KOCHI: An acute shortage of non-judicial stamp papers of lower denominations, especially Rs 100, has hit the public, forcing them to buy stamp papers of higher value, resulting in out-of-pocket costs to them. Industry players say the state government failed to implement the e-stamp project from August 1 as promised, resulting in untold difficulty to both the public and the vendors, many of whom are now out of business.
“The government didn’t give orders to the Nashik Printing Press for the last several months as it had promised to commence the e-stamp service from August 1. However, it is yet to begin. This has resulted in an acute shortage of stamp papers below the denomination of Rs 1,000 across the state. The issue is severe in districts like Ernakulam where the common man has been suffering from the shortage for the last five or six months,” said K G Indukaladharan, State President, All Kerala Document Writers & Scribes Association.
Stamp papers, mostly belonging to the Rs 50 and Rs 100 denominations, are mandatory for preparing affidavits of birth certificates, several documents submitted to government offices, rent and trade agreements, bonds, and the like. All these essential services have been affected of late.
“Stamp papers of Rs 100, Rs 200 and even Rs 500 denominations are in short supply in the district at least for the past six months. Earlier, such a shortage used to last only a couple of months, but this time we’ve been facing the issue for several months now. I was forced to finally buy a Rs 1,000-stamp paper despite visiting several vendors at the Marine Drive and the High Court premises,” said James Emmanuel, a digital editor at ‘Forbes Middle East’.
The vendors have run out of stock of the Rs 500 stamp paper as well, forcing a customer to incur a loss of Rs 900, to prepare an affidavit needing only a stamp paper of Rs 100 denomination. “The other day, I ran from pillar to post, approaching vendors at different localities but to no avail. I was in need of three Rs 100 stamp papers and finally was forced to dole out Rs 1,500,” said Narayanankutty, a resident of Panangad, who was preparing a rent agreement.
According to vendors, they are not getting stamp papers of lower denominations from the local treasury. “The government has stopped printing stamp papers of lower value as they are set to introduce the e-stamp service. Now, we’re being provided with revalidated Rs 20 stamp papers, that too only during the three days of intent a week, to meet the shortage of Rs 100 stamp papers, which are in high demand,” said Linu Jose, a vendor based in Kakkanad.
Kaladharan T G, a Kakkanad-based Notary, rued that the government goes on postponing the introduction of the e-stamp system on a wide scale. “The authorities first promised to make the system functional by August 1 and then on August 15. Now, the e-stamp initiative will be made mandatory from next month onwards. A group of vendors has already been given the necessary training at Thiruvananthapuram.”