JAISHREE THAKUR. J.

1. The present writ petition has been filed under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India seeking a writ in the nature of mandamus to be issued for refund of the stamp duty paid on the lease deed.

2. In brief the facts as can be discerned are that the land in question belongs to the petitioner M/s ASF Insignia SEZ Private Limited and is situated in the Special Economic Zone and is therefore exempted from stamp duty. Tata Consultancy Services (“TCS” for short), respondent No.7 herein, took the land from the petitioner-M/s ASF Insignia SEZ Private Limited, under lease. Although the land is exempted from stamp duty, the respondent State emphasized that the procedure for getting the lease deed registered, is to pay the stamp duty in the first instance and then get the said amount refunded. TCS, the lessee, paid the stamp duty amounting to Rs.2,08,02,845/- to get the lease deed registered. As per Clause 6 in the lease deed, it was specified that in case the stamp duty is not refunded by the State to the lessee for whatsoever reason, despite the land being exempt from payment of stamp duty, then the applicable stamp duty shall be refunded by the lessor i.e. the pet