Govt loses Rs 300 crore in stamp duty

IMAGINE TRANSFERING property worth lakhs by paying a stamp duty of merely Rs 100 or striking an agreement between a house owner and tenant, who is paying a very high rent, by paying a stamp duty of only Rs 10?

IMAGINE TRANSFERING property worth lakhs by paying a stamp duty of merely Rs 100 or striking an agreement between a house owner and tenant, who is paying a very high rent, by paying a stamp duty of only Rs 10?

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The practice is becoming rampant in the city.

DIG registration Satish Kumar has brought to the fore a loss of Rs 300 crore to the government exchequer due to evasion of stamp duty by big city firms.

The phenomenal loss has come has a shock to the registration department officials. It was incurred due to a nexus of employees from the department and big industrial houses.

The department has served notices to companies like Pantaloon, Vishal Megamart, Eldeco and Salasar, who have erred in paying stamp duty to the government.

Kumar said, “The department is lagging behind in the stamp duty collection. When we reviewed the stamp duty records of 15 top companies having showrooms, mega marts, industries, colonies in the city, it was found that they had evaded about Rs 300 crore of stamp duty by adopting wrong methods, causing loss to the department.”

Some properties were transferred on names of other individuals without paying the stamp duty.

The department has prepared a list of 15 companies who have transferred their properties to others or got the properties transferred against their names without paying the stamp duty.

When the records of mega malls and marts were reviewed, it was found that the purchasers have got the property transferred against their names on stamps between Rs 10 and Rs 100.

The tenancy agreements have also been made on stamps worth Rs 10.

According to departmental sources, probe has been constituted against Pantaloon for evading Rs 5 crore as stamp duty.

Payment of stamp duty on the property of mega malls in cities like Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Noida has also came under the scanner.

Eldeco has been accused of transferring the land without paying stamp duty of Rs 26 lakh to the department.

According to officials, the erring companies have been served notices to explain their action and strict vigil has been kept on the employees who are suspected to connived with these companies in evading the stamp duty.
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