N. RAMACHANDRA Vs. B.R. CHANDRASHEKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition is filed by the aggrieved defendant of O.S. No. 188 of 2011 on the file of the II Additional Civil Judge Junior Division) and Judicial Magistrate First Class, Tumkur. The plaintiff filed a suit for ejectment and other consequential reliefs against the defendant in respect of the plaint schedule property. His case was that, the defendant is a tenant under the plaintiff and the tenancy is a monthly tenancy commencing from 1st of every month and the rate of rent was Rs. 4,000/- per month.

(2.) The suit was contested. The defence was, the parties entered into lease-cum-rental agreement with effect from 9-3-2006 and the plaintiff received Rs. 3,00,000/- from him with a condition that, out of Rs. 3,00,000/-, the plaintiff will repay Rs. 2 lakhs back to the defendant and from then onwards, the plaintiff will pay monthly rent of Rs. 4,000/- from the date of repayment of Rs. 2 lakhs to the defendant. So far, the plaintiff has not repaid Rs. 2 lakhs. During the defence evidence, defendant intended to produce a document styled as . The Court having taken note of the fact that the document being unregistered and sufficient stamp duty having not paid, ordered to impound the document. The office calculated the duty as Rs. 3,000/- and penalty of Rs. 30,000/-. After hearing the parties, the Trial Court passed the impugned order on 3-3-2014, directing the office to calculate the duty and penalty on the document. This time the office calculated the stamp duty at Rs. 25,200/- and penalty at Rs. 2,52,000/-. This calculation is under challenge in this writ petition.

(3.) Sri L. Shekar, learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that, on a reading of the document at Annexure-C, it is evident that on 9-3-2006, the document was executed and the plaintiff received Rs. 3 lakhs in respect of the plaint schedule property and agreed to hand over the possession of the property on 27-3-2006. In fact, in consultation with the Sub-Registrar, Tumkur, the office calculated the duty and penalty under Article 34(b) of the Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957 ('the Act' for short), which reads thus: