UP sends notice to Shanti Bhushan for Rs 1.33 crore

The property was owned by Hari Mohan Das Tandon. His son and attorney holder Sudhir Tandon said,“Shanti Bhushan paid stamp duty of Rs 45,000 on the purchase of the property valued at Rs 5 lakh in the sale deed. I had pointed out that this will not be accepted by the tax authorities and ultimately he will have to pay the duty as per the circle rate fixed by the district magistrate.’.

Sudhir Tandon said the sub-registrar of Allahabad impounded the sale deed and it will be returned to the purchaser only after the dispute over the stamp duty is settled. Sources said the circle rate in the area is “not less than Rs 24,000 per square metre’’. “Whatever be the outcome of the notice,as per our agreement any liability on account of the stamp duty will be borne by the purchaser. This is the normal procedure in a sale deed that stamp duty and other legal expenses will be borne by the purchaser,” said Sudhir Tandon.

Lala Manohar Das,great grandfather of Sudhir Tandon,was one of the founders of the Allahabad Bank,which shifted its headquarters to Kolkatta in 1917. Bhushan’s father Vishwamitra had taken the property on rent way back in 1938.

The total area of the bungalow is over 11,000 sq metre. Of this,about one-third was vacated by Bhushan in favour of the owner who sold it in October last year. The remaining part is in possession of Bhushan’s family.

“For us,this was a win-win situation. We sold the land vacated by Shanti Bhushan for about Rs 10 crore. Otherwise,we were getting a monthly income of Rs 200 only from this property which was under the Rent Control Act,’’ said Sudhir Tandon.

He said in 1966,Shanti Bhushan proposed to buy the bungalow for Rs 1 lakh and an agreement was signed. He paid Rs 5,000 as advance and the balance was to be paid at the time of registration of the sale,said Sudhir Tandon.

However,in the meantime,the lease of the land expired and the UP government refused to renew it. The affected families moved court. In 1993,the Supreme Court settled the case in favour of the lessees. The UP government later agreed to convert the properties freehold after charging a fee.

“We paid Rs 33 lakh as freehold charges. Negotiations between our family and Shanti Bhushan continued. He filed ‘specific performance suit’ in court for the execution of the agreement signed between us in 1966. After over 10 years of litigation,we reached an agreement. As per the agreement,Shanti Bhushan vacated 3,500 sq metre and the compromise letter was filed in the court,” said Sudhir Tandon.