THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has suspended the implementation of e-stamping for denominations less than Rs 1 lakh, for both registrable and non-registrable documents, according to an order issued by Taxes Secretary Bishwanath Sinha. The order, issued on February 13, is however silent on the validity of documents registered since February 1 using e-stamps. E-stamping for denominations less than Rs 1 lakh was being done on an experimental basis at two sub-registrar offices -- Kazhakootam in Thiruvananthapuram and Kottarakkara in Kollam.
The experimental phase began after a statewide migration to e-stamping turned out to be a failure on February 1, the first day of migration. An order by the Taxes secretary had made e-stamping, the digital form of creating stamp papers, mandatory in the state February 1 onwards. But the government did not make provision for either vendors or the general public to generate e-stamps below the denomination of `1 lakh.
On the first day of implementation, many sub-registrars refused to register property using stamp papers purchased on February 1 citing the government order that deemed invalid conventional stamp papers sold after January 31, 2021. Later, the office of the Inspector General of Registration (IGR) issued a telephonic message to sub-registrar offices to allow registration using conventional stamp papers purchased on February 1 as well. On February 2, the IGR issued an order limiting e-stamping to two sub-registrar offices on an experimental basis.
For the past three years, e-stamping has been mandatory in the state for stamp papers worth `1 lakh and above. Sources said hasty implementation without providing training or download option to stamp vendors has led to the fiasco.Another concern is the “desizing” for stamp papers below the denomination of `1 lakh. Those for `1 lakh and above are desized by the sub-registrars at the time of registering the document. This is inevitable because people could misuse the e-stamping provision as any number of copies of an e-stamp can be generated by paying the fees of just one copy.