Month: October 1999

Scope of Revisional jurisdiction under section 21 of A.P. Land Ceiling Act.

Revisional jurisdiction do not entitle to upset the pure findings of fact recorded by the appellate jurisdiction.

Section 21 of the Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1973 (Act 1 of 1973) reads as under :

“21. Revision :- An application for revision from any party aggrieved, including the Government, shall lie to the High Court, within the prescribed period, from any order passed on appeal by the Appellate Tribunal on any of the following grounds, namely :-

(a) that it exercised a jurisdiction not vested in it by law, or

(b) that it failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested, or

(c) that it acted in the exercise of its jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity.” A mere look at the section shows that it is pan materia with Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure which is identically worded.

So far as Section 115 is concerned, the scope and ambit of the revisional jurisdiction under the said Section as conferred on the High Court is now well settled by a series of decisions of this Court. It is obvious that the revisional jurisdiction under Section 115, C.P.C. or for that matter under pan materia provision of Section 21 of the Act is not an appellate jurisdiction and pure finding of fact reached by the court of appeal could not be interfered with. The Court can interfere in revision only when it is satisfied that the findings reached by the court below suffer from any jurisdictional errors.

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Scope of Section 47-A of Stamp Act, 1899 as applicable in Andhra Pradesh

Registering Authority not bound by the value of property fixed between parties but has to follow procedure as given in Stamp Act.

Registering Authority rightly if refused to register the document?

The Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act has nothing to do with levy of stamp duty on instruments. Exemption of collection of stamp duty is provided under the Indian stamp Act, for instance proviso to Section 3 which is already noticed. Government of India, or the state of Government as the case may be in an appropriate case may direct the excess land-holder while granting exemption under Section 20(1) (a) of the Act to dispose of the said excess land to a named society at a particular rate. That condition operates as a restriction against the owner of the land from collecting any rate or price higher than the one fixed under the order of the Government. It has nothing to do with the chageability of the stamp under the Indian Stamp Act. For various reasons a vendor may dispose of his land at much lower rate than the prevailing market rate, may be due to distress, immediate financial necessity or an account of non-availability of purchasers and for a variety of other reasons. In such a situation, it cannot be said that the rate as agreed to between the parties is the market rate. Even assuming that the Government of India granted exemption from payment of stamp duty over and above Rs.20/- per sq. metre, even then the said direction cannot prevail over the provisions of the Indian Stamp Act.

The scope of Section 47-A and Andhra Pradesh Stamp (Prevention of Under-Valuation of Instruments) Rules.

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