Hon’ble Justice B.Amit Sthalekar has been appointed as Judicial Member at The National Green Tribunal, Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkata. The appointment came into effect on 07.04.2021(F/N).

       A distinguished lawyer, he has had an impeccable career with about 37 years experience in the field of law as a lawyer and on the bench of the Allahabad High Court. Born on 25.12.1958, he studied at St. Joseph’s College, Allahabad and St Joseph’s College, Nainital and graduated in Law from Allahabad University and began practicing at the Allahabad High Court in 1983. Additionally, he worked as standing counsel for Railways from 1986 to 2011 and for Union of India and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited; Accountant General Office of Uttar Pradesh from 1991 till 2004.He was Additional Chief Standing Counsel, State of U.P. He was also Special Counsel for the High Court, Allahabad till his elevation.

He was elevated as Additional Judge of the Allahabad High Court in 2011 and took oath as permanent Judge in 2013 and retired in the month of December,2020.

The landmark judgments delivered by Hon’ble Justice B. Amit Sthalekar in following cases are as under:-

1. Writ petition no12759 of 2019 dated 22.05.2019:-The dispute was with regard to the applicability of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act,2013 (hereinafter the Act,2013) and the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Special Area Development Board Varanasi Act,2018 (hereinafter the Act,2018).

The bunch of petitions were dismissed stating that Section 46 of the Act,2013 which mandates the scheme of rehabilitation has no application in the case of the writ petitioners since the property in question was being purchased and not acquired under the Act,2013.

It was also held that the Act,2018 did not contain any mechanism for acquisition of land, which was provided only under the Act,2013.

1. Writ petition no.20690 of 2003:- The dispute was with regard to the determination of Stamp Duty upon presumptive user of land which was held to be arbitrary.

The above case discusses the criteria and stage at which valuation of property and determination of Stamp Duty is considered acceptable.

It was held that the nature of the user has to be determined on the date of purchase of the land and this is the date with reference to which the stamp duty should be calculated under Section 47-A(3) of Indian Stamp Act,1899.It was held that the future potentiality of land cannot be considered for charging the stamp duty.