Revenue stamps 'vanish' from post offices

Revenue stamps have disappeared from post offices and are now being sold only from the state government treasuries or through authorised stamp vendors.

Post offices stopped selling revenue stamps due to a dispute over the regular payment of commission to the Department of Posts.

The commission was increased to 10 per cent from 6 per cent on October 1, 2005, after which the Department of Posts decided that it needed to streamline the system so that it didn't end up with huge arrears in recovery at the end of the financial year.

The matter was taken up at a meeting of the Standing Committee of State Secretaries in October 2006. The Department of Posts demanded that the states pay the commissions regularly or stop using the services of post offices. But, in the general interest of the public, the post offices continued sourcing stamps from the Revenue Department and sold them through its counters across the state.

Post Master General of Nagpur Division, Col Om Prakash said that on an average, the Nagpur GPO procured revenue stamps worth Rs 3,84,000 every month. It earned a commission of Rs 38,400 per month or close to Rs 4,60,000 a year.

However, he informed that on October 25, 2006 the Ministry of Finance (MoF) issued a notification that since some states were not paying the commission regularly to the post offices, the Standing Committee of State Secretaries had decided that the sale of stamps may be dispensed with.

The order did not have any immediate fallout as post offices procure revenue stamps on a quarterly basis and had ample stock.

The notification also directed GPOs to display a notice at their counters informing the public of the decision. The notification also read that the inconvenience caused to the public because of this will be the responsibility of the state treasuries.

When the stock with post offices was exhausted, the GPO stopped replenishing them and put up the notice.

However, several post offices and the general public are unaware of the change. The move is already causing inconvenience to thousands who have to brave the summer at a sweltering 43 degrees Celsius to reach the state treasury and stand in long queues for purchasing a revenue stamp. All spend several times the price of a Re 1 revenue stamp to reach the treasury office.