Rohstoffe International Pvt. Ltd. (in the matter of Official Liquidator of Sonal Garments India Pvt. Ltd.) v. Collector, Mumbai & Ors., Interim Application No. 2173 of 2019 in Official Liquidator Report No. 153 of 2019 in Company Petition No. 9 of 2010, decided on 30.09.2026 | Citation: 2026:BHC-OS:21403
If a property on government-leased land is sold in an auction supervised by the Company Court, the State’s transfer fee must be worked out on the auction price and not on the Ready Reckoner rate. The same sale should not be valued differently for stamp duty and for the State’s transfer fee.
The Bombay High Court has said that when a court-supervised auction sells an office that sits on government-leased land, the State must charge its transfer fee on the price the office actually sold for, not on the higher government-set rate. An office in Mittal Court, Nariman Point, was auctioned for Rs 2.65 crore by the Official Liquidator of a company that was being wound up. The building stands on land leased by the State, so the State charges a fee to approve a transfer. The fee is the higher of Rs 2,000 per sq ft or 6% of the property’s value. The State worked out 6% on the Ready Reckoner value of Rs 5.93 crore and demanded about Rs 35.6 lakh, while the buyer said it should be 6% of the auction price, about Rs 15.9 lakh. The court agreed that the State can charge such a fee, but it said using two different values for the same sale makes no sense. For stamp duty, the same office was already valued at the auction price, since the law accepts a price fixed by an authority as the true value. The court also noted that a court-supervised auction is one of the fairest ways to find the real price. It ordered the State to recalculate the fee on the auction price and refund the extra amount with 6% interest within eight weeks. The court also held that the housing society’s Rs 3.93 lakh charge for its common amenity fund must be paid by the buyer, because it fell after the sale was confirmed, so there is no refund of this amount.