Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. Vs State of Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Pradesh High Court)
Andhra Pradesh High Court held that notice issued under section 41-A of the Indian Stamp Duty Act, 1899 for non-payment of stamp duty on unregistered document is without jurisdiction. Accordingly, appeal allowed.
Facts- The appellant herein which is a Public Sector Corporation involved in Fabrication, Erection and Operation of various machines had entered into an agreement with M/s. NREDCAP for installation of wind tools for generation of electricity.
The appellant had received a notice dated 05.06.2015 u/s. 41-A of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 from the 2nd respondent herein. In this notice, the 2nd respondent, on the basis of information supplied by the Vigilance and Enforcement Department, Ananthapuram had stated that the appellant, was involved in execution of a project, worth Rs.1500 crores, under an agreement executed between the appellant and M/s. NREDCAP. The 2nd respondent, after stating the above facts, estimated that the unregistered agreement should have been stamped with Rs.75 lakhs and as such stamp duty had not been paid.
Conclusion- The Hon‟ble Supreme Court while considering the ambit of Sections 33 and 35 of the Indian Stamp Act, in Hariom Agarwal vs Prakash Chand Malviya had held that the provisions of Section 33, 35 and 36 of the Stamp Act would come into play, only for the purpose of levying stamp on original documents and these provisions cannot be brought in for affixing stamp on copies of documents.
