In Brief
This civil appeal challenges a High Court decision that relied on a lease deed to uphold an arbitration agreement between the parties regarding development of a property. The Supreme Court held that when any document is relied upon as containing an arbitration agreement, the Court must first verify whether it is properly stamped under the Stamp Act, even if no objection is raised. Here, the lease deed was found to be insufficiently stamped, and the respondents had not paid the deficit stamp duty and penalty as directed by the High Court's Registrar. The Court allowed the appeal, finding that the High Court erred in ignoring its own Registrar's report and relying on an improperly stamped document.
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