The Allahabad High Court has held that in the State of Uttar Pradesh, the relinquishment of adoption by executing a merely notarized adoption deed is not legally valid. The Court emphasized that an adoption deed must be registered in accordance with the state’s statutory mandate; otherwise it carries no legal efficacy for purposes such as succession or custody claims.
In a special appeal, the bench consisting of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Prashant Kumar upheld the Single Judge’s decision rejecting a habeas corpus petition, on the ground that the purported adoption relied solely on a notarized deed and lacked the essential registration required by law. The appellant had argued that a prior coordinate bench view should apply, but the High Court found that the earlier decision was distinguishable given the statutory amendments specific to U.P.
The Court examined the interplay between the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 and the Registration Act, 1908, as amended in U.P. It observed that Section 16 of the Adoption Act presumes validity for a registered adoption deed, but that presumption is altered by state law which post-1977 mandates registration of adoption deeds in U.P. Likewise, Section 17 of the Registration Act, as adopted in the state, imposes the requirement that adoption of a child must be effected through a registered instrument, not a mere notarization. The bench concluded that in U.P., “adoption can take place only by way of a registered deed and not otherwise.”
The judgment further held that even if a registered adoption deed existed, secondary evidence might be admissible, but only if the existence of the registered deed is sufficiently pleaded. In this case, no such pleading was made. The appellant had not placed any material on record to show a registered deed, relying solely on the notarized document which the Court found legally inoperative.
Consequently, the High Court dismissed the appeal, upholding the earlier ruling that the unregistered, notarized adoption deed cannot support claims to legal status of adoption, succession, or custody in U.P. The decision reaffirms that in U.P., adherence to the statutory requirement of registration is indispensable for any adoption to have legal effect.
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