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" ILLEGALITY OF RULE OF COURT AND DECLARATORY ILLEGALITY OF RULE OF COURT AND DECLARATORY DECREE IN RESPECT OF SALE OF URBAN PROPERTY   By   Ch. Muhammad Bashir, Advocate, Faisalabad   The People, with the obvious object of evading payment of proper stamp duty leviable on sale‑deeds under the Stamp Act, 1899, resort to obtaining collusive Rules of Court and declaratory decrees from Civil Court. This urge became more' dominant and acute since the fixation of rates of market value of immovable properties situated in different localities of an urban area under section 27‑A of the Stamp Act by the District Collectors, with a rider that no conveyance deed will be registered by Sub‑Registrar under the Registration Act, 1908, if the valuation of the property is shown below that rate.   The indulgence of some of the Presiding Officers in the said Rule of Court and declaratory decree business is so extensive and intense that they have attained the notoriety of being Sub‑Registrars or Revenue Officers. The Presiding Officers neither care for section 7(iv‑a) of Court Fees Act in passing declaratory decrees nor for Article 12 of Stamp Act, 1899 in making awards Rules of Court. Section 7(iv‑a) of the Court Fees Act requires that in a suit for declaration of title in immovable property on the basis of Alleged Sale, Mortgage, Gift or Exchange, the suit shall be valued for the purpose of court- fee, according to the value of the property. By the said provision, the intention of legislature is to procure court‑fee in such suits according to the value of the property, with a maximum ceiling of Rs.15,000. The Presiding Officers, in interested cases, ignore the value of the property and pass consent decrees on the meagre…