Stamped paper scarcity hits commoners hard
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Failure of the State government to smoothly shift from the manual mode of stamped papers to the online mode has caused lots of problems for the public.
What is more, stamped papers are still scarce in Kamrup, Nagaon, Dhubri, Tezpur, Jorhat and many other districts. As a result, people are buying stamped papers even at prices that are ten-fold higher than the actual prices.
Stamped papers worth Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20 etc., are being sold at Rs 50-100, informed sources.
The government collects tax on documents requiring stamping, such as affidavit, self-declaration, undertaking, power of attorney, leasing out property, land deeds, registration of property and the like through stamped papers. For such works, stamped papers of lower denominations like that of Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20 etc., are needed. However, the scarcity of such papers in the market makes commoners buy them at much higher prices. While e-stamped papers are helpful for deals involving huge amounts, for deals of smaller amounts manual stamped papers are helpful.
Our Correspondents from Dhubri, Nagaon, Tezpur, Jorhat etc., fed us almost the same information that the supply of stamped papers — in manual or online modes — is not up to expectations. This leads the common people to procure them at higher prices.
A consequent development of the scarcity of stamped paper is that lawyers have also raised their fees since they have to procure stamped papers from the open market. Ultimately, it's the client who has to bear the brunt.
Spelling out the reason behind such a scarcity of stamped papers, an official source said, "The government's idea is to do away with the system of costly manual stamped papers with the introduction of e-stamped papers or online stamped papers. To make that happen, the State government brought a Bill – The Court Fee (Assam Amendment) Bill, 2020 – in March this year. The Bill got its passage but the government failed to give it the final shape due to the Corona-induced lockdown and other problems. Now the system has been crippled with the government following both e-stamped papers and manual stamped papers, in parts."
The manual stamped papers and their online version without any smooth transition from one to the other has not helped the commoners when they proceed to the DC offices to get affidavits, self-declaration, and sale deeds among others.
On the other hand, wherever the system of online stamped paper is available, the queues are so long that most of the people avoid them and rush to procure the manual stamped papers instead.
Circles concerned feel that the government should ensure uninterrupted supply of stamped papers till their online mode is complete and smooth.