The Concept
Government of the Punjab is committed to bring transparency, efficiency and accountability through the use of ICT interventions and e-Governance. The automation of collecting stamp duty for different public transactions is very significant step in this direction. Traditionally, stamp duty is collected by the Government through the sale of Stamp Papers having different denominations under the Stamp Act 1899. These papers are available either through registered stamp vendors or through the district treasury offices depending upon the nature and type of the transaction being executed. There are two types of stamp papers Judicial and Non-Judicial. Judicial stamp paper is used in relation to the administration of justice in courts whereas non-judicial stamp paper is used on documents related to the transfer of property, commercial and financial agreements etc. The non-judicial stamp papers worth Rs 1,000 or more are referred to as high-value stamp papers and are only issued by the Treasury Offices of the district. Almost 95.89% of revenue under stamp duty is collected from these high value Non-Judicial stamp papers. These papers are widely used in recording the statements of agreement/deeds or the statements deeds related to property sale/purchase. The statements recorded on these papers are used as a proof of transactions and has a historic and cultural value for the citizen.
In current system of issuance of stamp papers, the procedure of high value non-judicial stamp papers begins with entering particulars of transaction under head of account on a Challan Form 32-A. The amount of the stamp duty to be paid depends upon the total value of transaction being executed between two or more parties; currently stamp duty is 3% of the total value of the transaction. The treasury assistant keeping in view the transaction details enters the relevant Bank Account No, verifies the calculation and hands over the Challan Form to the citizen. The citizen deposits the stamp fee either in the State Bank or National Bank. The original Challan after submission of payment is handed over to treasury officials. Scroll/Payment Information are received by the Treasury Office in 24 to 48 hours. The buyer or his agent receives the stamp paper after two to three days from the treasury office.
E-Stamping
Realizing the issues in the current system at the highest level by the Government, Punjab Information Technology Board has proposed an online system. The main objective for this e-stamping system is to prevent paper and process related fraudulent practices, leakage of government revenues, and store information in electronic form and build a central database to make ease of the verification process. There will be no more multiple visits of the citizen to pay the stamp duty; in new system the electronic stamp papers will be issued through any designated branch of a schedule bank. The value of stamp duty will be calculated on the basis of data provided by the buyer (area of the land, location, covered area, commercial/residential etc.) and DC valuation tables built into the system. The names of the buyer, seller and the person by whom stamps papers are being purchased will be fed into the system along with their CNIC which will be verified online from NADRA database in real time.
After online verification, the requisite Challan form 32-A will be generated based on the provided data, which then will be signed by the citizen and the payment will be submitted. The buyer of the stamp paper can go to the nearest branch of National Bank, Bank of Punjab and schedule banks etc. or to any designated bank counters established in the offices of sub-registrars. On payment of stamp duty, the bank counter will print the stamp paper on a specially designed legal sized paper. This stamp paper will be submitted to the sub-registrar/ housing society/ authority/ land developers, as in whatever the case may be. These authorities will be provided limited access to the database of e-Stamping from where they will be able to verify the e-Stamp paper, therefore eliminating chances of fake stamps. After utilization of the stamp paper, the database will mark a red strike against the paper which will restrict reuse of same stamp paper.
Moreover, if the competent authorities (Sub-Registrar, Housing Society etc.) feel on some material grounds that the Stamp Duty paid is on lower side by using their entrusted legal rights the client will be requested to deposit further amount on account of same transaction. The system will have the capacity to accept this additional amount and issue further stamp papers against the same ID number. In case of dispute in the valuation, the document will be dealt with under the stamp law.
In order to facilitate the public, Capital Value Tax, Registration Fees and Mutation Fees will also be collected through same Challan besides Stamp Duty.
The receiving banks will ensure realization of receipts into account 1 of Provincial Government through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) within 24 hours. The system will also provide the access to Finance Department (treasury/district account office) and Board of Revenue for maintaining accounts/ reconciliation on real time basis. The system will be a major breakthrough in the citizen facilitation and e-Governance.
Email:info.es@punjab.gov.pk URL:https://es.punjab.gov.pk(For every Citizen)
Special Treasury Officers URL:https://es.punjab.gov.pk/eStampVerificationPortal
