CWP No.98 of 1991(O&M) [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No.98 of 1991(O&M) Date of Decision: 25.07.2011 Davinderjit Singh and another ... Petitioners Versus State of Punjab and others ... Respondents II CWP No.85 of 1991(O&M) Davinderjit Singh and another ... Petitioners Versus State of Punjab and others ... Respondents III CWP No.84 of 1991(O&M) Davinderjit Singh and another ... Petitioners Versus State of Punjab and others ... Respondents IV CWP No.101 of 1991(O&M) Davinderjit Singh and another ... Petitioners Versus State of Punjab and others ... Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN Present: Mr. K.S. Dhillon, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr. N.S. Pawar, Addl. AG, Punjab, for respondents No.1 and 2. None for respondent No.3. ***** 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? NO 2. To be referred to the reporters or not? NO 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest? NO CWP No.98 of 1991(O&M) [2] K. KANNAN, J. (Oral) 1. All the writ petitions address the same issue of the assessment of the value of the property, which is claimed by the Revenue authority as insufficient stamp in proceeding under Section 47-A of the Indian Stamp Act. The Collector demanded additional value of stamps relying on a decision taken by the Sub Divisional Magistrate after setting up a Committee to study the valuation of the property and when they had taken a decision that no registration shall be made of barani land in the locality for a price, which was less than `15,000/- per acre. All the petitioners claimed that it was not notified and they had not caused any under-valuation of the property that they had purchased and that the consideration stated in the sale deeds really reflected the market rates as well. 2. After the writ petitions were filed, stay had been granted and by a sheer length of time, the amounts demanded as additional stamp duty payable has made the issue appear insignificant for what the State was demanding was a minimal assessment of stamp duty from today's market prices. Learned counsel states that the petitioners would be willing to pay the amounts as demanded, if no further assessment of interest is made, since the petitioners could not be stated to have under-valued the property. Under the circumstances, I would uphold the demand and dismiss all the writ petitions. The State will be entitled to collect the amounts as demanded in the notices without any further levy of interest. The petitioners themselves shall voluntarily make the payments within eight weeks from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order but if, the amounts are not paid on their own as CWP No.98 of 1991(O&M) [3] demanded in the notices within the time as stipulated, the State will be entitled to collect interest @ 9% p.a. from the date of this order. 3. All the writ petitions are disposed of as above. JULY 25, 2011 ( K. KANNAN ) Rajan JUDGE