CHIEF CONTROLLING REVENUE AUTHORITY Vs. BANARSI DASS AHLUWALIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question referred to us for opinion under section 57(2) of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 is:-

(2.) The Founder then proceeds to declare that the business and the properties described in the deed shall no longer be the personal business or property of the Founder or any other person but shall be held in Trust. The objects of the Trust are of a public and charitable nature. The Founder of the Trust is to be sole trustee with power to appoint co-trustees who will have full power to manage the income of the trust properties.

(3.) While the Founder trustee contends that the deed is a declaration of Trust and as such chargeable only to a comparatively small stamp duty not exceeding the maximum fixed under Article 64 of Schedule 1-A of the Stamp Act, the Revenue is of the opinion that the deed is chargeable to stamp duty as an instrument of settlement .under Article 58 of the said Schedule, the duty being the same as the duty on a Bond for a sum equal to the amount or value of the property settled in the deed of settlement. Since the dispute has arisen mainly because of the smaller and the higher stamp duties payable under these two articles, it may be mentioned here that even a higher scale of stamp duty is chargeable for a conveyance under Article 23 of the Schedule. The legislative policy seems to be that a conveyance such as the sale or a gift being outright transfers either for valuable consideration or for love and affection, the stamp duty on them should be high under Article 23 and 33. Next comes the settlement which is defined in section 2(24) of the Stamp Act which is as follows :-