IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWELFTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 11828 of 2008 Between: M/s.LG Polymers India Private Limited , A Private Limited company having registered office at R.R.Venkatapuram Visakhapatnam rep.by Sri B.Sudhakar, S/o.B.Suryanarayana aged about 56 years, Authorised representative cum Vice President )IR & HR) R/o.Visakhapatnam ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The State of Andhra Pradesh, rep.by its Secretary Revenue (Stamps and Registration), secretariat, Hyderabad 2 The Commissioner and Inspector General of Registration and Stamps , Government of Andhra Pradesh BSNL Building, NBK Estates, Golkonda Cross Roads Musheerabad, Hyderabad 3 The District Registrar, Near Old Post office, Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam District 4 The Sub Registrar , Gopalapatnam, Visakhapatnam ...RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ directing the respondents to act in accordance with law and permitting the petitioner to deposit the entire deficit stamp duty i.e. Rs.10,23,60,935/- in two installments first being on or before 16.6.2008 and the balance amount within a month thereafter to the credit of CMA.No.13 of 2007 on the file of the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Visakhapatnam and on such payment direct the Registering Authorities (Respondent Nos.3 and 4) to register and release the sale deed of the petitioner bearing pending document No.P-642/97 dated 29.7.1997 pending disposal of the writ petition with a further direction to the appellate authority viz., the Court of the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Visakhapatnam to dispose of the appeal in CMA.No.13 of 2007 within three months in the interest of justice so as to enable the petitioner to claim a possible refund of the deposited amount failing which the petitioner will face serious hardship and suffer serious loss and damage and grant such other relief as it deems fit in the circumstances of the case Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.V.VENKATARAMANA Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : O R D E R: The petitioner is a private limited company engaged in the business of manufacture of polystyrene and expandable polystyrene. It purchased the immovable property of different extents of land admeasuring 87.34 64 hectares situated in Venkatapuram Vepagunta, Gopalapatnam, Visakhapatnam Taluk and District. The petitioner valued the property covered by the sale deed at Rs.20,99,99,220/- and based on that paid the requisite stamp duty and registration fees and submitted the sale deed for registration. Stating that the property is undervalued, the department has not registered the property and kept the registration pending and ultimately assessed the deficit stamp duty at Rs.24,71,222/- and deficit registration fees at Rs.1,24,863/- under sub-Section (5) of Section 47-A of the Stamp Act and the petitioner was informed to pay the deficit stamp duty at Rs.10,23,60,935/-. Challenging this order, the petitioner has preferred an appeal before the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Visakhapatnam in CMA No.13 of 2007. In that CMA, the District Registrar-respondent No.1 filed an I.A. being I.A.No.5 of 2008 under Section 47A (2) of the Act seeking a direction to the appellant-petitioner herein to deposit the entire deficit stamp duty of Rs.10,23,60,935/- before hearing the appeal. The learned Senior Civil Judge after taking into consideration the contentions of the parties, held that the Court cannot insist upon the petitioner to deposit the entire deficit stamp duty imposed by the District Registrar, but can only direct it to pay half of the stamp duty and accordingly directed the petitioner to deposit a sum of Rs.5,12,80,467- 50 ps with the Court on or before 30-04-2008 for hearing the appeal. The time was later on extended up to 16-06-2008. Aggrieved by the said order, the present writ petition is filed. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader and at their request the writ petition itself is taken up for disposal at the stage of admission. Though the petitioner filed the writ petition seeking installments for payment of the deficit stamp duty as ordered by the District Registrar, but during the hearing of the case, the learned counsel for the petitioner stated that the petitioner is willing to deposit the entire amount of the deficit stamp duty as demanded by the department subject to the result of the appeal and sought for a direction to the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge to dispose of the CMA expeditiously, for which the learned Government Pleader has no objection. However, the learned Government Pleader submits that instead of depositing the amount in the Court, the petitioner may be directed to pay the amount in the treasury so that the State can utilize the amounts and in the event the petitioner succeeds in the appeal, the amount would be refunded to it. In view of the above, even though the Principal Senior Civil Judge, Visakhapatnam has directed the petitioner to deposit only half of the amount demanded, in view of the stand taken by the petitioner that it would deposit the entire amount subject to the result of the appeal for which the learned Government Pleader has agreed, the writ petition is disposed of permitting the petitioner to pay the deficit stamp duty and registration fees as determined by the District Registrar in his order dated 25-07-2007 in the sub-treasury and on such payment the Sub-Registrar-the 4th respondent is directed to register the document in question, if it is otherwise in order and release the same expeditiously. The learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Visakhapatnam is directed to dispose of CMA No.13 of 2007 as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. It is made clear that in case the appeal is decided in favour of the petitioner, the amount deposited by it shall be refunded to it. N.V.RAMANA,J DT.12.6.2008 msv/vrn ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1 The State of Andhra Pradesh, rep.by its Secretary Revenue (Stamps and Registration), secretariat, Hyderabad 2 The Commissioner and Inspector General of Registration and Stamps , Government of Andhra Pradesh BSNL Building, NBK Estates, Golkonda Cross Roads Musheerabad, Hyderabad 3 The District Registrar, Near Old Post office, Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam District 4 The Sub Registrar , Gopalapatnam, Visakhapatnam 5 2 CCs to Govt.Pleader for Stamps & Registration, High Court of A.P. Hyd. 6 2 CD copies.