Stamp duty on a settlement deed is payable only on the share conveyed, not the entire partition property.

The petitioner’s children obtained an allotment of 1,800 sq. ft. in a partition suit, under a compromise decree passed in appeal on 2 August 2024.

After attaining majority, they executed a Settlement Deed in favour of the petitioner.

The Sub Registrar refused registration, treating the transaction as a partition and requiring stamp duty by reference to the entire property covered by the compromise decree.

The petitioner challenged that refusal by writ petition.

Whether the Sub Registrar could refuse registration of the Settlement Deed on the ground that stamp duty was payable on the entire property dealt with in the compromise decree.

Whether the Settlement Deed could be registered upon payment of stamp duty only on the 1,800 sq. ft. allotted to the executants and conveyed to the petitioner.

Section 17(2)(vi) of the Registration Act, 1908 exempts qualifying court decrees or orders from compulsory registration, subject to the statutory exception for compromise decrees involving immovable property outside the subject matter of the suit.

Section 2(15) of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 includes a final partition decree within the definition of an “instrument of partition”; the Court referred to Board of Revenue v. Moideen Rowther, (1955) 2 MLJ 635 (FB), and Shankar Balwant Lokhande v. Chandrakant Shankar Lokhande, AIR 1995 SC 1211, on the stamping of final partition decrees.

The Court also referred to Section 37 of the Tamil Nadu Court-Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1955, Rule 87 and Form No. 8 of the Civil Rules of Practice, and the former Rule 12 concerning engrossment of partition decrees on stamp paper.

For the Settlement Deed, the applicable duty was under Article 58 of Schedule I to the Stamp Act, on the extent conveyed.

The children’s entitlement to the 1,800 sq. ft. had been established by the compromise decree, and the parties had not sought registration of that decree.

The Sub Registrar’s reliance on the law governing stamp duty on partition decrees did not justify charging stamp duty on the entire property covered by the compromise.

The deed presented was a settlement of the specific extent allotted to the children; accordingly, the relevant stamp duty was that applicable to the Settlement Deed and the property conveyed, not the whole suit property.

No costs were ordered.