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Vayyaeti Srinivasarao v. Gaineedi Jagajyothi

Not available · 2026 INSC 59Decided 15 Jan 2026
Not available
Justice B.V. Nagarathna · Justice R. Mahadevan

Background

A 50-year tenant agreed to buy the property he rented; lower courts held the agreement had to be stamped as a full "deemed sale" because he was already in possession.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that possession only triggers deemed-sale stamp duty if it's actually linked to the sale agreement, since this tenant's possession long predated the agreement (and the landlady later even evicted him as a tenant), it remained a plain agreement to sell, not a taxable conveyance.

Lesson Learnt

A pre-existing tenant who later agrees to buy the same property doesn't automatically owe full "sale" stamp duty just because they're already in possession.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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