read·Published 2026-08-13

A Consulate Stamp on Your Power of Attorney Is Not Registration

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has held that a power of attorney executed abroad over immovable property has to be registered in India before it can be used to sell that property. Attestation at an Indian consulate does not stand in for registration. The judgment was reported on 28 July 2026. The clause it turns on is a Kerala insertion, so read the state line below before you re-sign anything.

If you signed a power of attorney at the Indian consulate in Dubai, Houston or Singapore and couriered it home, you may have assumed the consulate stamp finished the job. Two sub-registrars in Kerala took a different view, refused to register the sale deeds in front of them, and the High Court has now backed the sub-registrars.

The two refusals

The matter reached the Division Bench as an appeal by the Inspector General of Registration in Inspector General of Registration v. Muhammed and a connected case.

In the first, owners living abroad executed a power of attorney in favour of a person in India. The attorney holder presented a sale deed at the sub-registrar's office. The sub-registrar refused to register it, on the ground that the power of attorney had never been registered under Section 17(1)(g) of the Registration Act 1908.

In the second, a man executed a power of attorney in Dubai in favour of his mother-in-law and had it authenticated at the Indian Consulate there. She took a sale deed to the sub-registrar. Same refusal, same ground.

A single judge of the High Court had held for the sellers. Authentication before an Indian consulate under Section 33 of the Registration Act, the single judge found, was enough. The State appealed. The Division Bench of Dr Justice A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Preeta A.K. set that aside and held the sub-registrars were right to refuse.

What the Bench held

Two sets of provisions are doing two different jobs, and the Bench separated them.

Sections 32 and 33 of the Registration Act answer a procedural question: who may present a document at the counter, and how a power of attorney given by a person outside India is authenticated so the office will accept that person's agent. The Bench held these sections "deal only with the procedure for presenting documents for registration".

Section 17(1)(g) answers a different question: which powers of attorney must be registered at all. Clearing the first requirement does nothing for the second. The consulate stamp establishes that your attorney holder is who they say they are and is authorised by you. It does not turn an unregistered instrument into a registered one.

The practical result: a foreign-executed power of attorney covering the sale of immovable property has to be registered in India before it is used, whatever the consulate has stamped on it.

The clause is a Kerala insertion, and that matters

Read the headline alone and you would take this as the rule for every flat in the country. It is not, and the difference is worth ten minutes of your time.

Section 17(1) of the central Registration Act 1908 does not carry a clause (g). Kerala added one through the Registration (Kerala Amendment) Act, 2012. The inserted clause covers a "power of attorney creating any power or right of management, administration, development, transfer or any other transaction relating to immovable property of the value of one hundred rupees and upwards", and carves out a power of attorney executed in favour of the father, mother, wife, husband, son, adopted son, daughter, adopted daughter, brother, sister, son-in-law or daughter-in-law of the person signing it.

So two consequences follow. A flat in Kochi or Thrissur sits inside that clause. A flat in Bangalore, Pune or Gurgaon does not sit inside this particular clause, because the clause is a state insertion, and whether an equivalent exists where your flat is registered is a question to put to an advocate in that state.

The family carve-out is also narrower than most families. The list runs in one direction. A power of attorney you give to your son-in-law is carved out. A power of attorney you give to your mother-in-law is not on the list.

Karnataka has pointed the same way

If your flat is in Bangalore, do not read the state point as an all clear.

In Channegowda v. N.S. Vishwanath (2023:KHC:44651), Justice Jyoti Mulimani of the Karnataka High Court held that a power of attorney deed which empowers the holder to sell immovable property creates an interest in that property and requires compulsory registration. The same judgment restated that a general power of attorney on its own cannot convey title.

That ruling is from 2023, so it is background rather than news. It points where Kerala now points. A power of attorney that lets somebody sell your flat is treated as more than a letter of instruction, and courts keep saying so.

What this changes at your end

Authentication and registration are two acts, done at two offices, in two countries. The consulate does the first. A sub-registrar in India does the second, against stamp duty and a registration fee that are set by the state where the property sits.

The place this surfaces is the counter, not a courtroom. Your attorney holder takes the sale deed in, the clerk asks for the registered power of attorney, and the transaction stops that morning. Your buyer is standing next to them. We set out the mechanics of signing from abroad in the guide to a power of attorney from the UAE or Singapore to India, what a general power of attorney can and cannot do in can a general POA transfer property title, and the attestation chain in apostille and attestation for India property documents.

One caveat, stated flat: the full judgment text is behind a paywall on the sites reporting it, so this article is built from those reports and from the text of the Kerala amendment, both listed below. Pull the judgment, or put it in front of your advocate in the state where the flat is, before you act on it.

This is a report on what a High Court held. It is not advice on your document.

FAQ

Does a power of attorney attested at an Indian consulate need to be registered in India? For property in Kerala, the High Court has held it does. Attestation under Section 33 of the Registration Act covers the procedure for presenting a document. Section 17(1)(g), a Kerala insertion of 2012, sets a separate requirement that certain powers of attorney over immovable property be registered. Whether an equivalent applies in your state is a question for an advocate there.

Which court decided this and when? A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, Dr Justice A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Preeta A.K., in Inspector General of Registration v. Muhammed and a connected matter, reported on 28 July 2026 at 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 402.

Does this apply to my flat in Bangalore or Mumbai? Section 17(1)(g) is not part of the central Registration Act 1908. It was inserted for Kerala in 2012. Karnataka's High Court held in 2023 that a power of attorney empowering a sale requires compulsory registration. Ask about your own state rather than assuming either way.

66 MG Road newsdesk

Sources

Information on this page is as on 2026-08-13. Rules, rates, deadlines and government portals change without notice, so verify against the official source before you act. This page is for information only. It is not tax or legal advice, and it is not a substitute for a qualified adviser who knows your position.