Punjab Government’s move to conduct audit of stamp fee payable on property registration has paid rich dividends with the initial audit of over 12 sub-registrar offices revealed “under recovery” of whopping Rs211 crores.
The revelations came forth during the high-level meeting on Friday presided over by the state Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia, who initiated the move, during which the international audit agencies, including KPMG and PWC Private limited, presented their preliminary report of 12 sub-registrar offices. Maintaining that his hunch of under recovery worth crores of rupees has proved right, Majithia has asked the agencies to complete the pending task at the earliest.
The agencies informed that they have completed the task of post assessment for one year in relation to documents registered or referred to under section 47A by sub-registrar offices of Amritsa-I, Amritsar-II, Jalandhar-I, Jalandhar-II, Patiala, Kharar, ludhiana East, ludhiana West, ludhiana Central, Dera Bassi, Maajri, and Mohali for a period starting from April 1, 2012, to March 31, 2013, for sale and transfer deeds only.
The agencies representatives informed that in the process, they have assessed a total 1,84, 185 deeds and found 51,334 deficit cases and under recovery of more that Rs211 crores. Now, with the help of concerned revenue officials, the agencies have started reconciliation process and a letter was being sent to the concerned party giving it a right to make himself or authorized representative present at the designated office of the Department for the process.
Directing revenue officers to ensure time-bound recovery of under recovered amount of stamp duty and other charges, Majithia said that Financial Commissioner Revenue would fix the schedule of recovery and monitor it strictly.