Petitioners are aggrieved by the insistence by the respondent Panchayat to execute an agreement on stamp paper by calculating the amount of stamp duly at five per cent of the total amount of rent for the period of three years. Case of the petitioners is that they are conducting business for several years and they have been called upon as part of renewal of the licences, to execute agreement on stamp paper at live percent for the entire period of the licence. According to them, they are licensees and. therefore, they contend that they need not execute agreement for the exorbitant amount demanded by the Panchayat. Instead, they would contend that the stamp paper need only he for Rs.50/-. Alternatively, it is their case that even if it is a lease, the demand made by the Panchayat is unsustainable, in view of Art.33 of the Schedule to the Kerala Stamp Act. Art.33 of the Schedule in so far as it is pertinent, is extracted below:

2. Learned counsel for the petitioners would point out that proceeding on the basis that It is a lease, as the lease is for a period of less than live years, the provision which is applicable is Cl.(2) already extracted. He would submit that the petit