AI OCR 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (11) TMI 81
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....le property based on "Proposed Land Use" is contrary to The West Bengal Stamp (Prevention of Undervaluation of Instruments) Rules, 2001; c) A writ of and/or order and/or directions in the nature of Prohibition do issue injuncting the respondent authorities and/or each one of them from determining the "Market Value" of an immovable property based on information with regard to "Proposed Land Use"; d) A writ of and/or order and/or directions in the nature of Certiorari do issue directing the respondent authorities and/or each one of them to certify and transmit all records pertaining to the instant case so that same may be quashed and conscionable justice be done between the parties;" From the pleadings it appears that the petitioner no.1 is in the business of supplying and trading in various agricultural goods and services and is desirous of setting up farms for vegetables, pulses, grains, dairy, organic food etc., for which the petitioners have already bought and are interested in buying further land in Mouzas Chaketbati, Chakmanik, Chakparan and Pujali, amongst other parts of West Bengal. The writ petitioners have stated that in certain registration offices, if the transferee....
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....he petitioners it is submitted that the respondent authorities are "State" within the meaning of Article 12 having limited and restricted authority and cannot travel beyond the scope of the particular statute. They are acting in colourable exercise of power and are violating the rights of the petitioners, as enshrined under Articles 14, 19 and 300A of the Constitution of India and are also violating the 2001 Rules, (as amended vide notification no. 1614 F.T dated 5th October, 2010) and clause 16B of section 2 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (as amended by West Bengal Act no. 17 of 1990 with effect from 31.01.1994). The respondent authorities are anticipating and apprehending an uncertain event to fix the market value of a property, which is bad in law and also contending that the change of the "Proposed Use of Land" in the records of the registration office has no bearing with the records maintained in the office of the B.L and L.R.O. and that a separate application is required to be made with the concerned office of the B.L and L.R.O seeking permission for such conversion and the B.L and L.R.O also charges conversion rate as applicable. On the other hand, in the two affidavit-in-op....
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....annual statement of rates as well as valuation of land. The respondents being bound by the statute are duty bound to follow the Rules as well as the statute and they have never deviated from the Rules and as such there is no scope for interference by this Court on the basis of the averments made in the writ petition. The introduction of the column of proposed land use is not illegal or contrary to law. The 2001 Rules take into consideration the proposed land use, contrary to what was alleged by the writ petitioners. The petitioners were not forced to pay exorbitant rate of Stamp Duty by the respondent authorities while buying land. The petitioners have failed to disclose a single instance where exorbitant rates have been charged and in absence of any material particulars, the allegations under reference are vague and unfounded. A thorough scrutiny of records was made in that regard, but no document has been found to have been presented by the petitioners upon due execution for registration prior to institution of the said application. The writ petitioners have purportedly relied upon the Market Value Assessment Slips, allegedly obtained by them from the official website of the Dir....
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....pplicant in the appropriate form mentioned in Appendix V of the West Bengal Registration Rules, can mandatorily include such information required to be provided under the column specifically relating to "Proposed Land Use" or, in other words, whether such information can be mandatorily obtained for the purpose of determination of market value based on the statutory definition of "market value" as provided under clause 16B of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. In this context, one may at first take notice of the various judicial pronouncements which have been referred to and relied on by the learned Advocate General for the State. In Raghubans Narain Singh v. Uttar Pradesh Government through Collector of Binjor reported in AIR 1967 SC 465, it was held, inter alia, that market value on the basis of which compensation is payable under section 23 of the Land Acquisition Act means the price that a willing purchaser would pay to a willing seller for a property having due regard to its existing condition, with all its existing advantages, and its potential possibilities when laid out in its most advantageous manner, excluding any advantage due to the carrying out of the scheme for the purposes ....
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....lving determination of the market value of the acquired land. But this in the very nature of things cannot be helped. The essential thing is to keep in view the relevant factors prescribed by the Act. If the judgment of the High Court reveals that it has taken into consideration the relevant factors, the assessment of the market value of the acquired land should not be disturbed. It was observed in Atma Singh (Dead) Through Lrs. & Others v. State of Haryana & Another, reported in 2008 (2) SCC 568 that for ascertaining the market value of the land, the potentiality of the acquired land should also be taken into consideration. Potentiality means capacity or possibility for changing or developing into state of actuality. It is well settled that market value of a property has to be determined having due regard to its existing condition with all its existing advantages and its potential possibility when led out in its most advantageous manner. The question whether a land has potential value or not, is primarily one of fact depending upon its condition, situation, user to which it is put or is reasonably capable of being put and proximity to residential, commercial or industrial areas o....
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....ket value, which includes in its definition, its potential value. The significance of the word "potential" should not be lost sight of. It connotes, by itself, something having such latent qualities which has a capacity to develop or lead to future success or usefulness. (Please see Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Tenth Edition, Revised.) The relevant provision of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, which defines "market value", namely, clause (16B) of section 2, was introduced by a West Bengal amendment, i.e., The Indian Stamp (West Bengal Amendment) Act, 1990, [section 3(d)], which came into effect on and from 31st January, 1994 and reads as follows:- " "market value" means, in relation to any property which is the subject-matter of an instrument, the price which such property would have fetched or would fetch if sold in open market on the date of execution of such instrument as determined in such manner and by such authority as may be prescribed by rules made under this Act or the consideration stated in the instrument, whichever is higher;" The statutory definition of market value thus means the price which a property would have fetched or would fetch if sold in open market on th....
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....a duly filled in requisition form appended to Appendix V, mentioned in column (2) of the Table set out under the sub-Rule (2) corresponding to the subject matter of a deed mentioned in column (1) of the said Table. Appendix V essentially contains four requisition forms. All the requisition forms are for the purpose of assistance on market value / chargeability. Each of these forms contains various columns, including the column "Proposed Land Use" under "Plot-wise details of the land". The State of West Bengal, however, by that time had already introduced the West Bengal Stamp (Prevention of Undervaluation of Instruments) Rules, 2001, which came into force from 15th March, 2001. The said 2001 Rules, however, were significantly amended by a notification dated 5th October, 2010, which was published in the Official Gazette on the same date. The 2001 Rules (upon its 2010 amendment) provide, inter alia, a complete mechanism for the manner of determination of market value when an instrument is registered through the system of CORD; guidelines for preparation of annual statement of market value of immovable property; principles for determination of the market value of immovable property; ....
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....es, 2001, were introduced only for the purpose of bringing the 2001 Rules in sync with the amendments which were introduced to the West Bengal Registration Rules, 1962, by the State Government in the year 2008, primarily for the purpose of registration of documents through the system of Computerization of Registration of Documents (CORD). Since it is quite well settled in law through several pronouncements of the Supreme Court that "Market Value" includes within its definition its potential value and meaning of the word "potential" having been discussed earlier, the column under the heading, "Proposed Land Use", required to be filled-up amongst other columns in order to determine the potential value of a land, cannot be held to be either illegal or contrary to the 2001 Rules (as amended in the year 2010). Information provided by an applicant under the said column is mandatorily required by the Registering Officer for the purpose of determination of "Market Value" as provided under clause 16B of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. Now, a question that requires some consideration is whether the "Proposed Land Use" column - when required to be filled-up by an applicant - will have any time ....