Cap on stamp sale casts shadow on vendors' earnings

UDAIPUR: The state government's latest circular on capping the stamp sale per transaction have created a stir among the vendors across the state.
Earlier, the vendors were allowed to sell non-judicial stamps worth up to Rs 1 lakh per registry deed. However, the latest diktat have capped the limit to Rs 50,000 per deed. For over 20,000 vendors in Rajasthan, the reverse countdown to a dark future began the day e-stamping was introduced by the state government.The disgruntled lot believe that e-stamping signifies a lesser role of stamp vendors in future and hence tougher days for their dependents as well. But the latest circular has added fuel to the fire increasing their discontentment.
"The decision would snatch the livelihood of thousands of stamp vendors who are rearing their families with the meager earning from the sale of stamps," said a memorandum recently sent to the home minister, principal secretary and the finance secretary by the stamp vendors.
The Rajasthan Licensed Stamp Vendors Association (RLSVA) is communicating with it peers across the districts and is expected to soon announce a state-wide pen down movement against the capping.
However, authorities claim the fears are baseless as the vendors could become ACCs (authorized collection centers) for e-stamps and earn profits by unlimited sale of stamps. "Compared to states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka, we are lagging in implementation of e-stamping which is far efficient than the traditional paper stamp system. Gradually, the paper stamps would be eliminated to prevent forgery and discrepancies," said K B Gupta, inspector general, registration and stamps department, Ajmer.
Over 20,000 vendors in Rajasthan are told to earn their livelihood by means of selling judicial and non-judicial stamps for which they are entitled to a commission of 1-2% depending upon the stamp value. Actual trouble began from 2011 when the state government introduced e-stamping procedure to iron out deficiencies and corruption in the system. To promote e-stamping, the government began capping the limit of stamp sale per deed in a systematic manner. "The limit which earlier had been Rs 3 lakh per deed was cut down to Rs 1 lakh last year, claimed Mahesh Jilani, secretary of RLSVA.
"Now they have further restricted the limit to Rs 50,000 which is not only unfair but legally incorrect," he said.
The government has amended the rule 23 of the Rajasthan Stamp Act 2004 to implement the capping. However, there is no limit on e-stamp sale by the Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL) which too is governed under the same rule.
"If the government continues its way, then soon we will become jobless. Our livelihood is at stake," Mahesh Kothari, a senior stamp vendor in Udaipur. "We work managing all costs on a thin commission interestingly, while the minimum sales price for a piece of land is revised every year the cap on the value of stamp a vendor can sell through his counter is slowly making them insignificant in the business," Ashish Jain, another stamp vendor from Banswara claimed.
Notwithstanding, the brighter side of e-stamping system, the vendors believe that there is bright side to vending mode of stamp sales and the government must eliminate the deficiencies prevalent in the age old system of stamp vending rather than eliminating the people in the business.
E-STAMPING in Rajasthan
E-stamping is a computer-based application and a secured electronic way of stamping documents. The prevailing system of physical stamp paper/franking is being replaced by e-stamping system which was launched on July 22, 2011. It was initiated from the seven divisional headquarters followed by 4 district headquarters i.e. Pali, Hanumangarh, Alwar and Bhilwara by March 31, 2012. Presently the e-Stamping system is functional at 87 sub-registrar offices and some banks. Online payment, fast and prompt services, accuracy of stamp duty, 24 hours availability of system for verification are pointed out to be the plus point of the system whereas complication of process, single paper instead of registered documents and difficult for lesser educated mass is told to be the reason for the system not gaining popularity.