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Section 64: Penalty for omission to comply with provisions of section 27

Indian Stamp Act • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide

Statutory Regulation
Legal Standard
Competent Court / Tribunal
Act 1899
Section 63 All 78 Sections Schedule I (Arts 1–65) Section 65

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 64

Section 64 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 criminalizes intentional omissions and fraudulent misstatements of facts in instruments designed to defraud the State of stamp duty.

  • Core Legal Standard: Unlike Section 62, Section 64 explicitly requires *mens rea*—an affirmative intent to defraud the Government.
  • Statutory Rights & Obligations: It targets not only the executing parties, but expressly encompasses scribes, conveyancers, document writers, and legal draftsmen who deliberately misstate facts or undervalue considerations to evade duty.

Conveyancers must exercise due diligence under Section 64(b) to ensure that instruments prepared by them truthfully reflect actual transaction terms.

Key Landmark Precedents:
  • V.N. Devadoss v. Chief Revenue Control Authority, (2009) 7 SCC 438: The Supreme Court held that in the absence of deliberate deceit or fraudulent intent to depress valuation, no offense is made out under Section 64.
  • State of U.P. v. Ambrish Tandon, (2012) 5 SCC 566: The Court affirmed that Section 64 is directed against deliberate contrivances and fraudulent schemes to suppress actual transactional values.
Legal Commentary:

Section 64 is invoked in cases of deliberate fraud—such as fabricating false consideration figures, misrepresenting land classifications, or executing unrecorded side agreements. Conveyancers must exercise due diligence under Section 64(b) to ensure that instruments prepared by them truthfully reflect actual transaction terms.

Section 63 All 78 Sections Schedule I (Arts 1–65) Section 65