APPLICATION FOR A CERTIFIED COPY OF A REGISTERED DOCUMENT

Nakal / certified true copy, applied for under section 57 of the Registration Act, 1908

Before you print this. Some counters want a court-fee stamp affixed on the first page of an application. Leave the top right corner of this page clear so the clerk can put one there. The Annexure at the end explains the fee, how long it takes and what you get back.

To

__________
District __________, __________

From

__________
__________
Mobile: __________

Place: __________
Date: __________

Subject: Application under section 57 of the Registration Act, 1908 for a certified copy (nakal) of the __________ described in paragraph 2 below

Sir / Madam,

1. Who is applying

1.1 I am __________, resident of __________. My mobile number is __________.

1.2 I am applying in the following capacity: __________.

2. The document I need a copy of

2.1 The document is a __________.

2.2 Its particulars, so far as they are known to me, are these:

2.3 Where a row above is blank, that particular is not known to me. I have given every particular I have, and I request that the record be traced from those particulars together with the names in paragraph 3.

3. The parties to the document

3.1 Executant or executants — the person or persons who signed the deed and gave away the right (the seller, donor, lessor, mortgagor, releasor or testator, as the case may be):

__________

3.2 Claimant or claimants — the person or persons in whose favour the deed was executed (the purchaser, donee, lessee, mortgagee or releasee, as the case may be):

__________

3.3 I request that the index of persons be consulted against these names if that is needed to trace the entry — Index No. I, which under section 55(2) of the Registration Act, 1908 indexes the persons executing and claiming under documents entered in Book No. 1, or Index No. III or Index No. IV as applicable to a document entered in Book No. 3 or Book No. 4.

4. Why I am entitled to ask for this copy

4.1 Section 57 of the Registration Act, 1908 requires the registering officer to allow inspection of the register books and the indexes and, on payment of the prescribed fees, to give certified copies of the entries in them.

4.2 For a document entered in Book No. 1, which is the register of non-testamentary documents relating to immovable property, section 57(1) allows any person who applies and pays the fee to have a copy. No special interest has to be shown. That is why an intending purchaser, a lender or an advocate is entitled to trace a chain of title.

4.3 For a document entered in Book No. 3, which is the register of wills and authorities to adopt, section 57(3) is narrower: a copy is given only to the person or persons who executed the document, or to their agents or representatives. On the death of the executant, and not before, a copy may be given to any person who applies and satisfies the registering officer that the executant has died.

4.4 For a document entered in Book No. 4, which is the register of miscellaneous documents that do not relate to immovable property — a power of attorney, a partnership deed or an adoption deed, for example — section 57(4) allows a copy to be given to any person applying, provided that the entry relates to a document executed by that person, or executed in favour of that person, or which purports to affect property belonging to that person, or that the applicant is the agent or representative of such a person. The owner of property is therefore entitled to the office's copy of a power of attorney, or of any similar document, which somebody else has executed purporting to deal with that property, even though the owner never signed it and it was never made in his favour.

4.5 I make this application on that basis, in the capacity stated in paragraph 1.2, and the papers listed in paragraph 10 are produced in proof of that capacity.

5. Why I need the copy

5.1 I need a certified copy because __________.

6. Tracing the record

6.1 If the register book for the year in question is not held at your office and has been transferred to the district record room or to another office, I request that I be told in writing where it is held and what further application I should make, so that I do not lose the fee already paid.

7. What I am applying for

7.1 Please issue __________ certified copy or copies of the document described in paragraph 2.

7.2 Please include in the copy not only the body of the deed but also the endorsements and the certificate of registration made on it under sections 52, 58, 59 and 60 of the Registration Act, 1908 — that is, the receipt endorsement, the endorsement of admission of execution, the signatures and additions of the persons admitting execution and of the identifying witnesses, and the registration certificate. A copy without the endorsements is of very little use for showing that the deed was in fact registered.

7.3 Please sign and seal the copy as section 57(5) of the Registration Act, 1908 requires, and attest it page by page as your office does, so that it is admissible in evidence of the contents of the original.

7.4 Please intimate me on __________ when the copy is ready for collection, and tell me at that time what balance, if any, is payable.

8. Fees

8.1 I undertake to pay the fees prescribed in the Table of Fees framed by the State Government under section 78 of the Registration Act, 1908 and published under section 79 — the search or inspection fee, the copying fee per page, and any urgent or expedited fee where that service is availed of — on demand at your counter or through the departmental portal.

8.2 I request a receipt or challan for whatever is paid, and I will attach a copy of it to this application once payment is made.

9. Declaration

9.1 The particulars given in this application are true to the best of my knowledge, information and belief. I have concealed nothing material.

9.2 I understand that a certified copy issued under section 57 of the Registration Act, 1908 proves the contents of the original document. It is not itself a document of title, it does not prove that the original was validly executed, and it does not establish the truth of what the original says or the title of any person named in it.

9.3 I am applying for this copy for the lawful purpose stated in paragraph 5 and for no other purpose.

10. Enclosures

An application filed without its enclosures is the commonest reason a copy application is returned at the counter. Tick each line before you hand the file in.

☐ Self-attested copy of my photograph identity document.

☐ Self-attested copy of my address proof, if the address in this application is different from the address on my identity document.

☐ Court-fee stamp affixed and cancelled on the first page, where the counter requires one — commonly asked for in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, rarely in Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka, and never for an online application. Ask before you print.

☐ Receipt or challan for the search fee and the copying fee, to be attached after payment.

Yours faithfully,

_______________________________
__________
__________
Mobile: __________
Date: __________ Place: __________

For office use

Receipt / challan number: ____________________ Date: ____________

Search fee Rs ____________ Copying fee Rs ____________ Urgent fee Rs ____________ Total Rs ____________

Number of pages copied: ____________ Expected date of delivery: ____________

Acknowledgment token / application number: ____________________________

ANNEXURE — HOW TO FILE THIS, AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

This annexure is guidance for you. It is not part of the application above and you do not have to hand it in.

Guidance current as at 5 September 2026. Fee heads, turnaround times, portal names and digitisation cut-off years are the fastest-ageing content here; treat all of it as indicative and confirm at the counter or on the state portal before you rely on it.

A. Where it goes

A certified copy can be issued only by the office that holds the register book into which the deed was copied. That is normally the Sub-Registrar's office in whose sub-district the property lies and where the deed was registered — not whichever office is convenient. If you do not know which office it was, the location of the property tells you, and the state portals listed in section G let you search by property or by name.

Older records are a common surprise. Once a register book reaches a certain age many states move it to the district record room, or to the office of the District Registrar or Collector. If the counter tells you the record is not with them, ask for that in writing — paragraph 6.1 of the application is drafted to get you exactly that answer.

One thing this application is not for. If the sub-registrar refused to register your document and what you want is the reasons, that is a different record: under section 71 of the Registration Act, 1908 the officer records his order of refusal and his reasons in Book No. 2, and on application by a person executing or claiming under the document, and on payment of the proper fee, he must give a copy of those reasons. Ask for it in those words rather than asking for a nakal.

B. What it costs

There is no stamp duty on this application. There are usually three or four heads of charge, and each of them is fixed by the Table of Fees that the State Government frames under section 78 of the Registration Act, 1908 and publishes under section 79. That table is revised by notification, so treat any figure you find online as indicative and confirm the current one at the counter or on the state portal:

1. A court-fee stamp on the application — a small amount, a few rupees, and only in the states whose counters still ask for it. It is not universal, and it is not stamp duty.
2. A search or inspection fee — charged either per document or per year searched, per name or per property. This is the head that grows if you do not know the registration number, because the clerk has to work through the index of persons or the index of properties year by year. If you know the number and the year you often avoid this head altogether.
3. A copying fee, charged per page. A twelve-page sale deed with endorsements costs more than a two-page receipt, and extra copies are usually charged at the same per-page rate.
4. An urgent or tatkal fee in the offices that offer expedited delivery, plus a small portal or service charge if you apply online.

C. How long it takes

• Digitised records, applied for online: often the same day, and usually within a week. In some states a digitally signed copy can be downloaded from the portal without going to the office at all.
• Digitised records, applied for at the counter: commonly three to fifteen working days.
• Pre-digitisation records, or records that have gone to the district record room: several weeks is normal, and longer if the register book has to be fetched and the entry located by hand. Follow up in person and keep your acknowledgment token safe.

D. What you should get back

A copy of the entry as it stands in the register book, page by page, each page attested, signed and sealed by the registering officer and endorsed as a certified copy. It should carry the endorsements and the registration certificate as well as the body of the deed.

Two honest limits, so you are not caught out:

• The copy reproduces what was copied into the register book. Photographs, thumb impressions and coloured plans often come out poorly or in black and white, and anything the parties never presented for registration will not be in it at all.
• Section 57(5) of the Registration Act, 1908 says that copies given under that section are admissible for the purpose of proving the contents of the original. Because the register book is a public record of a private document, the copy is a public document in the law of evidence, and a court will receive it without the sub-registrar being called to prove it. But proving the contents is not the same as proving that the deed was validly executed, that the recitals in it are true, or that anybody named in it has good title. Registration by itself proves none of those things.

E. If the original is genuinely lost

A certified copy is the right first step, but on its own it will rarely satisfy a bank or a careful buyer. The usual package is: a police complaint or non-traceable report, a public notice in one English and one vernacular newspaper, an affidavit or indemnity bond about the loss, and the certified copy. Ask the bank or the buyer what they want before you spend money on the newspaper notice.

F. A certified copy is not an encumbrance certificate

People ask for the wrong thing at the counter all the time. A certified copy (nakal) is the text of one deed. An encumbrance certificate — the EC in Karnataka and the southern states, and the equivalent search report or nil-encumbrance certificate elsewhere — is a list of the transactions registered against a property over a period of years. If you are checking a chain of title before buying, you generally want both: the EC to tell you which deeds exist, then a certified copy of each deed that matters.

G. The states this was drafted for

The application above follows the practice of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Section 57 of the Registration Act, 1908 is central law and applies in all of them. What differs is the portal, the printed form and the fee.

• Delhi. Sub-Registrars sit under the Revenue Department of the Government of NCT of Delhi, one office per revenue sub-district, and registration runs on the DORIS system. Deeds registered after digitisation can generally be searched and applied for through the Revenue Department's registration portal; older records sit in the record room of the concerned Sub-Registrar's office and need a counter application. A plain application in this form, with the fee challan, is what the counter expects.
• Uttar Pradesh. The department is the Stamp and Registration Department and the portal is IGRSUP. Registration runs on the PRERNA system, and most districts are digitised from the early 2000s onward. At the counter you will hear nakal, bainama, jild and fard, and you should use those words. UP counters are among the most likely to want a court-fee stamp on the application. Older records are traced through the record room by year and jild.
• Haryana. Registration runs through HARIS and the Jamabandi portal, and the registering officer is very often the Tehsildar or Naib-Tehsildar acting as Sub-Registrar or Joint Sub-Registrar, sitting in the tehsil office rather than in a separate building. Write the designation into the office field exactly as the office board has it, since that whole string prints as the addressee. A court-fee stamp is commonly asked for.
• Maharashtra. The department is the Inspector General of Registration and Controller of Stamps, and the portal is IGR Maharashtra, which has a public e-Search facility for the index. A certified copy is a pramanit prat, and the index you will be shown is Index II. Many districts have documents from roughly 2002 onward available for online application; earlier records are with the Sub-Registrar or the Joint District Registrar. In Mumbai the city records are spread across several offices, so confirm which office holds your year before you travel.
• Karnataka. Applications go through Kaveri 2.0, which handles both the Certified Copy (CC) and the Encumbrance Certificate (EC) and, for digitised records, issues a digitally signed copy you can download. A certified copy is a dhrudeekruta prati. Remember that khata is a municipal or panchayat record, not a registration record — a khata extract comes from the BBMP or the local body, not from the Sub-Registrar.
• Everywhere else. The application is drafted on the central Act and will be understood at any Sub-Registrar's office in India, but many states have their own printed application form, their own portal and their own fee table — Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Kerala all run their own online systems. Ask at the counter whether a departmental form is prescribed. If it is, fill that form and attach this application and its enclosures behind it.