Irregularities in Goa stamp paper sale unearthed

A multi-crore stamp paper scam is surfacing in Goa, according to a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), for 2004, which says an "unexplained difference" of Rs 30.19 crore between the sale and registration of the non-judicial impressed stamps paper (NJIS).

"This difference needs to be investigated thoroughly. The Goa government's finance department was asked to explain the difference a year ago-during the tenure of BJP government headed-but they have been unable to do so," said Sangeeta Choure, accountant general of Goa.

She said, "There was no mechanism in place in the treasury office at Panaji for periodical comparison between the stamp papers sold and the papers registered. We hope that at least now there will be a mechanism in place to tally the number of papers bought and the papers registered."

Only Rs 72.54 crore worth of the NJIS were sold by the State's treasuries from 1998 to 2003 against Rs 102.73 crore the NJIS registered during the period, according to the report. The value of the NJIS used in registration of documents exceeded the sales at the state treasuries in Goa by Rs 30.19 crore, an excess of 41.62 per cent, the report adds.

"We know that Maharashtra and Karnataka were affected by this scam. It is now for the Goa government to investigate the matter. We had asked them repeatedly for explanations on this difference, but so far no such explanation has been furnished," she added.

The report further says that the difference between the NJISs registered and sold was unusually high, which neither the finance nor the registration departments could explain.

The registration department contends that it does not have the powers to refuse registration if the documents are properly stamped, the report added.

Incidentally, the excess NJISs registered and the sales at the treasuries was as high as 196 per cent in South Goa district in 1998-99, and came down to 57 per cent only in 2002-03. While the North Goa district, did not see any difference in the registrations, with the value of papers sold more than those registered.

Check by audit revealed that in four sub-registars' offices, of the 1,269 NJIS instruments registered in 1998-99 and 2002-2003, 355 instruments were valued at Rs 39.01 lakh.

The NJIS had been sold by the licensed vendors though the stamp duty payable on the single instrument exceeded Rs 1,000 to Rs 25,000. The instruments accepted by the sub-registrars for registration were in violation of the provision in the Act/Rules.

The report also pointed out that as on March 31, 2004 the NJIS of Rs 58.12 crore were lying in the state treasuries, which was much more than the estimated average sale worth Rs 14.96 crore. Of these, Rs 32.20 crore consisted of high value denominations.

Despite having huge balances of high denomination NJIS, the state director of accounts made further purchase of Rs 31.50 crore in 2001-2002 and 2003-2004, the report said.

"We were told that these purchases were made since the department was not aware of what the demand would be like, but that explanation can hold good only for the first year after the denominations changed."

Even as recently as 2003, purchases were made when there was already enough stock lying at the treasuries," Choure told Business Standard.