Petition filed against compulsion of Rs 100 stamp paper for affidavit

Aurangabad, June 24:

Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court comprising justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice M G Shevlikar on Wednesday issued directives to serve notice to respondents including principal secretary of the State Government for unnecessary compulsion of Rs 100 stamp paper for affidavit submission.

According to details, people are being forced to submit affidavit on Rs 100 stamp paper for various works in Government departments. However, as per the norms, it is not mandatory.

Bhushan Ishwar Mahajan, an LLB course student, obtained information about the use of Rs 100 stamp paper under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

In the information, he found that Rs 100 papers of Rs 39.06 crore were used in the State though it was not mandatory. He made a complaint with Revenue Minister, but its notice was not taken. He filed public interest litigation (PIL) in court through adv Satish Talekar.

In the petition, it was stated that the Government relaxed the norms of submission of an affidavit on Rs 100 in the department through its gazette published on July 1, 2004.

The Government issued circular many times during the last 17 years stating that an affidavit can be submitted on any plain paper in the

departments.

Also, the Bombay High Court took suo moto notice of artificial shortage of stamp papers in the State in 2014.

In the court, Mumbai’s additional controller of stamps accepted that there is no need to use the stamp paper for affidavit in Government departments.

Also, the then registrar general inspector Shrikar Pardeshi had clarified in a press conference about the submission of an affidavit on plain paper.

Despite this, the use of Rs 100 stamp paper is made compulsory for different works, including crop insurance, agriculture electricity connection and caste certificate.

The court directed to service to notice to the principal secretary of the State Government, additional controller of stamps, Inspector General of Registration and Stamp Controller. The next hearing has been placed after six weeks. Adv Pradnya Talekar and Ajinkya Kale appeared for the petitioner.