The Madras High Court has nullified a decision taken by the Inspector General of Registration on March 30, 2023 to collect stamp duty and registration charges on the basis of guideline value fixed for immovable properties in 2012 without following a decision taken in 2017 to reduce those values by 33%
A Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and K. Rajasekar dismissed a writ appeal filed by the State government and confirmed an order passed by Justice P. Velumurugan on December 18, 2023. The single judge had quashed the Inspector General’s circular on the ground of procedural infirmities.
The Bench held the government could revise the guideline value of properties only on the basis of the determination of those values by a State-level valuation committee and on receipt of recommendations from sub committees as required under Section 47AA into the Indian Stamp Act, 1899.
Though the government contended that determination of new values by those committees would take at least a year and therefore, it had decided to augment the revenue of the public exchequer immediately by reversing the 2017 decision, the argument did not cut ice with the judges.
The judges said, it defies logic to hear the State government say the value of the properties had increased exponentially since 2012 but at the same time, return back to the values fixed 12 years ago. They also said, the people at large could not be burdened by suddenly reversing the 2017 reduction.
The judges directed the government to follow the decision taken in 2017 until the guideline values get revised by following the due process of law. They, however, said no person would be entitled to refund of stamp duty paid on the basis of the 2012 valuation for instruments registered between March 30, 2023 and March 6, 2024.
