Sri Vijaya Puram, Nov. 21: Shri Bishnu Pada Ray, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, A & N Islands, has presented a detailed proposal or suggestion to the Hon’ble Home Minister, Government of India and the Hon’ble Lt Governor, A & N Islands following the Notifications conferring powers of the ‘State Government’ on the Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor A&N Islands under Indian Stamp Act, 1899 and Registration Act, 1908 subject to the control of Hon’ble President.

Shri Ray has reminded that the Circuit Bench of Hon’ble High Court of Calcutta at Port Blair had quashed the notifications issued under Indian Stamp Act and Registration Act as well as the Executive direction on Circle rate by the Administrator, A & N Islands holding that the Administrator does not have powers of the State Government. This issue has now been resolved by issuance of notification by GOI as cited above.

However, the MP has observed that the Hon’ble High Court did not go into the manner in which those notifications were issued and their legality even if Administrator had powers of the State Government. This was also challenged but since the notifications were issued without power, the same were quashed without dwelling into the other aspects.

Hence as per MP’s opinion any new notifications by A&N Administration may mandatorily have to consider the following aspects:

1) That under the Indian Stamp Act there is no power to fix Circle rates but only has power to determine value of land based on some benchmark or provisions in other Acts/ law.

2) That the land law of the Territory might be one of the only few laws in the entire Country which has a provision for ‘updating and constantly maintaining value of land used for Agricultural and non- agricultural purposes’. This is provided under Section 48 of the A & N Islands Land Revenue and Land Reforms Regulation, 1966 and the same can be/ should be enforced and powers for this is vest with the Hon’ble Lt. Governor under the Regulation. Since most of the States do not have such statutory framework for calculating value of land, many states have worked on different methods for arriving at Circle Rate for land. In Island context, there is a law which needs to be followed/ implemented.

3) As regards Stamp Duty under Indian Stamp Act, 1899, the Parliamentary Committee has already deliberated on Stamp Duty on instruments (sale deeds etc), which is a colonial law when various other forms of taxation were not in vogue. The recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee could form the basis for stamp duty realization in the territory and any unreasonable hike may have very adverse manifestation on ground in the long run, as has been evidenced elsewhere in the country where land record management is almost like a quagmire, one of the reasons being unregistered transactions creating chaos, the MP cautioned.

4) Similarly, in the case of registration charges, the rates in other States may be considered. For instance for Mumbai, for properties having value upto Rupees 30 Lakhs, registration fees is fixed @ 1%. For properties above Rupees 30 Lakhs, the registration fee is fixed at flat rate of Rupees 30,000/-. A similar arrangement may be thought of in the territory.

5) Steps may be taken in consultation with stake holders including the elected representatives as this is a burning issue in the territory and one of the major demands is to have minimal stamp duty on Gift deeds atleast for properties gifted within family.

6) Till such time the new practice is implemented, the old system of registration (prior to 2019) may be continued in larger public interest. It may have to be understood that ‘Right to Property’ is a constitutional right and stoppage of registration process has a diminishing effect on this right and should be avoided at all cost.

The Member of Parliament has requested that above suggestions may be considered in the interest of local population. If still the earlier practice is followed, which was recently stuck down by Courts and later on again the Courts strikes down the new practice (if implemented without consultations with stake holders etc), all those who recommended and approved the suggestion resulting in public outcry and cases in Courts, may have to be held accountable, the MP remarked.