- (1.) This appeal by certificate is directed against the judgment and order of the Circuit Bench of the Punjab High Court at Delhi dated the 7th May 1964 and arises in the following circumstances:
(2.) The respondent Company floated debenture loan of Rs. 2.50 crores and to secure the repayment of the said loan, executed debenture trust deed dated 10th April, 1962 mortgaging certain properties of the Company for consideration of Rs. 2.50 crores in favour of the trustees who were petitioners before the High Court. Further details have been given in the judgment of the High Court and it is not necessary to repeat them here. It appears that stamps to the extent of Rs. 2,50,300/- were paid under the Indian Stamp Act and apart from that when the document was presented for registration, a fee of Rs. 1,25,157.50 np. was demanded as registration fee by the Sub-Registrar under a notification issued by the Chief Commissioner of Delhi, which is the impugned notification in this case. The registration fee was paid by the respondents under compulsion but the trustees filed a petition in the High Court challenging the validity of the notification and the exorbitant amount realised as registration fee.
(3.) The short point taken before the High Court by the respondents was that the registration fee levied under the notification date 15th December, 1952 was an illegal levy as it did not fulfil the essential conditions of a fee within the meaning of the Constitution. The plea of the trustees found favour with the High Court which held that the fee charged by the Registration Department under the notification was an illegal impost and could not be levied. The High Court accordingly quashed the notification and directed refund of the fee.;