This Civil Miscellaneous Appeal has been preferred by the appellant challenging the order passed by the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority cum Inspector General of Registration in Pa.Mu.En.17625/EN2/2006 dated 12. 2008.

2. The appellant herein purchased a property which was sold in Open Public Auction in pursuance of the order dated 12.04.2000 made in W.P.No.12437 of 1997 by the Honourable Madras High Court. The appellant herein was the highest bidder of the property and the auction was confirmed by the Honourable Madras High Court by its order dated 30.11.2000 in the above said writ petition. The Honourable High Court confirmed the sale and opined that thef highest bid of Rs.1,33,10,000/- as the fair price of the property. The sale deed was also executed by the administrator Mr.C.Venkataraman appointed by the Honourable Madras High Court for M/s.Maxima Investments and Finance and its group of companies in favour of the appellant Mr.Ramkumar Giri. On 25.05.2001, the sale deed was executed for a sum of Rs.1,33,10,000/- and the market value of the sale deed was shown as Rs.1,33,10,000/-. At the time of registration, the Registering Officer raised doubts regarding the valuation of the property made in the document and so, he referred the document under Section 47A of the Indian Stamp Act to the Deputy Collector (Stamps) for adjudication. The Deputy Collector (Stamps) Collectorate Campus, Coimbatore initiated action and passed an order on 04.02.2006 fixing the market value of the said property as Rs.2,46,33,120/- and thereby also fixing the stamp duty as Rs.32,02,312/-. As already stamp duty of Rs.17,30,300/- was paid, a demand was made for the remaining amount of Rs.14,72,012/-.

3. Agreed by the said order of the Deputy Collector (Stamps), an appeal was preferred by the appellant herein before the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority. The Chief Controlling Revenue Authority dismissed the appeal of the appellant and passed an order observing that fixing the market value of the property as Rs.1,620.60/- per sqft. and on that basis directed the appellant to pay the deficit stamp duty with interest at the rate of 2% per month. Agreed by the other order, the Civil Miscellaneous Appeal has been preferred by the appellant before this Court.

4. The learned senior counsel Mr.G.Rajagopalan appearing for the appellant submitted that the property was purchased in open auction sale. As per the order of the Honourable High Court, the property was sold in the Open Public Auction and the appellant was the highest bidder and the auction was confirmed by the High Court and there is no fraudulent attempt on the part of the appellant and the actual bid amount was also shown in this sale deed executed by the administrator of the Honourable High Court and there is no evasion of payment of stamp duty and in such a case the authority has no power to initiate action under Sec 47 A of the Indian Stamp Act 1988.

5. The learned senior counsel for the petitioner also submitted that the authorities have taken into consideration the guideline value alone and without any basis they have decided the value of the property. The learned senior counsel also relied on the decision of the Honourable Supreme Court reported in 2009 (1) TLT 465 SC (V.N.Devadoss Vs Chief Revenue Control Officer-cum-Ins. and Ors.)

6. The learned Government pleader was also heard. The learned Government pleader submitted that the property is situated in the main place of the Coimbatore. The actual value of the property is higher than the bid amount. The learned Government pleader also submitted that as per the Indian Stamp Act, the stamp duty is to be collected according to the market value of the property.

7. This Court considered the submissions made by both parties and perused the records.

8. Section 47 A Indian Stamp Act is as follows:

(10) Any person aggrieved by an order of the Authority prescribed under sub-section (5) or the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority under