Finance Minister K M Mani said on Monday that the concerns of the stamp vendors will be addressed before the e-stamping facility is introduced in the state.
The minister reviewed the model of the e-stamping facility to be introduced by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). A meeting of the vendors will be convened to clear their doubts, he said. Mani said it was in the 2011 budget that the govt announced the proposal for introduction of e-stamping facility. The decision for the new facility was taken after it was found fake stamp papers are being submitted at various courts in the State.
He said the vendors will be part of the e-stamping. The Law Dept will discuss amending the Kerala Stamp Act before the project is implemented. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharastra and West Bengal have implemented e-stamping. Officials from Kerala had already visited these states to study how the system is being implemented in these states. A software has been developed by the NIC for the purpose. The central agency of the project will be Treasury Dept. The project is being implemented to check tax evasion and corruption and ensure transparency. Those who remit the fee at the treasury could avail of stamp paper online.