Zakharia v. The Standard Motor Union P Ltd Ettumanoor In Liquidation
1975-04-22
G.BALAGANGADHARAN NAIR
body1975
DigiLaw.ai
ORDER Balagangadharan Nair, J. 1. Along with Application No. 243 of 1974 the petitioner produced a document styled an agreement, dated April 1, 1969 between him and the Company by which the Company sold him three buses for Rs. 40,000. The agreement is written on an embossed stamp paper of Rs. 4. At the instance of the Government Pleader, the adequacy of the stamp duty was heard and by the order dated December 16, 1974. I held that the document was a conveyance and was therefore liable to stamp duty on that basis. On 9th January 1975, the petitioner made Application No. 12 of 1975, for review of the order on the ground that the document falls within Exemption (a) to article 5 of the schedule to the Stamp Act and that the provision was overlooked at the time of passing the order dated December 16, 1974. This provision was not brought to my notice when the question of stamp duty was first heard and now after hearing both sides I have come to the conclusion that there is ground enough to review the order. The order dated December 16, 1974 is therefore set aside. 2. Passing to the merits of the question, article 5 prescribes the stamp duty for "Agreement or Memorandum of Agreement"� and as it stood at the date of the document, contained two exemptions of which clause (a) reads "for or relating to the sale of goods or merchandise exclusively not being a note or memorandum chargeable under No. 39". No. 39 deals with "Notarial Act"� and has obviously no application. The only question therefore is whether the document falls within Exemption (a). Routledge v. Mokay 1954 (1) All E.R.855, concerned an agreement of sale of a motor cycle combination, in exchange for a motor cycle and the payment of additional price. The agreement was unstamped and the Court of Appeal held that it came within the relevant exemption clause of the Stamp Act, which reads: "Agreement, letter, or memorandum made for or relating to the sale of any goods, wares or merchandise and that the exemption should be liberally interpreted.
The agreement was unstamped and the Court of Appeal held that it came within the relevant exemption clause of the Stamp Act, which reads: "Agreement, letter, or memorandum made for or relating to the sale of any goods, wares or merchandise and that the exemption should be liberally interpreted. The next case cited before me, Pocnamchand v. M/s Bastiram Deokishan A.I.R. 1969 Rajasthan 313, was concerned with the stamp duty payable on an agreement of sale of a truck and it was held that so far as the terms relating to the payment of the price in instalments and the payment of interest were concerned they were part of the agreement to sell and that as to these parts, the document was exempt from stamp duty under Exemption (a) to article 5. It was also pointed out the truck was "goods"� within the meaning of section 2(7) of the Sale of Goods Act and that the document was thus an agreement relating to the sale of goods. The learned Judge placed reliance on the Full Bench decision of the Allahabad High Court in In re Raj Balamgir A.I.R. 1931 Allahabad 392. The learned Judge however held that the document was not exclusively an agreement or memorandum of agreement relating to the sale of goods but contained other terms like seizure of the truck which constituted an additional agreement and that accordingly it was chargeable with duty as an agreement. Now what is relevant to note is that this decision holds that a truck is "goods" and that a document which is merely an agreement of sale relating thereto falls within exemption (a) to article 5. The same principle was laid down in In re Raj Balamgir, A.I.R. 1931 Allahabad 392, which related to the sale of standing timber. No decision laying down a contrary rule was brought to my notice. 3. On the above authorities, which I respectfully follow, it is clear that the document in question which is merely an agreement of sale relating to goods falls within exemption (a) of article 5 and that the stamp duty of Rs, 4 which it now bears is more than sufficient. There is there fore no question of its being levied with any additional stamp duty. Ordered accordingly.