NELLORE: The Document Writers’ Association is contemplating filing a petition in the High Court challenging Memo No. G1/8686/2015 issued by the Office of Director and Inspector General of Registrars (OD&IGR) as regards imposing restrictions on document writing profession.
According to sources, there are instances where most of the documents related to property registrations have been made at very less Stamp Duty in registration offices, as the property owners forced the document writers to show wrong measurements of sites, which incurred loss to the government’s exchequer.
For example, a 20 ankanam house is shown as 8 ankanam property in document, which the property holder gets registered with lesser Stamp Duty. Earlier, there was a rule that the registration department has to conduct Super Checkup by sending an official to the site for taking measurements, thereby avoiding any malpractice and ensuring that the government gets the fees, as per norms.
However, the process is carried out in just 30 per cent cases, leading to malpractice. With a view to cover this loss, the OD&IGR has issued guidelines and instructed the document writers to compulsorily produce the Aadhaar card of the person, who scribes the document, to overcome the difficulty of the investigating agencies while enquiring cases related to title disputes and also of the registration department while dealing with cases related to deficit Stamp Duty and trace the connected persons.
The Document Writers’ Association (DWA) did not object to producing the Aadhar card, but opposed the OD&IGR’s decision to hold them responsible for payment of shortfall in Stamp Duty or face legal consequences, for their licenses were not renewed since 2001.
“How far is it justifiable to make us liable for legal consequences and why should we pay the shortfall in the Stamp Duty, as our licenses have not been renewed since 2001. We are collecting fee from the party for preparing the documents in a language specified by the government. Our job is only confined to quoting the property measurements in the document, as told by the property holder, and not inspect the site before preparing the document,” DDWA president Durgesh Babu told Express and added that the decision to file a petition challenging the OD&IGR was taken in the state level meeting held recently in Vijayawada.