The Tribune: Haryana: Friday, July 13, 2018.
Amidst
allegations of rapid shortfall in the collection of revenue in terms of stamp
duty, allegedly due to wilful evasion by private contractors and concessioners
and reluctance of the authorities to provide information, the State Chief Information
Commissioner Yash Pal Singhal has sought a report from the Revenue Department
in this regard.
Passing an
interim order on the appeal filed by RTI activist Ajay Kumar Bahl, Director of
NGO “Ek Sangharsh”, Singhal has recommended that the Additional Chief
Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management Department, might consider the
agreements submitted by the appellant to see if proper stamp duty had been
paid.
Singhal had
also recommended that the ACS might take the necessary steps for the recovery
of adequate stamp duty if it had not been adequately paid and send a report to
the Commission within two months.
Bahl had
sought information under the RTI Act when he came to know that organisations
like Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and toll road companies had been executing
concession agreements by affixing Rs 100 stamp duty instead of the actual
prescribed amount.
Alleging that
stamp duty worth Rs 500 to 700 crore had been evaded in the past 10 years, Bahl
had sought information about the rate of the stamp duty for public private
partnership (PPP) and build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects, provisions under
which entities like HUDA, MCG, PWD, NHAI, Rapid Metro, DMRC etc are exempted
from the payment of stamp duty to the government, project-wise details and stamp
duty paid and so on for the past one decade.
However, when
Bahl failed to get complete information, he approached the State Information
Commission in appeal.
Bahl alleged
that not only government agencies, but even in cases where private firms were
involved, the requisite stamp duty had not been paid.
“Agreements
worth crores of rupees have been executed in the past some years in case of the
Badarpur toll, Faridabad- Gurugram toll, Delhi, Agra road extension, extension
of Metro from Faridabad to Ballabgarh, extension of Metro in Gurugram up to the
HUDA City Centre, Rapid Metro in Gurugram, Expressway between Delhi and
Gurugram and waste management plant at Bandhwari for Gurugram and Faridabad etc
where proper stamp duty has not been paid,” he alleged.