M PALANISAMY Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Whether the amendment to the proviso to Section 19-B(4) of the Indian Stamp Act. brought in by the Tamil Nadu Amendment Act 39 of 1999 can be applied retrospectively is the question which has arisen in these writ petitions for consideration.

(2.) In all these writ petitions the petitioners had purchased immovable properties, of which, some are situated in the State of Tamil Nadu and the rest in the State of Kerala, under common sale deeds and they were registered by the Sub-Registrar concerned in the State of Kerala. Under Section 67 of the Registration Act, the Sub-Registrar concerned, after the registration is over, is required to forward a Copy of the sale deed to the jurisdictional Sub-Registrar in the State of Tamil Nadu. Section 19-B was introduced in the Stamp Act making such purchaser to pay differential stamp duty in respect of the properties situated in the State of Tamil Nadu covered in such common sate deeds. However, the proviso to sub-section 4 of Section 19-B of the Act, as it stood originally, provided that no such proceeding under Sec. 19-B (4) of the Act, shall be taken after a period of four years from the date of registration of the instruments. The said proviso reads as follows:-

(3.) The said proviso was amended in the State of Tamil Nadu by means of Tamil Nadu Act 39 of 1999 w.e.f. 22-2-2000 by which the expression "from the date of registration of such instrument" the expression "from the date of receipt of the copy of such instrument in the State of Tamil Nadu under the Registration Act of 1908 (Central Act XVI of 1908)" was substituted. Thus, as per the amended proviso, the crucial date is not the date of registration of the document but the date of receipt of copy of the instrument by the jurisdictional Sub-Registrar in the State of Tamil Nadu under Section 67 of the Act.