TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1995 (9) TMI 387
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....he appellants was in the nature of a lease or licence, an instrument compulsorily registerable under the Indian Registration Act and liable to stamp duty under the Indian Stamp Act. The Division Bench held that they were leases in respect of Santosh Jaiswal's case (L.P.A. No. 21/94) for a period of nine months and in Surendra Shukla's case (L.P.A. No.22/94) for more than one year. In the counter-affidavit filed in this Court, it was stated that the lease was for more than two year. Shri Pramod Swarup, learned counsel for the appellants, contended that it is only a licence and that, therefore, it is neither an instrument compulsorily registerable under Section 17 of Registration Act nor liable to stamp duty under the Indian Stamp Ac....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....y virtue of Section 17(1)(c) leases of immovable property from year to year, or for any term exceeding one year, or reserving a yearly rent is compulsorily registerable instrument. This Court considered the controversy in The Bihar Eastern Gangetic Fishermen Cooperative Society Ltd. vs. Sipahi Singh and others [(1977) 4 SCC 145] and held that if the profit a prendre is a tangible immovable property, its sale has to be by means of a registered instrument in case its value exceeds ₹ 100/-. If it is intangible, the sale is required by Section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, to be effected by a registered instrument, whatever its value. Therefore, in either situation the grant of the profit a prendre has to be by means of a regi....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....h fish is a lease or a licence. In view of the language of documents in those cases, this Court considered that it would be a licence but not a lease. Since the document has not been placed before us, we cannot decipher whether it is a licence or a lease. Since the controversy was not put in issue before the Division Bench, we proceeded on the premise that it is a lease. Under these circumstances, we are of the considered view that the Division Bench of the High Court is right in its conclusion that it is a lease and being of the value of more than ₹ 100/-, and upwards, it is compulsorily registerable under Section 17(1)(d) of Indian Registration Act. Under Section 17 of the Registration Act, read with Section 2(16) of the Indian Sta....