With parents and students complaining about shortage of stamp papers required for admission procedures, the Inspectorate General of Registration and Stamps (IGR) has said that for procuring their caste, income, domicile or nationality certificates, there is no need of using a stamp paper. Educational institutions demanding stamp papers will come under the scanner and an inquiry will be conducted against them, said IGR Shrikar Pardeshi. “I have been getting emails from harried parents and students on shortage of stamp papers for availing their certificates, especially from Mumbai and Nagpur. I want to clear that according to an order of July 1, 2004, there is no need to use stamp paper for the same. This was abolished ten years back and I see no reason as to why one needs stamp papers for procuring these documents,’’ said Pardeshi. He said that people submitted requests to citizen facilitation centres to obtain stamp papers though these are not required. “If the person at the kiosk does not guide you, then it is up to you to understand that it is not required. Most of these kiosks are managed by outsourced staff. I want to clarify that the request for the documents can be made on plain paper, only with the necessary documents,’’ he added. Stamp papers are mainly used for kinds of business agreements. The IGR also said that till now they have received complaints from parents on the shortage of stamp papers but if they come across any complaint against any institution making it mandatory, then action would be initiated. The order which was given by the IGR on July 1, 2004 states, “In exercise of the powers conferred by clause of Section 9 of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958, the government of Maharashtra having satisfied that it is necessary to do so in public interest, hereby remits the stamp duty chargeable under article 4 of the schedule, one appended to the said act, on the instruments of affidavit or declaration made for obtaining caste certificate/income certificate, domicile certificate, nationality certificate or for any other purpose of being filed or used before any government authority or in any court or before the officer of any court.” The IGR said that the same was applicable for candidates filing their affidavits during the time of elections and even in that case, there was no need to do so on stamp paper. “People however seem to be misled and are using the stamp paper for making these declarations,’’ he added.
