Hon’ble P.C. Verma, J.—The present writ petitions being civil misc. writ petition Nos. 49085 of 2002 and 51036 of 2002 have been filed against notices dated 12.9.2002, purporting to be under Sections 47-A/33 and 40(b) of the Indian Stamp Act, issued by the Additional Collector (Finance & Revenue), Agra (in short “the Additional Collector”). Since the questions involved in these writ petitions are common, therefore they are being heard and disposed of together.

2. One of the significant question arising in these petitions is “whether the sale deed whereupon the stamp duty was paid by the petitioner on even more than the values as was fixed by the Collector of the District in furtherance of Rule 4(1) of the UP Stamp (Valuation of Properties) Rules, 1997 (framed under the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, as applicable in U.P.) (here-in-after referred to as “the Valuation Rules”) could be examined by the Collector for alleged deficiency of the stamp duty, though no tangible or relevant evidence of the higher market value was possessed by the Collector for formation of a reasonable belief of understatement?”

3. The brief facts giving rise to these writ petitions are:-

Writ Petition No. 49085 of 2002

4. The petitioner purchased a bhumidhari agricultural land, bearing part of Khasra No. 530 at village Patholi, Tehsil & District Agra admeasuring 3.3788 Hectares for a total consideration of Rs. 1,15,00,000/- from its recorded bhumidhars vide sale deed dated 17.6.2002 (Annexure-1 to the writ petition). The sale deed was presented for its registration before the concerned Sub-Registrar, Agra who, on being satisfied about the sufficiency of the stamp duty as per the Collector’s rate-list then in force, registered the same. It may be noted that the rate per hectare as mentioned in the said sale deed worked out to be around Rs. 34 lacs per hectare which was about three times of the rate of Rs. 12 lacs per hectare, which was fixed by the Collector, Agra by his rate-list dated 1.4.2002 (Annexure-2 to the writ petition) under Rule 4 of the Valuation Rules. The sale deed after registration was given back to the petitioner by the Sub-Registrar. It may be also mentioned that in the said sale deed, the factum of cultivation upon the land was specifically mentioned and the Khatoni for the Fasli year 1406 to 1411 alongwith Khasra extract of 1406, 1408 and 1409 Faslis were filed as part of the said sale deed to establish about cultivation upon the demised land. The copies of said Khatonis and Khasras have also been brought on record of this writ petition (Annexure No. 3 to 6 to the writ petition).

5. Subsequent thereto, the Deputy Inspector General of Registration / Deputy Commissioner (Stamps), Agra Division, Agra (in short, “the DIG”) allegedly made a spot inspection of the demised land on 30.7.2002 (Annexure-7 to writ petition), mentioning therein that the land in question was in the North of 100 ft. wide link road; residential activities were in the neighbourhood; on enquiries its value has been stated to be Rs. 10-15 lacs per bigha; the land in question was abutting road and it was further mentioned that on the basis of Rs. 15 lacs per bigha, stamp duty of Rs. 10,49,300/- was paid less. The report was forwarded to the Additional Collector (F & R), Agra on 13.8.2002 who directed a case to be registered on 11.9.2002. Strangely, the Additional Collector (F&R), Agra (in short, “the Additional Collector”) also made another inspection himself on 28.8.2002 who mentioned in his memo (Annexure-8 to the writ petition) that on enquiries from the persons present at the time of the site inspection, it came to be known that the aforesaid land was sold at the rate of Rs. 1500/- per sq. mtr. and, accordingly, he proposed for initiating the proceedings under Section 47-A(3) of the Stamp Act. These reports were ex parte and did not mention about the details of any sale instance. The name of the persons from whom such enquiries were allegedly made also did not find