<p>Bengaluru: The <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/karnataka">Karnataka</a> government has informed the High Court that disciplinary action is being initiated against officials who caused losses to the state due to counterfeit stamp papers.</p><p>This was in an affidavit filed by Principal Secretary - Revenue (Disaster Management, Stamps & Registration and Social Security) Rashmi V Mahesh last month in connection with a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a special investigation into fake stamp papers.</p><p>The PIL was filed by Eswarraj R of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) in August this year.</p>.Derogatory comment row: Karnataka govt orders CID probe, BJP leaders meet Guv seeking judicial inquiry.<p>According to Rashmi's affidavit, a special audit was undertaken by the Karnataka State Audit & Accounts Department from March 14 to 25 this year at the sub-registrar offices of Mysuru (East) and Mysuru (South) for the 2022-23 financial year to verify discrepancies in transactions. The audit looked into sub-registrars using their power under Section 10A of the Karnataka Stamp Act to certify stamp duty payments.</p><p>Rashmi told the High Court that the existing system of stamp duty payment and manual attestation and signature will be scrapped. A new software integrating the Kaveri-2 and Khajane-2 portals for transactions involving non-registrable documents will be rolled out from April 1, 2025, she stated.</p><p>"Disciplinary action against the concerned officials is being initiated for their acts of omission and commission resulting in the revenue loss to the state and the same will be taken to its logical conclusion," Rashmi stated.</p><p>"Action as per rules is also being initiated against the organisation/association which has facilitated and its office-bearers who have been a party to the revenue loss caused to the state (sic)," Rashmi stated, referring to the Karnataka State Licensed Electrical Contractors Association.</p><p>On Tuesday, <em>DH</em> had reported the detection of large-scale evasion of stamp duty due to counterfeit documents. This was seen especially in agreements signed by licensed electrical contractors. Several of these agreements were fraudulent. A single or fake challan was used to attest multiple stamp duty payments by sub-registrars in such agreements.</p><p>This has been happening for years. Loss to the exchequer is being estimated in the range of Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 8,000 crore a year.</p><p>Eswarraj said he has been pursuing the matter since 2013-14. "If authorities had acted in 2013 itself, then what was the need to file a PIL in the High Court?" he said.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: The <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/karnataka">Karnataka</a> government has informed the High Court that disciplinary action is being initiated against officials who caused losses to the state due to counterfeit stamp papers.</p><p>This was in an affidavit filed by Principal Secretary - Revenue (Disaster Management, Stamps & Registration and Social Security) Rashmi V Mahesh last month in connection with a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a special investigation into fake stamp papers.</p><p>The PIL was filed by Eswarraj R of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) in August this year.</p>.Derogatory comment row: Karnataka govt orders CID probe, BJP leaders meet Guv seeking judicial inquiry.<p>According to Rashmi's affidavit, a special audit was undertaken by the Karnataka State Audit & Accounts Department from March 14 to 25 this year at the sub-registrar offices of Mysuru (East) and Mysuru (South) for the 2022-23 financial year to verify discrepancies in transactions. The audit looked into sub-registrars using their power under Section 10A of the Karnataka Stamp Act to certify stamp duty payments.</p><p>Rashmi told the High Court that the existing system of stamp duty payment and manual attestation and signature will be scrapped. A new software integrating the Kaveri-2 and Khajane-2 portals for transactions involving non-registrable documents will be rolled out from April 1, 2025, she stated.</p><p>"Disciplinary action against the concerned officials is being initiated for their acts of omission and commission resulting in the revenue loss to the state and the same will be taken to its logical conclusion," Rashmi stated.</p><p>"Action as per rules is also being initiated against the organisation/association which has facilitated and its office-bearers who have been a party to the revenue loss caused to the state (sic)," Rashmi stated, referring to the Karnataka State Licensed Electrical Contractors Association.</p><p>On Tuesday, <em>DH</em> had reported the detection of large-scale evasion of stamp duty due to counterfeit documents. This was seen especially in agreements signed by licensed electrical contractors. Several of these agreements were fraudulent. A single or fake challan was used to attest multiple stamp duty payments by sub-registrars in such agreements.</p><p>This has been happening for years. Loss to the exchequer is being estimated in the range of Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 8,000 crore a year.</p><p>Eswarraj said he has been pursuing the matter since 2013-14. "If authorities had acted in 2013 itself, then what was the need to file a PIL in the High Court?" he said.</p>
