Bhushans granted another week's time to reply to stamp notice

Lawyer Shanti Bhushan and his three children were granted one more week's time on Saturday by the Stamp and Registration office in Allahabad to reply to a notice for alleged stamp duty evasion to the tune of Rs 1.33 crore on purchase of property in a prime locality in the city.

In the notice, my clients have been asked to file their reply latest by 28^th April, Bhushans' lawyer Sangam Agarwal told the news agency.

"Today, I moved an application seeking more time following which Stamp Commissioner K P Pandey extended the last date for filing of reply to 5^th May"," he said.

The former Union Minister, his sons Prashant and Jayant and daughter Shefali had been issued a notice for alleged evasion of stamp duty on 5^th February and a reminder for filing a reply was issued on 15^th April.

The Bhushans have allegedly evaded the stamp duty by undervaluing their property worth nearly 20 crore. They had purchased the property spread over 7,818 acres last year by entering into an "agreement to sell" with the previous owners of the land.

Meanwhile, a number of tenants living in the outhouses situated on the land have launched an agitation to protest their "possible eviction" following the new land deal.

The outhouse-dwellers said they feared their "possible eviction" as they were poor and involved in menial jobs and could not afford litigation.

The protestors also said that they have sent an e-mail to social activist Anna Hazare "with the request to make Shanti Bhushan take a sympathetic view of our condition and refrain from forcing us out".