ப.மு.745/ப்பி1/2019, Sale Certificate Revision Petition, 2023

What the proceedings decide

Proceedings ப.மு.745/ப்பி1/2019 dated 20 January 2023, issued by the Head of the Tamil Nadu Registration Department and Chief Controlling Revenue Authority, Chennai, concern pending document P52/2018 at the Arani Sub-Registrar Office, later registered as document 1917/2022. The document was a sale certificate issued by the State Bank of India to Kalaivani for property valued at Rs.39,00,000.

The purchaser had paid stamp duty of Rs.1,95,020, treating the certificate as chargeable at 5 percent under Article 18. The Sub-Registrar concluded that a certificate issued following a bank auction was not a sale certificate issued through an auction by a civil court, revenue court, Collector or revenue officer. It was therefore classified under Article 23, with stamp duty calculated at 7 percent on the property’s market value.

Decision on stamp duty and penalty

The North Chennai District Registrar assessed deficient stamp duty of Rs.77,980 and a penalty of Rs.1,000 under section 40(1)(b) of the Indian Stamp Act. The Head of the Tamil Nadu Registration Department and Chief Controlling Revenue Authority upheld that assessment and rejected the purchaser’s revision petition.

Key findings were:

• A sale certificate issued by a bank’s authorised officer attracts stamp duty when the original certificate is presented for registration.
• The cited Full Bench judgment stated that such a certificate is liable to stamp duty under Article 18-C read with Article 23.
• The judgment cited by the purchaser concerning section 89(4) applied when a copy of a sale certificate was forwarded for filing in Book I. It did not remove stamp duty and registration requirements when the original certificate was presented for registration.
• The argument that imposing a penalty was incorrect was rejected because section 40(1)(b) permits a penalty of up to ten times the stamp duty or deficient stamp duty.

Who is affected

Proceedings ப.மு.745/ப்பி1/2019 directly affect the purchaser named in the revision petition and document P52/2018. They are also relevant to buyers presenting original bank auction sale certificates for registration, because the reasoning distinguishes registration of the original certificate from filing a copy under section 89(4).

During the revision, the document holder paid the deficient stamp duty and deficient registration fee under protest. The document was registered as number 1917/2022 on 12 April 2022.