Court refuses to intervene in PIL against stamp duty in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: Making it clear that the aggrieved parties have the liberty to approach the court, the Hyderabad HC on Tuesday refused to intervene in a PIL seeking to declare the action of the governments of Telangana state and AP in collecting the stamp duty and the registration fee in accordance with GO 157 issued in 2013 by increasing the registration value as illegal.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice V. Ramasubramanian was dealing with the PIL by Y. Lakshminarayana former MLA of Nizamabad and another. Mr Kalyan Singh, counsel for the petitioners, told the court that this court on September 23, 2013 set aside the GO, but till date both governments have been collecting the stamp duty and the registration fee. He urged the court to direct both the governments to refund the excess amounts collected in respect of all the documents registered within their jurisdiction.