Arijit Banerjee, J. - (1.) By consent of the parties the appeal and the stay application are taken up together for hearing and disposal.
(2.) This appeal is directed against a judgment and order dated 24 November, 2017 passed by a Learned Single Judge in WP No. 23428 (W) of 2017 (Visveshwaran Suresh Kumar & Anr.-vs.-The State of West Bengal & Ors.)
(3.) The brief facts of the case are that the appellant company became entitled to purchase a property situate in Hyderabad in a Court proceeding. A Nomination Agreement was executed between the appellant company and the writ petitioner/respondent no. 2 company (in short 'SBPL') wherein the appellant nominated SBPL to receive conveyance of the said property in its name. Disputes and differences arose between the appellant and SBPL which were referred to arbitration in pursuance of the arbitration clause contained in the Nomination Agreement. Before the Arbitral Tribunal a point was taken by the appellant that the Nomination Agreement was insufficiently stamped and as such was liable to be impounded under the provisions of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. The said agreement was, in fact, impounded by the learned Arbitrator and sent to the Collector of Stamp Revenue, Kolkata for valuation of the stamp duty payable thereon and also penalty. The Collector assessed the stamp duty including penalty, in the sum of approximately Rs. 11.26 crores applying Art. 23 of Schedule 1A to the Indian Stamp Act.;