Stamp (Bihar Amendment) Act, 1988 – s.9A – Powers to reduce, remit or compound stamp duties – Exempting payment of stamp duty on instruments relating to transfer of premises by Cooperative Societies to their members – Issuance of Memo by the Principal Secretary to the Department of Registrationrespondent no.2 mandating the District Sub-Registrars to ensure that exemption u/s.9A will be given only when there is a recommendation of the Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Society – Legality:
Held: Administrative procedures should avoid complexity, redundant requirements, and unnecessary burdens, which waste time, expense, and disturb peace of mind – While higher courts set aside executive decisions on the grounds of illegality if they are not founded on relevant considerations, or even when the decisions are based on irrelevant considerations – Executive actions that mandate certain unnecessary, excessive requirements, must equally be set aside as illegal – Thus, the Memo issued by the Principal Secretary, Department of Registration, mandating an additional recommendation of Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Society of the existence of a Cooperative Society, as a pre-condition for registration of a document u/s.9A of the 1988 Act is illegal – Once a cooperative society is registered and a certificate is issued, s.5(7) declares it to be a conclusive proof of its existence and continuation as a body corporate – When the certificate serves the purpose, the additional requirement is unnecessary – Memo requiring recommendation from Assistant Registrar is based on irrelevant considerations and it does not offer any value addition to the integrity of the transaction as alleged – Requirement of recommendation by the Assistant Registrar as a pre-condition for registering an instrument transferring premises of a cooperative society in favour of its members without stamp duty to prevent fake cooperative societies from claiming benefit of s.9A, an irrelevant consideration leading to illegality in action – Impugned Memo issued by Principal Secretary, Department of Registration set aside on the ground of illegality, as it seeks to rely on a superfluous and redundant requirement – Administrative Law. [Paras 2, 2.1, 2.2, 15] Administrative Law – Judicial review of administrative action on the ground of illegality:
Held: Administrative law has recognised the principal of an administrative decision becoming unlawful if the decision fails to take into account relevant considerations, or even when it takes into account irrelevant considerations – Judicial review of administrative action on the ground of illegality would then require consideration of provision of the statute, rules or regulations, or even a policy empowering exercise of such power or discretion – This process may seem to be a simple case of interpretation of the laws, however as judicial review is in the realm of public law, constitutional courts have the duty to ensure that the power or discretion is exercised in furtherance of the purpose and object of the statute, the rule or the regulation, or for implementation of a policy – In this process while accounting for relevant and irrelevant considerations that may influence the decision, the court also takes into account the broader principles of rule of law and good governance – Irrelevant consideration includes insistence or performance of acts or submission of documents, which neither have relevance nor are value additions to the purpose or object of law or policy in place, instead, are demonstrably superfluous and unnecessary, consuming limited time and human resource. [Para 9]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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