HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has proposed to bring in a ‘revenue-oriented’ Stamp Act soon. According to officials, the proposed Telangana Stamp Act would bring in more transparency by plugging loopholes. The new Act aims to check discretionary powers enjoyed by officials in levying penalties.
If any property owner wants to challenge the market (government) value during revision of land rates ahead of registration, they can now appeal to the designated authorities of the department instead of approaching courts, which usually results in delay in getting justice.
Similarly, until now if a person pays less than the required amount as stamp duty, the sub-registrars can levy penalty from a minimum of Rs 5 to a maximum of up to 10 times of the total stamp duty. In the new Act, authorities can impose only 2% penalty on the total stamp duty every month, once a violation is detected (from the date of registration). For benefit of the people, suitable amendments are being incorporated in case if a person loses his original document.
Officials said the proposed Act will replace the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, which is a central Act but has been adopted and implemented by the state government since 1952. Several changes and amendments were made in stamp duty rates and other rules, but the Act has not been amended since it is a Central act, and only Parliament can make amendments.
Post bifurcation, the Telangana government has asked the department concerned to prepare a new draft called Telangana Stamp Act by replacing the Indian Stamp Act and constituted a four-member committee headed by V Srinivasulu, deputy inspector general (Hyderabad) of registration and stamps department. The committee studied various Stamps Acts in force in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
As of now, the functioning of the registration and stamps department is based on 10 major Acts like Registration Act, 1908, AP Societies Act, 2001, Indian Partnership Act, 1932, Hindu Marriages Act, 1955, Chit Fund Act, 1982 and the Notaries Act, 1952 apart from Indian Stamp Act.
But most of these Acts need not require major changes and some Acts such as Chit Fund Act were amended and rules framed only in 2007. Since the Indian Stamp Act is a fiscal Act aimed at augmenting the revenues of the state by levying stamp duty, the government has decided to bring in changes in the Act, officials said.
“Some age-old provisions like stamp papers of Rs 25,000 value are still in the Act. Since only stamp papers of Rs 100 value are available now, such provisions would be excluded in the new Act,” an official of the registration department said.
Officials said some best practices of other states are being incorporated in the new Act. For example, Maharashtra has been earning revenue worth Rs 1,000 crore through stock market transactions, but Telangana has been getting meager revenues on this front, though it has the potential to rake in up to Rs 250 crore per year, the official said.
When contacted, DIG (Hyderabad), Srinivasulu, who is heading the Act committee, said, “The draft Act has been prepared and submitted to the commissioner for finalisation. The amendments are being proposed to make it comprehensive.”
TOI | Jan 2, 2015
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