The Delhi High Court has allowed registration of properties in the Capital that are valued below the minimum circle rate of the area they are situated in. The court has also directed the Registrars and Sub-Registrars to register the instruments of sale and purchase and forward them to the Collector of Stamps for determining the value.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw has said that the Delhi government would follow the procedure laid down in Section 47-A of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, and use the discretionary powers vested in it to register the sale of property below the local circle rates.
The court pointed out during the hearing of a bunch of writ petitions that once it was clarified that the stamp duty paid on a transfer document need not always be in accordance with the prescribed circle rates, the procedure prescribed in Section 47-A should be followed.
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Section 47-A, which deals with under-valuation of instruments, lays down that if a registering officer has reason to believe that the value of the property or consideration has not been truly set forth in the instrument, he may, after registering the instrument, refer it to the Collector for determination of the value and proper duty payable.
The court said the circle rate circulars issued by the Delhi government from time to time since 2007 could not longer come in the way of registration of properties.
The petitions filed by Manu Narang, Amit Gupta and Atul Gupta had contended that since the prices of property varied from place to place and depended on several factors, no absolute benchmark could be fixed to determine a minimum price.
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The petitions had challenged the Delhi government's circulars issued between 2007 and 2014 increasing the circle rates after every revision.
The court said the Delhi government would follow the procedure laid down in Section 47-A of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899