C. THOMAS JOHN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant impugn the common judgment of the learned Single Judge, passed in four writ petitions, filed for quashing a First Information Report registered as Crime No.4/2009 by the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau, Wayanad. The offences alleged were punishable under Section 13(1)(d)(iii) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Sections 120B and 420 of Indian Penal Code.

(2.) THE appellant was the 2nd petitioner in W.P.(C). No.36366 of 2009 and was the former General Manager of a multi-national Company which had obtained leasehold rights of 119.21 acres of Cocoa plantation. The transaction that led to the registration of the above crime was that of the purchase of title of the said estate by accused Nos.2 to 4 and then the surrender made of the leasehold rights by the multi-national Company.

(3.) THE core submission of the learned counsel for the appellant, the representative of the lessee-Company, is that the lessee had merely surrendered their leasehold rights to the owners and no consideration having passed, there could be no stamp duty on the document in excess of that provided under the Schedule to the Kerala Stamp Act, 1959; more specifically that applicable to documents of surrender.