CWP No.11805 of 2009 -1- In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh Date of decision: 15.09.2010 Shambhu Ram and another Vs. State of Haryana and others CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI Present: Mr. SS Godara, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr.RD Sharma, DAG, Haryana, for the respondents. PERMOD KOHLI, J. (Oral): The petitioners in the present writ petition are the descendants of common ancestor. In the year 2002, they entered into an oral exchange in respect of half of the shares of their respective shops being absolute owners. On 19.03.2005 they suffered a Court decree. Decree was registered on the basis of the oral exchange. Respondent No.3 made a reference under Section 47-A of the Indian Stamp Act to respondent No.1 who ordered recovery of deficient stamp duty vide order dated 31.01.2008 (Annexure P-4). The petitioners filed appeal against the order dated 31.01.2008 which has also been dismissed vide order dated 03.03.2009 (Annexure P-5). Both these orders are under challenge in the present writ petition. The controversy involved in this writ petition is no more res integra having been settled by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the cases of State of Rajasthan and others Vs. Khandaka Jain Jewellers, (2007) 14 Supreme Court Cases, 339 and State of Haryana & Ors. Vs. Manoj Kumar, 2010 (2) R.C.R. (Civil), 296. In both these cases, on the basis of agreement to sell, the sale CWP No.11805 of 2009 -2- consideration was determined. Since the agreement to sell was not complied with by one of the parties, suit for specific performance came to be filed which was ultimately decreed and on the basis of the Civil Court decree, a document/instrument of sale was presented before the competent Registration Officer who referred the matter to the Collector under Section 47-A of the Act for determination of the market value of the property. It has been held that the market value of the property at the time of the registration of the sale deed has to be charged as per the Collector rates and the sale consideration fixed in the agreement to sell has no relevance. The above said principle of law has been reiterated by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Manoj Kumar (Supra):- “39. It is not disputed that the commercial plot of 788 sq. yards located at Delhi-Mathura Mewla Maharajpur, Faridabad was valued by the Circle rate at Rs.4,200 per sq. yard fixed by the Collector of Faridabad meaning thereby that after the notification, no sale deed can be registered for an amount lesser than Rs.4,200/- per sq.yard. It may be pertinent to mention that, in order to ensure that there is no evasion of stamp duty, circle rates are fixed from time to time and the notification is issued to that effect. The issuance of said notification has become imperative to arrest the tendency of evading the payment of actual stamp duty. It is a matter of common knowledge that usually the circle rate or the collector rate is CWP No.11805 of 2009 -3- lower than the prevalent actual market rate but to ensure registration of sale deeds at least at the circle rates or the collector rates such notifications are issued from time to time by the appellants.” In view of the above legal position, there is no merit in this writ petition and the same is hereby dismissed with no order as to costs. 15.09.2010 (PERMOD KOHLI) BLS JUDGE