Chapter II AMENDMENT IN THE RAJASTHAN STAMP ACT, 1998

In section 2 of the Rajasthan Stamp Act, 1998 (Act No. 14 of 1999), hereinafter in this Chapter referred to as the principal Act,-

1. (i) for the existing clause (xi), the following shall be substituted, namely:- “(xi) “Conveyance” means an instrument, by whatever name called, which effects or evidences an inter vivos transfer of property, whether movable, immovable, intangible, or of any estate, right, title, interest, or beneficial interest therein, from one person to another and which is not otherwise specifically provided for by the Schedule, and includes-

1. (a) a conveyance on sale;
2. (b) any instrument by which intangible property, including actionable claims, intellectual property rights, business rights, or any other incorporeal rights, is transferred;
3. (c) any instrument, decree or final order of a court, tribunal, or other competent authority in so far as such instrument, decree, or order itself purports to create, declare, assign, limit, or extinguish rights in property;
4. (d) any instrument or order relating to Corporate Restructuring;
5. (e) any instrument transferring the following rights constituting separate and transferable proprietary interests-
   • (i) air rights,
   • (ii) development rights, or
   • (iii) sub-surface or underground rights;”;
   • (ii) after the existing clause (xi) and before the existing clause (xii), the following new clause shall be inserted, namely:- "(xi-a) “Corporate Restructuring” means any arrangement, compromise, merger, amalgamation, demerger by transfer of an undertaking or part thereof, slump sale or transfer of an undertaking as a going concern, or reconstruction of a body corporate carried out under any law for the time being in force, including under the sections 232, 233 or 234 of the Companies Act, 2013 (Central Act No. 18 of 2013), section 44-A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (Central Act No. 10 of 1949) or section 31 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Central Act No. 31 of 2016);";
   • (iii) for the existing clause (xvii) the following shall be substituted, namely:- "(xvii) "India" means the territory of India;";
   • (iv) after the existing clause (xx) and before the existing clause (xxi), the following new clause shall be inserted, namely:- "(xx-a) "Intangible property" means any property which does not have a physical form but represents legal rights, commercial advantages, financial interests, or intellectual creations having monetary value;”;
   • (v) the existing clause "(xxxiii-a)" shall be renumbered as "(xxxiii-b)".;
   • (vi) after the existing clause (xxxiii) and before the clause (xxxiii-b) so renumbered, the following new clause shall be inserted, namely:- "(xxxiii-a) “Received in the State”, in relation to an instrument executed outside the State of Rajasthan, means the bringing or transmission of such instrument into the State, whether in original or in copy, with the intention of its being acted upon, enforced, relied upon, produced before any authority, or otherwise made legally operative within the State, and includes any other case where such instrument is so used or sought to be used within the State;".

In section 3 of the principal Act, after the existing clause (b) of sub-section (1) and before the existing subsection (2), the following explanation shall be inserted, namely:- “Explanation.-An instrument relating to Corporate Restructuring shall be deemed to relate to a matter or thing done or to be done in the State of Rajasthan where-

1. (i) any property, undertaking, business, asset or interest of the transferor entity is situated in Rajasthan; or
2. (ii) such instrument is received in the State of Rajasthan, notwithstanding that the shares are issued, allotted, cancelled or their consideration is paid outside the State.”

In sub-section (1) of section 3-A of the principal Act,-

1. (i) for the existing expression "10 per cent" the expression "13 per cent" shall be substituted;
2. (ii) for the existing punctuation mark “.” appearing at the end, the punctuation mark “:” shall be substituted and after sub-section (1) so amended, the following proviso shall be added, namely:- “Provided that in case of the instruments having market value or consideration upto rupees 10 lakhs or not chargeable with ad valorem duty, shall be chargeable with surcharge at the rate of 10 per cent.”.

In section 21 of the principal Act,-

1. (i) for the existing expression in the heading "Instruments", the expression "instruments of immovable properties" shall be substituted;
2. (ii) for the existing sub-section (1), the following shall be substituted, namely:- "(1) Where any instrument relating to immovable property is registered in any part of India other than the State of Rajasthan and such instrument relates, wholly or partly to any immovable property situate in the State of Rajasthan, the copy of such instrument shall, when received in the State of Rajasthan under sections 64, 65 or 66 of the Registration Act, 1908 (Central Act No. 16 of 1908), be liable to be charged with the difference of duty as on the original instrument.";
3. (iii) in sub-section (4), for the existing expression "sections 35 and 51", the expression "sections 37, 51 and 53" shall be substituted;
4. (iv) in sub-section (5), for the existing punctuation mark ".", the punctuation mark ":" shall be substituted and after sub-section (5) so amended the following proviso shall be added, namely:- "Provided that nothing in this section shall apply to a Corporate Restructuring, and the chargeability and computation of duty in respect thereof shall be governed exclusively by section 3 and the Schedule.".

In section 29 of the principal Act,-

1. (i) the existing first proviso shall be deleted.
2. (ii) in the existing second proviso, for the existing expression "Provided further that", the expression "Provided that" shall be substituted.

In section 37 of the principal Act,-

1. (i) in the existing clause (a) of the proviso of sub-section (2) for the existing expression "Chapter IX or Part D of Chapter X of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Act No. 2 of 1974)", the expression "Chapter X or Part D of Chapter XI of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (Central Act No. 46 of 2023)" shall be substituted;
2. (ii) after the existing sub-section (5), the following new sub-section shall be added, namely:- "(6) For the purpose of inquiries under this section, the Collector shall have power to summon and enforce the attendance of witnesses, including the parties to the instrument or any of them, and to compel the production of documents by the same means, and so far as may be in the same manner, as is provided in the case of civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act No. 5 of 1908).".

For the existing section 56-A, the following shall be substituted, namely:- "56-A. Special mode of recovery of duties and penalties.– (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 56 or any law or contract to the contrary, the Collector or any other officer authorised by the Collector, may, at any time or from time to time by notice in writing, a copy of which shall be sent to the person from whom duty on an instrument is due, at his last known address, require, –

1. (a) any person including bank or financial institution from whom any amount is due or may become due to the person who has failed to pay duty, interest or penalty on demand by the Collector hereinafter referred to as defaulter in this section; or
2. (b) any person including bank or financial institution who holds or may subsequently hold any money for or on account of such defaulter- to pay into the Government treasury or the bank authorised to receive money on behalf of the State Government, in the manner specified in the notice issued under this section either forthwith or upon the money becoming due from him or being held by him, within the time specified in the notice (not being before the money becomes due or it is held), so much of the money as is sufficient to pay the amount due from the defaulter in respect of the demand of duty, interest or penalty under this Chapter or under Chapter III, or the whole of the money when it is equal to or less than that demand. Explanation.– For the purpose of this sub–section, the amount due to the defaulter or money held for or on account of such defaulter by any person shall be computed after taking into account such claims, if any, as may have fallen legally due for payment by such defaulter to such person.

1. (2) The authority issuing a notice under sub–section (1) may at any time, or from time to time, amend or revoke any such notice or extend the time for making any payment in pursuance of this notice.
2. (3) Any person making any payment in compliance with a notice issued under sub-section (1) shall be deemed to have made the payment under the authority of the defaulter and the treasury receipt or the challan of the bank for such payment shall constitute a good and sufficient proof of discharge of the liability of such person to the extent of the amount specified in the receipt or the challan.
3. (4) Any person, who discharges any liability by making payment to the defaulter or otherwise, after service on him of the notice issued under sub–section (1), shall be personally liable to the State Government to the extent of the liability discharged or the amount of demand, whichever is less.
4. (5) Any amount or money which a person is required to pay under sub–section (1) or for which he is personally liable to the State Government under sub–section (4) shall, if it remains unpaid, be recoverable in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter as if he is a defaulter.
5. (6) The provisions of this section shall be without prejudice to any action that may be taken for the recovery of arrears of duty, interest or penalty, if any, due from a defaulter.".

In sub-section (1) of section 85 of the principal Act, the existing expression "not below the rank of Tehsildar", shall be deleted.

In the Schedule of the principal Act,-

1. (i) in Article 21,-

1. (a) after the existing clause (ii) and before the existing clause (iii), the following new clauses shall be inserted, namely:-

1. (b) the existing clause (iii) appearing under Column No 1, shall be substituted by the following, namely:- “(iii) if relating to the instrument of Corporate Restructuring”;
   • (ii) after the existing Article 54 and before the existing Article 55, the following new Article shall be inserted, namely:- "54-A. Transfer of assets and liabilities, division and amalgamation of cooperative societies as provided under section 12 of the Rajasthan Co-operative Societies Act, 2001 (Act No. 16 of 2002),-

1. (1) Where immovable property vests in the resultant society on such transfer, division or amalgamation; 0.5 percent on the market value of the immovable property.
2. (2) In any other case, not included in clause (1). Five hundred rupees."