Former Law Minister and one of the pillars of the Team Anna movement, Shanti Bhushan has now found himself back in the spotlight after being found guilty of evading payment of stamp duty. The total amount allegedly evaded is Rs.1.35 crore to which the Stamp Collector has imposed a fine of Rs. 27 lakh. The said evasion is related to the purchase of a house in the tony Civil Lines area of Allahabad way back in 1965.

The Assistant Stamp Collector K.P. Pandey has directed Bhushan to pay the entire amount within a month's time, failing which further proceedings would be initiated.

In reply, Bhushan issued a press statement refuting the charges as reported by NDTV. The said press statement declares that:

“This order of the Stamp Collector is totally illegal and contrary to the law clearly laid down in AIR 1986 Allahabad 107 case [Kaka Singh Vs. The Additional Collector ]. Section 47-A which deals with evasion of stamp duty and has been applied by the Stamp Collector is not even applicable in this case.”

“This order has been clearly made under political pressure and even the stamp collector had told the counsel of Shanti Bhushan that there is a lot of political pressure in this case. This illegal order will be challenged in the HC through a writ petition.”

Shanti Bhushan, was in the news recently with respect to a petition filed before the Delhi High Court wherein he had equated a heart surgery to “current repairs of a plant” under the Income Tax Act. (The petition was eventually dismissed but the Supreme Court later granted leave to appeal against this dismissal).

As the press statement indicates, a petition before the Allahabad High Court is a near certainty and it will be interesting to see how things pan out.