KIRTI RAM ADVOCATE Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, Sri Kirti Ram Tewari, applied to be admitted and enrolled as an Advocate of this Court and prayed for exemption from payment of the stamp duty under Article 30, Schedule I, Stamp Act, 1899.

(2.) Being an Advocate of the Court of the Judicial Commissioner, Bilaspur, he fulfilled the necessary qualification under Rule 4, Himachal Pradesh Legal Practitioners Rules, 1952, and the application was granted by an order of this Court dated 2-6-1953. Under Rule 9 it was still incumbent upon the petitioner to pay stamp duty, if any, chargeable under the Legal Practitioners' Act, 1879, or the Stamp Law for the time being in force in Himachal Pradesh, within one month of the date of the order granting the application, or within such further time as may be extended by the Registrar, before the Registrar issued an Enrolment Certificate to him. This stamp duty, amounting to Rs. 300/-, has been paid by the petitioner under protest, hoping to get a refund if he is granted the exemption.

(3.) The petitioner relies upon the Exemption appended to Article 30, Schedule I, Stamp Act, 1899, as interpreted in--'In re Krishnaswamy', AIR 1942 Mad 455 (SB) (A). There is no doubt that the exemption is clear and under it the duty is not leviable from an Advocate, Vakil or Attorney when he has previously been enrolled in a High Court, which term includes the Court of a Judicial Commissioner under Rule 2(j) of the Himachal Pradesh Legal Practitioners Rules, 1952. That being so, the petitioner would be entitled to the benefit of the exemption since he is already enrolled as an Advocate of the Court of the Judicial Commissioner Bilaspur. The aforesaid exemption does not however exist in the Indian Stamp (Himachal Pradesh Amendment) Act (IV of 1953), which came into force with effect from 14- 1953, under Notification No. R. 1-31/52, dated 9-3-1953, published in Part III, Section 3 of the Gazette of India, dated 14-3-1953, issued by the Revenue Department of the State of Himachal Pradesh. The question therefore is: What is the Stamp Law for the time being in force in Himachal Pradesh within the intendment of Rule 9 of the said Rules applicable to the petitioner's case?