Section 21 Stamp Duties Act

Section 21 of Stamp Duties Act 1939 is about Persons dissatisfied may appeal. It provides as follows:

(1) Any person who is dissatisfied with the assessment of a commissioner may, within 21days after the date of the assessment, and on payment of duty in conformity therewith, appeal against the assessment to the High Court of the State in which the assessment was made and may for that purpose require the commissioner to state and sign a case, setting forth the question upon which his opinion was required, and the assessment made by him.

(2) The commissioner shall thereupon state and sign a case and deliver the same to the person by whom it is required, and the case may, within seven days thereafter but not later, be filed by him in the High Court and thereafter be heard by the said court.

(3) Upon the hearing of the case, the court shall determine the question submitted, and, if the instrument in question is in the opinion of the court chargeable with any duty, shall assess the duty with which it is chargeable.

(4) If it is decided by the court that the assessment of the commissioner is wrong, the court shall assess the correct amount of duty; and
(a) in the event of an excess of duty having been paid in conformity with the erroneous decision of the commissioner, any excess of duty which may have been paid in conformity with such decision, together with any fine or penalty which may have been paid in consequence thereof, shall be ordered by the court to be repaid to the appellant, with or without costs as the court may determine; and

(b) in the event of the court assessing an amount of duty greater than that assessed by the commissioner, the difference between the amount of duty assessed by the commissioner and the amount assessed by the court together with any fine or penalty which may have been incurred but not yet paid, with or without costs as the court may determine, shall be paid by the appellant, forthwith or within such time as the court may direct, in stamps which shall be affixed to or impressed on the document in the presence of a commissioner and in the case of adhesive stamps, cancelled by him.

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