Judgment

SIKRI, J. :

This is an appeal by special leave against the judgment of the High Court of Allahabad in a refernece under S. 57 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. The Board of Revenue referred the following questions to the High Court :

(1) Whether the document is a sale deed for a consideration of Rs. 1,00,000 as contended by the executants.

(2) Whether in view of the provisions of Section 24 of the Stamp Act, the sale consideration shall be deemed to be Rs. 5,55,000 and duty liable to be paid thereon as held by the Board.

(3) Whether the consideration of the sale will be deemed to be Rs. Ten Lakhs, i.e., the entire amount due to the mortgagee Bank, and duty is payable thereon.

(4) On what amount is the additional stamp duty under Section 107 of the Kanpur Development Act, 1945, leviable. The High Court gave the following answer to the first three questions :

"The document in question is a sale deed for a consideration of Rs. 1,00,000 only and that the stamp duty payable in respect of it was to be calculated on the amount and not on any higher amount."

2. The appellant, the Board of Revenue, challenges the answer given by the High Court to the said three questions. We may mention that