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9. The said Section 47-A is as under:-

"47-A. (1) If the Registering Officer, while registering any instrument transferring any property, has reason to believe that the value of the property or the consideration, as the case may be, has not been truly set forth in the instrument, he may, after registering such instrument, refer the same to the Collector for determination of the value or consideration, as the case may be, and the proper duty payable thereon. (2) On receipt of reference under sub-section (1), the Collector shall, after giving the parties reasonable opportunity of being heard and after holding an enquiry in such manner as may be prescribed by rules made under this Act, by order, determine the value of the property or the consideration and the duty aforesaid; and the deficient amount of duty, if any, shall be payable by the person liable to pay the duty and, on the payment of such duty, the Collector shall endorse a certificate of such payment on the instrument under his seal and signature.

(3) The Collector may, suo moto, within two years from the date of registration of any instrument not already referred to him under sub-section (1), call for and examine the instrument for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the correctness of its value or consideration, as the case may be, and the duty payable thereon, and if after such examination he has reason to believe that the value or consideration has not been truly set forth in the instrument, he may determine the value or consideration and the duty aforesaid in accordance with the procedure provided for in sub-section (2), and the deficient amount of duty, if any shall be payable to the person liable to pay the duty and, on the payment of such duty, the Collector shall endorse a certificate of such payment on the instrument under his seal and signature.

Explanation.-for the purpose of this section, value of any property shall be estimated to be the price which in the opinion of the Collector or the appellate authority, as the case may be, such property would have fetched, if sold in the open market, on the date of execution of the instrument relating to the transfer of such property."

10. It was the argument of the senior counsel for the petitioner in W.P.(C) No.3591/2014 as well as of counsels in other petitions and reiterated on 19 th November, 2015 that Section 47-A requires the Registering Officer, if has reason to believe that the value of the property or the consideration as set out in the instrument presented for registration is not truly set forth and/or that the property is under valued, to "after registering such instrument" refer the same to the Collector for determination of the value of consideration and the proper duty payable thereon. It was further the contention of the petitioners that even if the consideration as set forth in the transfer document/instrument presented for registration was/is below the prescribed circle rates, the Registering Officer cannot refuse to register the document or require the parties thereto to pay the stamp duty as per the circle rate, as required under the impugned orders/circulars. It was contended that Section 47-A required the Registering Officer to, notwithstanding being of the view that the document is under-valued and the stamp duty is under-paid, register the document/instrument and to only thereafter refer the same to the Collector for determination of the appropriate value/stamp duty. Hence it was contended that the procedure which the impugned orders/circulars require the Registering Officers to follow is contrary to Section 47-A supra.