The issuance of a sale certificate in a court auction is not subject to stamp duty unless it is registered for a different purpose.

ORDER

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal arises from the judgment and order dated 28-11-2013 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in C.W.P. No.11055/2001 wherein the Writ Petition filed by the Respondent No.1 herein was allowed and the Respondent No.2 herein was directed to handover the original sale certificate to the Respondent No.1 and send a copy of the same to the Sub-Registrar under Section 89(4) of the Indian Registration Act, 1908 (in short, “the Act, 1908”). The High Court also held that the Respondent No.1 was entitled to a refund of the stamp duty deposited by it in pursuance of the order passed by the Company Judge of the High Court.

3. The facts giving rise to the appeal may be summarized as

4. The Company by the name M/s Punjab United Forge Limited was ordered to be wound up by the Company Judge of the High Court under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 (for short, “the Act, 1956”) and permission was granted to the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) to sell the properties mortgaged with it and also the properties hypothecated with Andhra Bank. Consequently, the IFCI invited tenders for the immovable and movable assets to be put to auction wherein M/s Ferrous Alloy Forging Pvt. Limited, a sister concern of the Respondent No.1 herein, offered the highest bid and as a result the auction sale was confirmed, first by the official liquidator and later by the High Court in favour of M/s Ferrous Alloy Forging Pvt. Limited. It appears from the materials on record that thereafter the Respondent No.1 moved an application requesting for execution of the conveyance deed in its favour on the ground that the entire sale consideration was paid by it and also the Board of Directors and Chairman were the same for both the Respondent No.1 and its sister concern. The request was declined by the Company Judge of the High Court. However, the Respondent No.1 filed an appeal against the same before a Division Bench of the High Court which came to be allowed vide order dated 22.10.1997.

5. The materials on record further reveal that the Respondent No.1 herein filed an application under Order XXI Rule 94 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (for short, the “CPC”) for the issuance of sale certificate in its capacity as the successful auction purchaser for both the movable and immovable properties. The application came to be disposed of by the Company Judge of the High Court vide order dated 13-4-1999 taking the view that the Respondent No.1 was liable to pay the stamp duty on the immovable properties which had been put to auction which would include land, building and permanently affixed machinery thereto. It further directed that although the immovable properties which were put to auction were to be included in the certificate of transfer, their value would be excluded for the purpose of computation of stamp duty. The High Court directed the Respondent No.1 to file an affidavit to this effect and pay the requisite stamp duty.

6. In pursuance of the order referred to above passed by the High Court, the Respondent No.1 submitted an additional affidavit of the movable assets purchased by the auction purchaser at Rs.54.67 lakhs. However, when the matter was taken up by the Registrar, he took the view that stamp duty had to be paid on Rs. 2.25 crore which was the valuation of the immovable properties as offered in the tender. The Respondent No.1 was, accordingly, directed to pay stamp duty on Rs.2.25 crore for the sale certificate to be issued in its favour.

7. The directions issued by the Registrar were challenged by the Respondent No.1 by way of a Writ Petition for being in derogation of Section 17 (2)(xii) of the Registration Act read with Rule XXI