Updated 29 July 2020 at 21:58 IST
Gujarat HC upholds rule discontinuing the sale of physical non-judicial stamp paper
Six petitions had been made in the Gujarat High Court challenging the prohibition on sale of physical stamp paper last year after which the order has been given
Six petitions had been filed in the Gujarat High Court challenging the prohibition on sale of physical non-judicial stamp paper last year, after which the order has been passed by the division bench comprising of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Ashutosh Shastri.
In 2019, the Government of Gujarat had passed the notification inserting a rule in the Gujarat Stamps Supply and Sales Rules 1987 wherein, the physical sale and purchase of non-judicial stamp papers would've been prohibited. When it had been challenged, an issue had also been raised that the stamp papers already in custody of the vendors will be rendered obsolete and will affect them deeply. Following this, the government had extended the date till which sale and supply of physical non judicial stamp paper would have been allowed but no new stamp papers were being issued.
In these petitions, the validity of the new rule; namely Rule 8A of the Gujarat Stamps Supply and Sales Rules 1987 had been challenged. That, the rule in itself was ultra vires of Indian Stamp Act 1889 and Gujarat Stamp Act of 1958.
In the order passed by the division bench have stated that the 'law can not be anachronistic' and the order begins by quoting the Greek philosopher Heraclitus who said 'the only constant in life is change'. The order recalls the technological changes and enhancements with regards to the stamp papers.
That, 'Gujarat has undergone changes at periodical intervals with the introduction of franking machines in the year 1999, reciepted challans or certificate issued under the e-stamping system in the year 2007 and now with the elimination of the use of non-judicial physical stamp paper, a new era in this field of law has been ushered and this is a classic example of how law and evolution go hand in hand.'
Commenting upon the judgement, Manisha Lav Kumar stated, "there are a lot of precautions that the government has started taking ever since the Telgi scam which had come to light. Of course, it was a while back and various technological advancements have been made. Accordingly, the security has also been increased."
While citing the entries in the Union, state and concurrent lists of Schedule 7 of the Constitution of India, the court found that the Indian Stamp act was 'neither a parent act nor a superior act.'
Another one of the arguments of the petitioners was that the State government does not have the authority to introduce the new rule 8A. But, it was observed that Section 74 of Indian Stamp Act 1889 and Section 69 of Gujarat Stamp Act 1958 give specific powers to the state with regards to making rules about the supply and sale of stamps and non judicial stamp papers.
Another reason for disposing off the petitions challenging the prohibition on sale of physical non judicial stamp papers was cited that there are at least twenty-one states that already have e-stamping system in place. More specifically, in states of Karnataka and New Delhi the physical judicial stamp papers were discontinued.
It was also found that the discontinuance of physical stamp papers was not in violation of the rights of the vendors. In fact, the court noted that the licenced vendors could still make sales of judicial stamp papers.
Published By : Priyanka Sharma
Published On: 29 July 2020 at 20:09 IST