India Post’s Philatelic Bureau here has issued a postage stamp on former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Shyama Charan Shukla for sale before its official release which is scheduled on March 9 in New Delhi.

The Rs 5 stamp, bearing a picture of Shukla, was scheduled to be released on February 17 but due to unavailability of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for its release, it was postponed to March 9, official sources said here on Friday.

Sources said 950 stamps worth Rs 4,750 have been sold out from Jaipur philatelic bureau so far. Postmaster, Jaipur GPO S N Saini said he was not aware of the changed schedule and so the tickets were sold on February 17.

K S Yadav, additional superintendent of Philately, New Delhi said, “No bureau can release the stamp before its official release and neither any bureau was asked to release the ticket on February 17. If such thing has happened, appropriate action will be taken. The stamp was earlier scheduled to be released on February 17 but Prime Minister had no time, so it was rescheduled for March 9. We have no information
 that any bureau has released the stamp.”