Pune: State revenue officials have clarified that stamp papers of Rs 100 and Rs 200 denominations will continue to be available, dispelling confusion among citizens over their availability following a recent cabinet decision to revise stamp duty rates for certain documents or articles. Deputy secretary of stamps and registration S S Bajaj told TOI that the revision affects only 11 out of 64 documents or articles for which previously Rs100 or Rs 200 stamp duty was required to be paid. "The revised stamp duty rate of Rs 500 applies to few documents such as letter of licence, appraisement or valuation, divorce documents, and surrender of lease documents, which previously required only Rs 100 or 200 as stamp duty," he said.
Bajaj said that the rates came into effect in 2004, so had to be revised. However, it does not mean that stamp papers of Rs 100 and Rs 200 denominations have been discontinued. "Stamp papers of Rs 100 or Rs 200 will be available for private use for making notary or any private work required at many places like making affidavits in offices," he added Several organisations had appealed to the government to retain Rs 100 and Rs 200 stamp papers as they thought that these would be phased out after the revision.
Bajaj emphasized that the change is limited in scope, affecting only specific documents while leaving the majority of stamp paper requirements unchanged. A revenue department official said that this was being done to bring simplicity and precision to docume.