Under Section 47-A of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, a Registering Officer can initiate action on instruments on which proper valuation of the property has not been reflected. He should register the instrument, but refer the matter to the Collector for determination of market value of the property and the value of stamp duty payable for the same. This is popularly called under valuation case.

            Rule 23 to 36 of the Orissa Stamp Rules, 1952 lays down the procedure for dealing with such under valuation cases. Proper or correct value of the property is the crux of the matter. The Collector shall determine the market value of the property and determine the amount of stamp duty to be paid in the case. For determination of market value, the Collector has to take evidence & make enquiry as he may deem proper.

            Though the type of evidence the Collector should collect & the kinds of enquiry the Collector should make have not been specified in the Act or Rules, it is likely that market value as may be determined by him may not be absolutely accurate. This may lead to loss in stamp duty to the Government.

            Besides, detection of under-valuation case is a post-registration affair. It is time-taking & causes inconvenience to the executants. The executants reflect in-correct market value intentionally or due to ignorance of the actual market value of the property. There is no yard-stick of the market value with which the registering authority can compare the value reflected in the instrument. To obviate these difficulties there is a need for Bench-mark valuation of the property. If the Bench-mark valuation of a particular class of land in a particular area is fixed, the executant can know the valuation on his own while executing the document and the Registering Officer can instantly detect when the executants reflect lesser value of that property in the instrument.

            To fix Bench mark valuation, the Orissa Stamp Rules, 1952 has been amended & Rules 37 to 48 have been added newly with effect from 17.01.02.

            Under Rule 37, District Level & Sub-district Level Committees are constituted under the Chairmanship of the Collector & Sub-Collector, respectively. The Sub-district Level Committee shall collect information on the value of properties & send the same to the District Level Committee. The Sub-Registrars will furnish information in form No.5 in respect of urban land, in form No.6 in respect of agricultural & non-agricultural land in rural areas & in form No.7 in respect of buildings. They will also furnish average value of land in form No.8. The Sub-district Valuation Committee shall analyse the data & propose value of the land to District Valuation Committee. The District Valuation Committee shall analyse the date & fix the Bench mark valuation and invite public objection. After finalisation of the objections, the Collector and Chairman District Valuation Committee will send the same (Bench Mark Valuation) to the Government for approval.

            Tehsil is the unit for Bench mark valuation. As on today, bench mark guidelines of all the Districts except Rayagada and Nuapada have been approved by the Government. The proposals of these two Districts are under scrutiny at Government level.

[NOTE : This is the information on Bench Mark Valuation as on 17.11.2007]