The period taken for adjudication of the document should be excluded while calculating the period of eight months for presenting the document for registration.

A.A. Sayed, J.

1. By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners have impugned two orders, both dated 25 July 2014. By the impugned orders, the respondent No. 2 and respondent No. 3 respectively declined to register the Deed of Conveyance dated 31 December 2009 on the ground that more than the eight months had elapsed from the date of execution of the Deed of Conveyance, which is the time stipulated for presentation of a document for registration under sections 23 and 25 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908. Under a Deed of Conveyance dated 31 December 2009, the petitioners had acquired certain land and building from one Jimmy Minu Batty. The total consideration under the said Deed of Conveyance was Rs. 65,00,000/- (Rupees Sixty-five Lakhs only). On 15 April 2010, the petitioners submitted the Deed of Conveyance to the Collector of Stamps for adjudication and determination of stamp duty payable thereon in terms of section 31 of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958 (now Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958). The petitioners had calculated the stamp duty at the time of execution of the Deed of Conveyance at Rs. 3,25,000/- (Rupees Three Lakhs and Twenty-Five Thousand only) and paid the said amount accordingly. After a period of about 3 years & 10 months, on 25 February 2014, an adjudication order came to be passed making a demand for additional stamp duty amount and penalty. According to the petitioners, the Collector of Stamps adjudicated the Deed of Conveyance and determined the deficit stamp duty at Rs. 74,200/-, on which penalty of Rs. 7,420/- was imposed. On 1 March 2014, the petitioners paid the deficit stamp duty of Rs. 74,200/- and the penalty of Rs. 7,420/-, aggregating to Rs. 81,620/- by way of e-stamping and an endorsement to that effect was made on the Deed of Conveyance which reflects the receipt of the entire amount.

2. According to the petitioners, the Deed of Conveyance duly adjudicated and endorsed was received by them on 12 March 2014. On 25 July 2014, the petitioners forwarded the Deed of Conveyance under cover of their letter to the respondent No. 2 and respondent No. 3 for the purpose of registration. Respondent No. 2, however, by the impugned order dated 25 July 2014 declined to register the Deed of Conveyance on the ground that it was presented beyond the time prescribed under sections 23 & 25 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908. Respondent No. 3 also by the impugned order of even date viz. 25 July 2014, declined to register the Deed of Conveyance on the same ground. Hence this petition.

3. I have heard the learned Counsel for the petitioners and the learned AGP. It would, at the out set, be appropriate to set out the relevant dates and events/particulars. The same are as under:

Sections 23 & 25 of the Indian Registration Act 1908, are relevant for our purposes. They read as under:

23. Time for presenting documents

Subject to the provisions contained in sections 24, 25 and 26, no document other than a will shall be accepted for registration unless prese