- (1.) Heard Sri T.N. Gupta, learned Counsel for the petitioner and Sri Rakesh Srivastava, on behalf of the opposite parties. Facts in brief of the present case are that the petitioner purchased a house bearing No. 51, H.I.G. Sector E, Aliganj, Lucknow, the land area of the said house is 265 Sq. meter (covered area is 325.168 sq. meter) bounced as under:-- East: H.I.G. 78. West: 30 ft. wide Road. North: H.I.G. 50. South: H.I.G. 52. Sale deed of the said house was executed and registered on 11.6.2004 (Annexure-2) and the petitioner had paid stamp duty amounting to Rs. 2,50,000/-. Thereafter a notice under section 47A of the Indian Stamp Act has been issued to the petitioner by the Additional District Magistrate (Finance/Revenue) Collector, Lucknow and Naib Tehsildar, Lucknow submitted a report dated 16.4.2004 in the matter in question. As per the version of the petitioner the copy of the said report was not supplied to him but he had noted down the contents of the said report (a copy of the same been annexed as Annexure No. 5 to the writ petition). He submitted his reply/objection (Annexure No. 6) to the said report denying the averments as made in the said report, the reply/objection as submitted in paragraph Nos. 4 and 5 are as under:-- Para 4--That in the site inspection carried out report submitted on 16.11.2004, it has been said that during inspection repair work was being carried out and that porch gallery floor is of stone kalegi and that in the rooms floor is old and in the ground floor they are 4 rooms, garage, kitchen, latrine bathroom. It has been further said that the covered area of ground floor is 2260 sq. fts. and of 1st floor 1610 sq. fts. Total Area = 359.67 sq. mtrs. With a mention that seeing the condition of the said it cannot be said of UCH SRENI (Higher Category) and that while making valuation the land value while has been correctly worked out equal to what has been shown in the registered sale deed, the value of constructed area while it is said that the same is not higher category the valuation has been made of higher category @ Rs. 4,500/- per sq. mtr. In the report submitted it has not been considered that the construction is of the year 1979 in dilapidated condition and what would be the life of building. In the report submitted @ Rs. 4500/- per sq. metre on the basis of higher category the valuation has been worked out and it is said that less stamp duty of Rs. 28,500/- has been paid. Para 5--That valuation of house can only be carried out by competent valuer category and that as the same as has been assessed at the higher rates while admitting the same is not of higher category the defendants have got carried out the valuation from approved Valuers Sri Avadh Narain Dubey.
(2.) On 19.2.2005 the O.P. No. 2/Additional District Magistrate, (Finance & Revenue) Collector, Lucknow passed the impugned order holding therein the deficiency in stamp duty in respect of the registration of the document in question, Aggrieved by the said order the present writ petition has been filed before this Court.
(3.) Sri Rakesh Srivastava, learned Standing Counsel has raised a preliminary objection to the effect that against the order dated 19.2.2005 (Annexure-1) passed by O.P. No. 3, petitioner has a statutory right of appeal before the appellate authority under section 56(1-A) of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. So, the present writ petition is liable to be dismissed on the said ground.;