Vedant Shirish Gadiya And Another v. The State Of Maharashtra And Others
2026:BHC-AUG:9432-DB
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 2347 OF 2026 Vedant Shirish Gadiya And Another
VERSUS
The State Of Maharashtra And Others Mr. A. A. Aghav, Advocate for petitioners Mr. S. B. Narwade, AGP for respondent-State
CORAM
: Smt. Vibha Kankanwadi & Hiten S. Venegavkar, JJ.
DATE : 05th March, 2026 PER COURT :- 1.
Present petition has been filed for following reliefs :- B) By issuing a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order, or direction, thereby directing the Respondents to decide the Petitioners' adjudication application filed under Section 31 of the Maharashtra Stamp Act, pertaining to Gat No. 131, Mouje Valadgaon, Taluka and District Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, expeditiously and, in any case, within a period of four (04) weeks, after granting the Petitioners an effective opportunity of hearing; C) By issuing a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order, or direction in the like nature, directing the Respondent authorities to consider and decide the Petitioners' pending representations and to process the same strictly in accordance with law;
2.
Learned AGP waives notice for all the respondents. 3.
Petitioners contending that they had purchased land
admeasuring 2 H 51 R from Gat No. 131 situated at Mouje Valadgaon from various land owners and the stamp duty that has been paid is to the extent of Rs. 48,09,250/-. It is then stated that in respect of the said property, they have filed an application under Section 31 of the Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958 (for short "the Act") seeking determination of the proper stamp duty payable on the instrument pertaining to the said property. The application was submitted in prescribed form along with all necessary enclosures and such other documents as are typically required by the adjudicating authority for the purpose of determining correct stamp duty. In spite of the same, when the adjudication was not done, a written representation was filed by the petitioners.
In the representation, it was specifically stated that the petitioners had filed application under Section 31 of the Act and the necessary adjudication Fees of Rs. 300/- was also paid under the GRN system on 13.02.2024. The petitioners also made a representation on 13.02.2025 to the Deputy Inspector General of Registration and Deputy Controller of Stamps, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Division; however, there was no response. Ultimately, the present petition has been filed. 4.
The learned AGP, upon instructions, submits the copies of communication firstly, dated 04.03.2026 wherein it was stated that the application number and documents are unavailable online. However,
online application is not in respect of village valadgaon but it is of village Golewadi, Tq. and Dist. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. When they had scrutinized about the acceptance of the online application, the defect in the nature "valuation related document or stamp duty related document not uploaded by the applicant" is found and the same was informed to the petitioners on 08.07.2025. The petitioners have not cleared the defect and, therefore, after a particular period, the said application which is from online system has expired. Now, other documents are also annexed along with the said letter collectively which is taken on record by marking Exhibit 'X' showing that how the search has been done and what is the procedure that is required to be undertaken by an applicant.
Learned AGP also submits that there are instructions given on the website regarding adjudication on the web application and in that, it has been stated that the citizen can fill adjudication application online. The citizen can download acknowledgment details which citizen has entered in the application then citizen has to submit physical documents in the Collector of Stamp Office. Thereafter, the concerned Collector for Stamp will process the case. It is also then stated that the citizen can view status online. Now, though the petitioners' Advocate is contending that physical documents were also submitted to the office of Collector of Stamps, yet the fact is denied by the said office.
5.
With this scenario, we can dispose of the writ petition by directing the petitioners to make fresh application for adjudication by following all the directions or instructions on the website within a period of one week and thereafter, he would submit physical documents in the office of Collector of stamps within a period of two weeks thereafter. After the said application is filed and the physical documents are received, the respondent No. 4 would scrutinize the documents and the petitioners can view the status online. Respondent No. 4 should adjudicate within a period of four weeks thereafter. (Hiten S. Venegavkar, J.) (Smt. Vibha Kankanwadi, J.) B. S. Joshi