Asthana, J. - (1.) THIS is a reference under Section 57 of the Indian Stamp Act by the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority, viz., the Board of Revenue, Uttar Pradesh.
(2.) ADMITTEDLY , the vendor was indebted to the extent of Rs. 61,600 to the vendee on the date when the sale-deed in question, dated 25-1-1968, was executed transferring a house for Rupees 15,500. It appears from the recital in the sale-deed, that the vendee had been demanding the payment of his money due on the supplies of cloth to the vendor, who was carrying on business in cloth in Kanpur market; that the vendor had suffered losses and much of his money was retained by his customers and he found himself in difficulty, that the vendor and the vendee then entered into an arrangement and executed the sale-deed dated 25-1-1968. The sale-deed shows that on the sale of the house for Rs. 15,500 the total debt of Rs. 61,600 stood discharged. It may further be stated that the title deed of the house, sold, had earlier been deposited with the vendee as security. When the sale-deed was presented before the Sub-Registrar he impounded it as he found that the stamp duty on the value of Rs. 15,500 had only been paid and not on Rs. 61,600, the amount of the debt which was wiped out by the sale of the house. The Additional Collector of Agra upheld the view of the Sub-Registrar and called upon the vendee to pay a stamp duty on the sum of Rs. 61,600 plus Rs. 15,500 with penalty under Section 24 of the Stamp Act. The vendee, being aggrieved, filed a revision before the Board of Revenue and then also made an application that the matter be referred under Section 57 of the Stamp Act to the High Court. The Board of Revenue has submitted a statement of the case with its opinion and has formulated two points of law; viz., (1) Whether the instrument under consideration is chargeable as an instrument of conveyance with ad valorem duty on the amount of total debt of Rs. 61,600, for which the property was encumbered, under Article 23, Schedule I-B of the U. P. Stamp (Amendment) Act, 1962 read with Section 24 thereof ? and (2) If the answer to the above question is in the affirmative, whether additional stamp duty @ 2% would be payable on the total debt of Rs. 61,600 in accordance with the provision of Section 62 of the Avas Avam Vikas Parishad Adiniyam, 1965 as amended by Section 12 of the U. P. Local Self-Government Laws (Amendment) Act, 1966 (Act XXIX of 1966) read with Government Notification No. O-324 H/XXXVII- 8(HB) 65 dated 29-3-1966 published in the U. P. Gazette dated 29-3-66 (Niwas Vibhag) ? We may say here that in our judgment question No. 2 does not arise on the statement of the case. Neither the order of the Collector nor the opinion of the Board of Revenue deals with the charging of Additional Stamp Duty of two per cent. Moreover the question framed, involves an enquiry into the fact whether Section 62 of the Avas Avam Vikas Parishad Adhiniyam, 1965 as amended by Section 12 of the U. P. Local Self-Government Laws (Amendment) Act, 1966 (Act No. XXIX of 1966), was applicable to the house sold. We need not, therefore, answer the second question.
(3.) AS regards the first question we may point out that the words "for which the property was encumbered" occurring in the question seem to have been inadvertently or under some misconception introduced by the Board of Revenue. It was not the case of any party before the Collector that the house sold was subject to mortgage for the debt of Rs. 61,600 which had accrued upto the date of the execution of the sale-deed. What we understand by the question is whether under Article 23, Schedule I-B of the U. P. Stamp Act XXV of 1962 the stamp duty paid on the amount of Rs. 15,500, the value of the house transferred, was in accordance with law and the Sub-Registrar was in error in impounding the sale-deed when presented for registration or the stamp duty was payable on the amount of Rs. 61,600, the total debt in consideration of which the house was sold under Section 24 of the Stamp Act.;