At a time when the government is trying to maximise revenue mobilisation, the recent move to increase the ceiling on the sale of stamp papers by vendors is likely to inflict huge losses on the State exchequer, top treasury officers have warned.
According to sources, the order by the State government on December 12, 2014, which stipulated increasing the limit in the sale of stamp paper sold in terms of an amount totalling Rs. 20,000 to Rs.1 lakh, was most likely to create a shortage of stamp papers of lesser denominations.
“The vendors will always prefer to sell papers of higher denominations as this will raise their profitability as well. This is evident from the general drop in the sale of these papers from the treasury offices across the district’’, said a senior official.
Meanwhile, the Ernakulam treasury that witnessed a daily average sale of stamp papers worth Rs.1.80 crore, has experienced a drop by over Rs. 50 lakh during the first nine working days after implementing the order.
During the period, the number of applications for stamp papers has come down by almost half.
Commenting on the issue, officials of the State Treasury Directorate said the issue was yet to come to the notice of the authorities and refuted the allegations that the new rule would help the vendors make a quick buck. They have been receiving a commission of just 2 percent. “We will be able to get a clear picture of the problem once the monthly figures are available’’, they said.
Meanwhile, the Kerala Stamp Vendors’ Association maintained that the demand for low denomination papers had reduced over time.
“We always maintain adequate stock of stamp papers of all denominations though there are few takers for the low denomination papers these days’’, said Padmanabhan, district president, Kerala Stamp Vendors’ Association.
