Stamp duty: Order on Shanti Bhushan appeal reserved

The Allahabad High Court on Friday reserved its judgment on an appeal filed by former law minister Shanti Bhushan in a case of alleged stamp duty evasion case in the purchase of a bungalow in Allahabad. Bhushan had appealed against the order of the Board of Revenue and the Assistant Commissioner (Stamps), both of which had held him guilty of evading stamp duty.

A single-judge Bench of Justice Sunil Hali reserved the judgment after hearing argument of both the sides. Earlier, on October 19, the court had stayed the recovery of the due amount after Bhushan went in appeal against the Revenue Board's order of October 8.

On January 6, the Assistant Commissioner (Stamp) had found Bhushan guilty of evading stamp duty and slapped a fine of Rs 27 lakh. In addition, Bhushan was also asked to pay the difference of Rs 1.32 crore, along with interest.

Bhushan's main argument was that the purchase agreement for the bungalow had been registered in 1966, while the norms related to circle rates came in 1969. Hence, the circle rates could not be applied with retrospective effect.

The sale deed for the bungalow, located on Elgin Road in Civil Lines area, was executed in November 2010.

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