In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh CWP No. 11925 of 2007 Date of decision:26.3.2008 Madan Lal ......Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and others .......Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA Present: Mr.K.V.Singh, Advocate, for the petitioner. Ms.Charu Tuli, Sr.DAG, Punjab. **** JUDGMENT SURYA KANT, J. In this civil writ petition, the petitioner seeks quashing of the order dated 30.6.2006 (Annexure P-6) passed by the Collector Mansa, whereby he has been asked to pay additional stamp duty to the tune of Rs.1,33,300/- as well as against the order dated 28.3.2007 (Annexure P-9) passed by the Commissioner, Faridkot, upholding the above mentioned order of the Collector, Mansa. The petitioner purchased a plot bearing No.19 in the New Grain Market Sardulgarh in an open auction held in the year 1977. After paying all the instalments, the petitioner got executed a CWP No. 11925 of 2007 -2- conveyance deed in his favour in respect of the said plot on 24.2.2006. The Collector, Mansa, however, having held that the stamp duty has not been affixed by the petitioner on the actual market value of the plot/shop, vide his impugned order dated 30.6.2006 has held that the value of the shop owned by the petitioner is Rs.14.00 lacs therefore, he was liable to pay stamp duty for a sum of Rs.1,33,300/- on the balanced amount of the value of the site. The petitioner preferred an appeal before the Commissioner, Faridkot, which has also met with the same fate. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material on record. As may be noticed from the contents of the impugned order passed by the Collector, Mansa, firstly, he has held that the petitioner is liable to affix the stamp duty on the basis of prevalent market value of the shop at the time when he applied for execution of the conveyance deed. In other words, the petitioner's claim that the stamp duty is liable to be affixed on the basis of the market value of the shop in the year 1977 when he purchased the plot in an open auction, has been turned down. There appears to be no legal infirmity with the above noticed view taken by the Collector Mansa. However, in the very next breath, the Collector has further held that after spot inspection and on seeing the geographical location of the shop, he was of the view that the value of the shop CWP No. 11925 of 2007 -3- was Rs.14.00 lacs. We are of the considered view that before determining market value of the shop, it was imperative upon the Collector to conduct a fact finding enquiry and thereafter only to determine the market value of the shop on the basis of some relevant material like the sale deeds/allotment letter and/ or any other deed or instrument indicating towards the escalation in prices. In the absence of even an iota of such material, market value of the shop could not have been determined on the basis of spot inspection only. Consequently and for the reasons afore stated, we set aside the impugned orders dated 30.6.2006 and 28.3.2007 passed by the Collector Mansa as well as of the appellate authority respectively. The matter is remitted to the Collector, Mansa for a fresh decision in accordance with law. The parties are directed to appear before the Collector, Mansa on 28.4.2008. Petition stands disposed of in the above terms. (SURYA KANT) JUDGE (SABINA) March 26, 2008 JUDGE anita