06
Part Six
They are looking at
your basement.
Oct 2025
This is the most actionable thing on this page, and almost nobody is covering it. On 13 October 2025 the Office of the Divisional Commissioner, Stamp and Registration Branch, Government of NCT of Delhi issued a circular (No. F.1/998/REGN.BR./DIV.COMM./HQ/1413325) directing every Sub-Registrar in Delhi to strictly enforce Section 47-A of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 and the Delhi Stamp (Prevention of Undervaluation of Instruments) Rules, 2007. It implements the Delhi High Court’s directions in Amit Gupta and Others v. Ms Manisha Saxena and Others, W.P.(C) 3591/2014.
The circular names two failures by name, and both of them land squarely on the South Delhi builder floor:
Built-up area, not plinthDuty was being computed on the maximum permissible plinth area instead of the actual built-up area. Where a floor is bigger than the sanctioned envelope, the difference was going unvalued and unstamped.
BasementsThe circular calls out the undervaluation of basement portions specifically. A basement that is sold, used and paid for, but not valued in the deed, is exactly what the Collector has now been told to look for.
Three years to actThe Collector may act on a reference or of his own motion, and the window runs to three years from registration. A clean-looking registry today is not a closed matter tomorrow.
What actually happens now
Under the circular the Sub-Registrar no longer simply refuses a document. The sequence is:
One. If the declared consideration is below the circle-rate valuation, the parties are told, and given the chance to amend the instrument and pay the correct duty.
Two. If they do not, the document is still registered — with an endorsement — and forwarded to the Collector of Stamps under Section 47-A.
Three. The Collector holds an enquiry, hears the parties, determines the market value, and recovers the deficient duty. An appeal lies to the District Judge within thirty days.
The trap in that sequence is the second step. Your deed is registered. You walk out believing the matter is closed. It is not.
And note what the courts have said about the circle rate itself. In CTA Apparels (Delhi High Court, 31 January 2020) the Court held that a circle rate is not conclusive evidence of value — it is guidance to the registering officer, and where a dispute arises the Collector must determine the true market value under Section 47-A on the facts: plot size, road width, age, the use of adjacent property, and so on. That cuts both ways. It means the circle rate is not an automatic safe harbour. It also means a Collector cannot simply impose a number without an enquiry.
Our position, stated plainly. SouthDelhiFloors registers at the true consideration. We do not advise on, arrange, or participate in under-declared registrations — not for a client, not for a counterparty, not to close a deal. If a transaction only works when the deed does not say what was paid, it is not a transaction we will run. That has been the position since 1984 and the October 2025 circular changes nothing about it, except to make the cost of the alternative a great deal more obvious.