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TMI Blog2019 (3) TMI 2060X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... multiple valuations, all such valuations most recent in time) authenticated by the Prothonotary Senior Master - In the present case, the valuation obtained was roughly in the region of more than Rs. 30 crores. A copy of that valuation report authenticated by the Prothonotary and Senior Master will be forwarded to the authority within one week. The Prothonotary Senior Master will issue an authenticated copy of the valuation within two weeks. The Deputy Sheriff will, within one week, furnish a copy of that valuation to the Prothonotary Senior Master along with the original so the Prothonotary Senior Master s authentication. Application disposed off. - G.S.Patel, J. FOR THE CLAIMANTS/AUCTION PURCHASERS: MR PRERAK A SHARMA. DEPUTY SHERIFF: MR SD CHITGOPEKAR. FOR THE COLLECTOR OF STAMPS, MUMBAI: SMT JYOTI CHAVAN, AGP COLLECTOR OF STAMPS: MR DADARAO DATKAR, PRESENT. JUDGMENT: 1. In execution of a decree or an award, an immovable property is sold by public auction by this Court acting on its Original Side as an executing Court. The sale is effected in the regular course through the office of the Sheriff, and the auction sale is conducted in the usual manner, that is to say by obtaining ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Rs. 15.30 crores . 4. When the matter was mentioned yesterday, Mr Sharma on behalf of the auction purchaser said that the Collector of Stamps had valued the property at Rs. 155 crores. I asked the Collector to remain present in Court, observing that he could not sit in appeal over orders of this Court. Mr Dadarao Datkar, Collector of Stamps is present in response to that order. I have heard Ms Chavan on behalf of the Government, Mr Sharma on behalf of the auction purchaser and also considered the submissions of Mr Chitgopekar, the Deputy Sheriff. To begin with, Ms Chavan says the earlier assessment was tentative or preliminary, without having all necessary information at hand. Now that additional material is available, including a confirmation that there were tenants, the market value has been reckoned again and is likely to be assessed in the region of about Rs.35 crores approximately. 5. How is the stamp duty to be assessed in such a situation? Article 16 of the Maharashtra Stamp Act reads thus: Description of Instrument Proper Stamp Duty 16. CERTIFICATE OF SALE (in respect of each property put up as a separate lot and sold) granted to the purchaser of any property sold by public ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... will reproduce these below: (6) Every registering officer shall, when the instrument is produced before him for registration, verify in each case the market value of land and buildings, etc. as the case may be, determined in accordance with the above statement and Valuation Guidelines issued from time to time and if he finds the market value as stated in the instrument, less than the market value, determined as above, he shall refer the same to the Collector of the District for determination of the true market value of the property which is the subject matter of the instrument and the proper duty payable thereon: Provided that, if a property is sold or allotted by Government or Semi Government body or a Government Undertaking or a Local Authority on the basis of a predetermined price, then value determined by said bodies, shall be the true market value of the subject matter property. Provided further that, where the property is purchased or acquired or taken over by the Government, Semi-Government Body or a Government Undertaking or Local Authority, then the actual value determined as consideration by the said bodies as mentioned in the deed, shall be considered to be the true mar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mentions that price, then the Collector or the adjudicating authority is required by law, on account of this proviso, to accept that stated value as the true market value without further enquiry. Once these two conditions are met, therefore, the adjudicating authority does not need to make any further enquiry. Indeed, the adjudicating authority cannot make any further enquiry. 13. Why should a sale through a Court by public auction on the basis of a valuation obtained, i.e. by following a completely open and transparent process, be placed at any different or lower level than the government entities covered by the first proviso? Indeed the process that we follow in Courts is perhaps much more rigorous than what the proviso contemplates, because the first proviso itself does not require a public auction at all but only that the Government body should fix a predetermined price . 14. In our present system, a sale through the Sheriff s Office, i.e. a sale in execution is always necessarily by public auction. If it is by private treaty, it requires a special order. A sale effected by a Receiver in execution is not, technically, a sale by the Court. It is a sale by the Receiver appointed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nt with sub-rule (6), its first proviso and ensures that there is consistency both between the stamp adjudication process and the basis on which the sale is conducted in the first place. There cannot be an inconsistency between the Court order and a Court-supervised sale on the one hand and the adjudication for stamp on the other. This is the only method by which complete synchronicity can be maintained between the two. 18. This schema is also the only one that maintains consistency between government-body sales at predetermined prices and court-supervised sales. Any other approach or interpretation that does not maintain parity between Court-supervised sales and sales by the government is anathema to public administration and without intelligible differentia. Moreover, at a practical level, this will ease the burden on the adjudicating authority in spending time and money in having to collect, obtain and assess independent material as to market value, an exercise that has already been done to the satisfaction of the court. 19. Finally, if this Court in execution is satisfied with the valuation and accepts it, then it is not open to the adjudicating authority to question that valua ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... High Court at the time of issuance of confirmation of sale certificate and it is the sale certificate as accompanied by the valuation that will be taken up. 22. This is also consistent with Section 31(2) of the Stamp Act which permits the Collector to call for additional material and evidence in order to determine the fair market value. The court-obtained valuation is precisely in the nature of this additional material. The government need not spend time and money to call for it all over again. 23. Hence, as a general practice: (a) Where there is a sale by private treaty, the usual course stipulated in the Maharashtra Stamp Act will apply; (b) Where the sale is by the Court, i.e. through the office of the Sheriff, or by the Court Receiver in execution, and is by public auction pursuant to a valuation having been previously obtained, then (i) If the sale price is at or below the valuation obtained, then the valuation will serve as the current market value; (ii) If the final sale price, i.e. the final bid, is higher than the valuation, then the final bid amount and the not the valuation will be taken as the current market value for the purposes of stamp; (iii) Where there are multipl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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