NDLI: Trustees of H.c. Dhanda Trust Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors.

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	1899 – s.40(1)(b). Stamp Act
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Act(s) Referred	Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (2 of 1899)
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Allowed
Headnote	Stamp Act, 1899: s.40(1)(b) – Imposition of maximum penaltywhen instrument not duly stamped – Propriety of – In the instantcase, a resolution was passed by the Executors/Trustees of theappellant-Trust to transfer and vest immovable properties to thebeneficiaries by executing a Deed of Transfer – However,subsequently a Deed of Assent was executed between them onpayment of stamp duty of Rs.200 whereunder the Trustees gaveassent to complete title of the Legatees and vest absolutely in favourof beneficiaries – Collector of Stamps held the Deed of Assent asGift Deed and demanded deficit duty to the extent of Rs.1.28 lakhsand also imposed ten times penalty – Board of Revenue upheld theorder of Collector – Aggrieved appellant-Trust filed writ petitionwhich was also dismissed – In the instant case, the issue is whetherthe ten times penalty was validly imposed by the Collector of Stampsunder s.40 – Held: The statutory scheme of s.40(1)(b) vest discretionto the Collector to impose the penalty amount not exceeding tentimes – When statute transfers discretion to an authority, thediscretion is to be exercised in furtherance of objects of theenactment – Imposition of penalty of ten times under s.40(1)(b) isneither automatic nor can it be mechanically imposed – Impositionof such extreme penalty cannot be based on the mere factum ofevasion of duty – The Collector while imposing ten times penalty inhis order gave reason that the party had not mentioned the actualnature of the document with the intention to escape the duty – Noother reason was given either by the Collector or by the High Courtjustifying the imposition of maximum penalty of ten times – It wasnot the case of Collector that the conduct of the appellant wasdishonest or contumacious – High Court noticed that although theresolution was passed to execute the Deed of Transfer by Trusteesbut later on they deliberately executed the deed in the name of Deedof Assent on a stamp paper of Rs.200/- - Thus, for the reason givenby the Collector as well as by the High Court that there was intentionto evade the stamp duty in describing the document as Deed ofAssent, the imposition of the penalty was called for, but in the factsand circumstances and the reasons given by the Collector, it wasnot a case of imposition of extreme penalty of ten times of deficiencyof stamp duty – In the ends of justice, penalty reduced to the extentof half i.e. five times of deficiency in the stamp duty.Penalty: Imposition of, by public authority – Held: The purposeof penalty generally is a deterrence and not retribution – Whendiscretion is given to a public authority, such public authority shouldexercise such discretion reasonably and not in oppressive manner– The responsibility to exercise discretion in reasonable mannerlies more in cases where discretion vested by the statute is unfettered– Stamp Act, 1899 – s.40(1)(b).
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ashok Bhushan
Neutral Citation	2020 INSC 551
Petitioner	Trustees Of H.c. Dhanda Trust
Respondent	State Of Madhya Pradesh & Ors.
SCR	[2020] 11 S.C.R. 268
Judgement Date	2020-09-17
Case Number	3195-3196

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Trustees of H.c. Dhanda Trust Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors.

Please Log-in to view this content

State of Uttaranchal Vs. M/s. Khurana Brothers

Government of Andhra Pradesh & Ors. Vs. Smt. P. Laxmi Devi

S.n. Mathur Vs. Board of Revenue & Ors.

Shanti Bhushan (d) Thr. Lr. & Ors Vs. State of U.p. and Ors

State of U.p. & Ors. Vs. Ambrish Tandon & Anr.

Madhya Pradesh Housing and Infrastructure Development Board & Ors. Vs. B. S. S. Parihar & Ors.

State of Madhya Pradesh & Anr. Vs. Radheshyam & Ors

M/s. Ansal Housing and Construction Limited Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others

State of Madhya Pradesh Vs. M/s Hardeo Shrinath and Ors.

Trustees of H.c. Dhanda Trust Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors.

Trustees of H.c. Dhanda Trust Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors.

Please Log-in to view this content

Similar Documents

State of Uttaranchal Vs. M/s. Khurana Brothers

Government of Andhra Pradesh & Ors. Vs. Smt. P. Laxmi Devi

S.n. Mathur Vs. Board of Revenue & Ors.

Shanti Bhushan (d) Thr. Lr. & Ors Vs. State of U.p. and Ors

State of U.p. & Ors. Vs. Ambrish Tandon & Anr.

Madhya Pradesh Housing and Infrastructure Development Board & Ors. Vs. B. S. S. Parihar & Ors.

State of Madhya Pradesh & Anr. Vs. Radheshyam & Ors

M/s. Ansal Housing and Construction Limited Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others

State of Madhya Pradesh Vs. M/s Hardeo Shrinath and Ors.

Trustees of H.c. Dhanda Trust Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors.