Grievance About Fixation Of Stamp Duty Is Beyond Jurisdiction Of Trial Court: Andhra Pradesh High Court

The respondent had filed suit against the petitioner for eviction and recovery of damages for use of the suit schedule property. The Petitioner had sought to mark an agreement of sale as part of his defence.

At that stage, the said document was impounded and sent by the trial court to District Registrar, Nellore for fixing the stamp duty and penalty payable on the document under Section 40 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. Thereafter, a stamp duty and penalty of Rs. 6,50,000/- was fixed by the District Registrar, Nellore and the document was sent back to the trial court.

The petitioner filed an application seeking a direction from the trial court to send sale deed to the District Registrar again for levy of stamp and penalty afresh.

The application was dismissed by the trial court holding that a person aggrieved by the fixation of stamp duty and penalty under Section 40 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 has to file a revision to the Chief Controlling Revenue Officer in terms of Sections 56 and 57 of the Act.

Aggrieved by the said order, the petitioner filed a Civil Revision Petition. The court held as follows:

"As rightly pointed out by the trial court, the remedy against any grievance relating to fixation of stamp duty and penalty would only be a revision before the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority and the trial court would have no role in the fixation of the stamp duty or penalty."

The Civil Revision was therefore dismissed with no order as to costs.

Cause Title: Murarisetty Sai Baba Versus Ommina China Eswaraiah

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (AP) 14

Click Here To Read/Download Order