CHENNAI: A division bench of the Madras High Court declined to reverse the order quashing the revision of the guideline value of properties and directed the state government to stick to the 2017 values until they are revised by the valuation committee and follow due process.
The bench of justices SM Subramaniam and K Rajasekar upheld the order of the single judge who quashed the 2023 circular issued by the Inspector General of Registration to revise the guideline value of properties.
The order was passed while disposing of the appeals filed by the state government against the single judge’s order.
“The appellants/government are directed to follow the market value guidelines fixed with effect from June 9, 2017, until the valuation committee revises the guidelines by following the due process of law,” the bench ordered.
It said persons who have registered documents from the date of issue of the circular to the date of the judgment in the appeals stand excluded from claiming any relief and no person is entitled to claim refund of stamp duty already paid for registering documents based on the circular.
The single judge, recently, had quashed the circular issued by the Inspector General of Registration as the statutory procedures of constituting a valuation committee and getting its report were not followed in revising the guideline values. The order was passed on the writ petitions filed by CREDAI and others.
The bench said that the move by the government, by contending that only an older guideline value has been restored and that no new fixation is undertaken and so the rules need not be followed, is nothing short of colourable exercise of power.