With no internet, people line up for stamp papers

Facility of e-stamping is causing inconvenience to people as they have to wait in long queues in scorching heat at district courts because of the shortage of vendors dealing in e-stamps.

Facility of e-stamping is causing inconvenience to people as they have to wait in long queues in scorching heat at district courts because of the shortage of vendors dealing in e-stamps.

People wait in queues to get e-stamp papers from a vendor who operates from a shed under a tree at the district court, on Friday. (HT Photo)

After e-stamping was made mandatory from May 1 in four districts, including Gurgaon, vendors in the district court are having a tough time shifting to the online process.

Anyone can now download stamp paper from the official website but because of lack of awareness and no access to the internet, people are still depended on vendors. In the absence of internet, only two vendors are providing e-stamp papers at the district court premises forcing consumers to wait in long queues.

According to official sources, e-stamping was initiated to weed out the system of commission that vendors used to charge from consumers. The purpose, however, seems to have been defeated as people are now forced to pay vendors for e-stamping facility. The vendors are charging anything between `30 and `100 for downloading e-stamp papers in Gurgaon.

“I paid `550 for a stamp paper of `500. There was no option as I don’t have internet at home. Even if I did have internet, I don’t have a printer to print the stamp paper,” said Om Prakash Yadav, who got an e-stamp paper after standing in queues for half an hour.

An official of the district administration said there is no need to pay vendors as e-stamp papers can be downloaded at any cyber café. The official, however, conceded that all are not well versed with the online process of fee payment and downloading the e-stamp paper.

In April this year, state information commissioner Shiv Raman Gaur had directed every stamp vendor to display on a notice board that no commission is being charged on sale of stamp papers and also display the prescribed rates fixed by the government. The order was passed on an RTI plea of Gurgaon-based activist Aseem Takyar who questioned charging of commission by stamp paper vendors.

The Haryana government made e-stamping mandatory in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat and Panchkula from May 1. Any citizen can generate stamp papers for a maximum value of `10,000 through the e-stamping system available on the website https://egrashry.nic.in