All district Collectors have been directed to ensure payment of stamp duty by the mining lessees as per the provisions of the Indian Stamp (Odisha Amendment) Act, 2013. A notification to this effect was issued by the Revenue and Disaster Management Department on Saturday.
Notably, the State Government had earlier brought an amendment to the Indian Stamp (Odisha Amendment) Act 2013 in the wake of reports about loopholes in the stamp duty collection. With the implementation of the amended Act, the Government is expected to be able to get stamp duty from the mines being operated under deemed extension.
The Government expects to mop up additional revenue of about Rs1,000 crore annually from the mining sector with the enforcement of the Act. Through the amendment, the Government has provided for levying a 15-per cent stamp duty on mining leases in future as well as for preceding period from the mines operating under deemed extension.
The amendment, passed in the State Assembly in its last session, prescribes that the levy will be charged in the case of highest figure of royalty payment, the sum total of the quantity of minerals permitted for extraction in the approved mining plan or the actual quantity raised on the basis of yearly calculation.
The newly-inserted Section 3 (A) says that on every instrument of grant or renewal of a mining lease, the stamp duty chargeable shall be equivalent to 15 per cent of the amount of average royalty that would accrue out of the highest annual extraction of minerals permitted under the approved mining plan multiplied by the period of such mining lease.
In the absence of an amendment to the prevailing statute, the Government was earlier losing revenue as mine owners were being allowed to continue their operations under ‘deemed renewal’ for years with the former sitting over the renewal process. The operation of leases under ‘deemed renewal’ obviated need to execute a fresh lease agreement wherein miners were required to pay stamp duty.
As many as 329 applications of mine lessees were pending for renewal while 50 leaseholders were continuing under ‘deemed extension’.