Delhi Government’s Revenue Department has issued notices to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and three Municipal corporations for the non-payment of stamp duty to the tune of Rs 28 crore and threatened them to prosecute if they fail to pay the dues. A notice in this regard has been served to DMRC Chairman Mangu Singh, NDMC Chairman Jalaj Srivastava, and the Commissioners of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) and the Chairman of Delhi Cantonment Board.
Accountant General (Audit) of the Delhi Government has taken serious note of the non-payment of stamp duty by the DMRC, NDMC, the three municipal authorities and corporations, Delhi Cantonment Board and other Government bodies. Deputy Commissioner of New Delhi district Ameya Abhyankar has shot off a terse notice to the HODs of all the corporations as non-payment/evading stamp duty is an offence under the Indian Stamp Act and the HODs of the concerned departments will be held liable and prosecuted for the violation of the Act, besides imposition or penalty to the extent of ten times of the deficient/evaded value of the stamp duty.
As far as three MCDs are concerned, the corporation awarded contracts and agreements for toll collection from the year 2003 onwards, for a period ranging from one to three years to private entrepreneurs for a total consideration of Rs 1,903.51 crore in three cases. It neither registered the lease deeds nor had any contractual binding on the lessees to get these lease deeds registered. Thus failure on the part of the MCD resulted in a loss of stamp duty of Rs 14.83 crore. “The three MCDs also executed agreements and contracts of parking sites with private entrepreneurs for a total of Rs 215 .80 crore which include Rs 4.07 crore of EDMC, Rs 68.74 crore of NMC and Rs 142.99 crore of SDMC. These lease deeds were executed from two to six years. These three corporations neither registered lease deeds in respect of these parking sites nor had any contractual binding on the lessees to get these lease deeds registered which resulted in loss of stamp duty of Rs 1.26 crore and registration fee of Rs 0.01 crore.