Amit (Manager) 29 April 2012

Mou registration, stamp duty and arbitration

Hi,

We have an MOU setup between 2 parties in India, but its not on a stamp paper. Wanted to ask the following details for the MOU to be considered a legal document in India.

1) Is it necessary that MOU should be setup on a stamp paper? We had the above MOU setup on a plain paper under proper supervision of a lawyer.

2) Is it necessary for MOU to be registered? What is the advantage if we register it or disadvantage if we don't register it ?

3) Can we move to arbitration in case the MOU agreement date is over ?

Request all to kindly reply with your responses. In case you feel more information is required, kindlly let me know. Thanks.

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3 Replies

Neha Chowdhary (Law Officer ) 30 April 2012

MOU itself is Legal Document.....it must bear sign of both the parties....along with sign of witness......if u can get that register it will secure ur future and transactions related to that MOU.......for registration get that franked and pay stamp duty as per your consideration amount/transaction value......and then register it......

a simple thing is that registered document always is a safeguard and barrier to prevent fraud.......and its authenticity can be checked anytime............

Neha Chowdhary (Law Officer ) 30 April 2012

y do u want to go to Arbitration.....plz clarify this.....

Rajesh Hazra (Mediator and Legal Counsel ) 01 May 2012

Dear Amit

As rightly advised by Ms.Neha, you may go for the registration of the MOU if you so desire, but in my understanding MOU is an internal document with the Company binding the actions within the Company and the same already has an legal enforcement as this being the part of the Company functional document and this is an internal settlement. MOU need not be otherwise be registered once again.

As per the Arbitration clause this is generally not included in the MOU, as in case of Agreements an Arbitration clause is must. However you may have the Arbitration clause in MOU to make the MOU more safe.

Regards