Stamp duty valuation must be fixed on the date of execution, not the later date of presentation for adjudication.

For stamping of a partition deed, the chargeable value must be determined by reference to the law and market value prevailing on the date of execution, not the later date of presentation for adjudication. The Court treated the earlier directions as permitting the deed to be used for the limited collateral purpose of proving partition after payment of duty and penalty, and found the later valuation based on the presentation date inconsistent with that position. The impugned orders and communications fixing or refusing fresh valuation on the later date were therefore quashed, and the authorities were required to proceed on the execution-date valuation.

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Issues: Whether the stamp duty on the partition deed was required to be determined with reference to the value prevalent on the date of execution of the document, and whether the orders and communications fixing valuation on the later date were liable to be quashed.

Analysis: The document in question was executed long before it was presented for stamping, and the governing principle applied was that the chargeable value of an instrument must be assessed by reference to the law and rates in force at the time of execution. The earlier directions in the matter had already recognised that the deed could be used for the limited collateral purpose of proving partition after payment of requisite duty and penalty. The later valuation based on the date of presentation was therefore inconsistent with the applicable legal position and could not stand. In the peculiar facts, the writ court also declined to send the matter through a further appellate route, so as to avoid prolonging an already decades-old suit.

Conclusion: The valuation had to be determined as on the date of execution of the partition deed, and the impugned orders and letters fixing or refusing fresh determination on a later date were quashed.

Final Conclusion: The petitioners were held entitled to have the instrument stamped on the basis of the execution-date valuation, and the authorities were directed to proceed accordingly so that the underlying civil suit could move forward without further delay.

Ratio Decidendi: For stamping of an instrument, the chargeable value is to be determined with reference to the law and market value prevailing on the date of execution, not on the later date when the document is produced for adjudication.

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