TMI Blog1972 (2) TMI 103X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d special leave of this Court to appeal against the decision in question. Hence Civil Appeal No. 58 of 1972 came to be filed. In view of this appeal, we may now proceed on the basis that Civil Appeal No. 660 of 1967 stands withdrawn and the same is disposed of accordingly. Hereafter we shall only deal with Civil Appeal No. 58 of 1972. The facts leading up to this appeal are as follows On November 18, 1950, plot No. 79 at Palton Road, Bombay, admeasuring about 1,368 square yards was leased by the Government of Bombay for a period of 999 years from June 26, 1942 to one Lily Investment Corporation Ltd. On December 11, 1950, the said Lily Investment Corporation Ltd. gave a sub-lease of the said plot of land to Uttamchand Tulsidas for a term of 999 years (less one day), from June 26, 1942. thereafter Uttamchand constructed a building called Himalaya House on that plot consisting of several flats, shops and offices. Under various agreements, he appears to have assigned the right of occupation in those flats, shops and offices to several persons. One such agreement was with one Motiram Shewarama Vallicha. That was in respect of one flat. That agreement is in the record. As the High ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the interests of the persons occupying flats, offices and shops therein AND WHEREAS the Assignor has agreed to assign to the Assignee all his interests in the said piece of land and building. Clause 1 of that Deed provides as under :- 1. The Assignor (i.e. Respondent No. 2) doth hereby for no consideration assign into the Assignee (i.e. the Appellant Company) ALL THAT the piece of land comprised in the before recited Lease together with the buildings and erections now standing and being thereon together with all rights easements and appurtenances thereto belonging and together with all the right title and interest whatever of the Assignor in the building known as Himalaya House EXCEPT AND RESERVED as in the before recited Lease more particularly mentioned TO HOLD the same unto the Assignee or all the residue now unexpired of the term of years granted by the before recited Lease SUBJECT to the rent reserved by and to the Agreements covenants and conditions contained in the before recited Lease henceforth on the part of the Assignee to be paid observed and performed. The said document bore a stamp of annas 12 only. When the same was presented for registration, the Su ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ose questions as follows :- 1. Under which article in Schedule 1 to the Stamp Act should the Assignment Deed in question be stamped ? 2. If Article 23 applies in this case, what is the consideration for the Assignment Deed ? All the Judges unanimously held that the Article applicable to the case is Article 23 in the First Schedule to the Indian Stamp Act, which will be hereinafter referred to as the Stamp Ace . But while answering the second question, the learned Chief Justice and Naik. J. opined that the consideration for the Assignment Deed is the total amount which was payable to the Assignor Tulsidas under the agreements between him and the persons to whom he had, under those agreements, given the right to occupy the Rats, offices and shops in the building. But Mody J. differed from his colleagues and came to the conclusion that the consideration is ,as mentioned in the Deed of Assignment itself i.e. no consideration- All the Judges unanimously came to the conclusion that the consideration mentioned in the document is nil. This conclusion is obvious because Clause I of the Assignment Deed says that the Assignor assigns his rights for no consideration . ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Revenue is competent to make an independent assessment of the value of the rights assigned. Though at one stage, it was feebly suggested that the Deed of Assignment may be considered as a gift but that contention was not elaborated; nor do we see any merit in that contention because in the first place, it does not purport to be a gift; secondly, the valuation of gift under Article 33 of the First Schedule has to be made on the same basis as the valuation of a conveyance under Article 23 of that Schedule. Article 33 specifically says that the duty payable on a gift deed will be same as a conveyance for a consideration equal to the value of the property as set forth in such instrument. For the purpose of this case, we shall proceed on the assumption, without deciding, that the charging words in Article 23 of the Stamp Act where the amount or value of the consideration for such conveyance as set forth therein do not mean that the Revenue must have regard only to what the parties to the instruments have elected to state the consideration to be, but the duty must be assessed upon the amount or value of the consideration for the transfer as disclosed upon an examina ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ue that in view of this provision, the parties to a document are required to set forth in the document fully and truly the consideration (if any) and all other facts and circumstances affecting the chargeability of that document with the duty or the amount of the duty with which it is chargeable. But a failure to comply with the requirements of that section is merely punishable under section 64 of the Stamp Act. No provision in the Stamp Act empowers the Revenue to make an independent inquiry of the value of the property conveyed for determining the duty chargeable. Article 23 is the Article that governs the charging of Stamp duty on conveyance . That Article to the extent relevant for our present purpose reads : 23. Conveyance (as defined by section 2(10) not being a transfer charge or exempted under section 52Where the amount or value of the consideration for such conveyance as set forth therein............ This Article has come up for consideration before various High Courts on a number of occasions. In Ramen Chetty v. Mohamed Ghouse(1) the Calcutta High Court held that in determining whether a document is sufficiently stamped for the purpose of deciding upon its adm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cisions to some of which we have already made reference. The Legislature may have had. good reasons for not empowering the Revenue to make an independent inquiry as regards the valuation of the right sought to be assigned. Under any circumstance, there was no basis to hold that the consideration for the impounded Deed is the total amount received by Uttamchand under the agreements entered into between him and the persons to whom he had assigned certain rights in the flats, offices and shops in the building. Those persons had an independent right of their own. Their rights did not flow from the impounded Assignment Deed. Whether the title obtained by them was perfect or not, there is no denying of the fact that they had acquired valuable rights even before the impounded Deed was executed. For the reasons mentioned above, we allow this appeal and in place of the answers given by the High Court, we answer the question formulated by that Court thus 1. The Article applicable in this case is Article 23 in the First Schedule to the Stamp Act, and the consideration is as mentioned in the Deed of Assignment itself i.e. no consideration. The first respondent shall pay the costs o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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