Punjab told to look into stamp duty evasion

Disposing of a petition seeking directions to the Punjab government for prosecuting guilty revenue officials for charging deficient stamp duty, the Punjab and Haryana high court has opined that it is the duty of the state government to recover such amount when stamp duty evasion, as per RTI information, was around Rs 200 crore and the government was "fund-starved".

Disposing of a petition seeking directions to the Punjab government for prosecuting guilty revenue officials for charging deficient stamp duty, the Punjab and Haryana high court has opined that it is the duty of the state government to recover such amount when stamp duty evasion, as per RTI information, was around Rs 200 crore and the government was "fund-starved".

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The division bench headed by chief justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Tarsem Jindal of Barnala. The court directed the state government to peruse the contents of the public interest litigation and take appropriate action in the matter as per law.

However, the court declined to accept the petitioner's prayer for setting up of a committee of experts under a retired judge of the high court for suggesting ways and means for keeping a check on stamp duty evasion, which was causing a huge loss to the state exchequer.