Irregularities over stamp duty cause `32 crore loss

Rajay Deep Bathinda

Taking pride in being addressed as ‘earning son of the state government’-Revenue Department itself has had the state exchequer face a loss of Rs 32 crore in a year (2012-13) with its irregularities in collecting stamp duty. The fact could come bare in the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s report on revenue sector of Punjab-2014. According to the CAG report, the auditors inspected the records of 109 units (revenue offices) relating to the collection of stamp duty and registration fee during 2012-13 and found irregularities involving Rs 32.25 crore in 1,674 cases. Among the total, 867 cases were found of non/short levy of stamp duty and registration fee (involving Rs 12.79 crore), 195 cases of misclassification of instruments (Rs 16.52 crore), 300 cases of short levy of stamp duty and registration fees on lease deeds (Rs 92 lakh) and other irregularities worth Rs 2.02 crore. Moreover, during the year 2012-13, the Revenue Department accepted audit observations of irregularities in 578 cases but could recover the amount from just 259 cases pertaining to earlier years. Further going in detail of some illustrious cases involving Rs 15.26 crore, the CAG report stated that the auditors noticed from the records of 21 revenue offices, which included Ajnala, Amritsar, Batala, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Rampura Phul, Ludhiana, Sangrur, Moga, Mohali, Ropar, Sunam, Gurdaspur, Bhawanigarh, Dera Bassi, Fatehgarh Sahib and Malerkotla, that 41 instruments of transfer of properties valuing Rs 18.5 crore were registered at the value set forth in these instruments instead of Rs 48.5 crore computed on the basic minimum market value of properties fixed by respective District Collectors during the relevant years, which put the state in loss of minimum Rs 1.88 crore. In the offices of Barnala and Mullanpur Dakha, the revenue officials registered four instruments considering the property’s worth just Rs 44.8 lakh which was in fact Rs 2.29 crore, the CAG noticed. Moving ahead with their detection lens, the auditors noticed from the record of various revenue offices that while executing the mortgage deeds, the officials kept on charging the previous rate of stamp duty and the put the state face heavy loss just for their irregularity termed as short levy of stamp duty due to application of pre-revised rates of stamp duty. The records of four revenue offices (Bathinda, Nabha, Sangrur and Sunam) suggested the incorrect grant of remission resulted into non levy of the stamp duty and registration fee amounting to Rs 4.42 crore. The concerned revenue officials tried to convince the audit team but failed in the move, stated the CAG report. The audit from the records of 2010-11 and 2011-12 noticed that in the offices of 28 sub-registrars and eight joint sub-registrars that 74 instruments of transfer of properties were registered in the favour of developers/companies. and stamp duty of Rs 7.9 crore was charged on consideration of Rs 115.58 crore.