With stamp papers in short supply, Jharkhand should consider installing a machine like Kubera in Bangalore. Kubera can automatically issue demand drafts for the value received towards stamp duty of denominations ranging from Rs 20 to Rs 500. The AFP file picture shows a vendor displaying the first demand drafts issued from Kubera in 2003.

Ranchi, Aug. 18: Residents of the capital are being forced to pay one hundred times more revenue to the state than what is prescribed following the acute shortage of non-judicial stamps over the past six months.

A survey carried out by The Telegraph revealed that the state treasury has been running short of non-judicial stamps papers of Re 1, Rs 2, Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 300 denominations, forcing people to buy stamps of Rs 500 denomination even for ?petty jobs?. The only stamps now available with the vendors are of the denomination of Rs 500 and above.

Non-judicial stamps are required for land registration, agreement between parties, executing different types of bonds, affidavits and making declaration besides other non-judicial work as required under the Indian Stamp Act.

The stamp crisis has been persisting over the last six months. Initially, the shortage was restricted to papers below the denomination of Rs 50, but since July the crisis has deepened with papers of other denominations too disappearing from the market.

Habil Kandulna, an employee of Young Men?s Christian Association (YMCA), who has to get his seized motorcycle back from police custody, required a non-judicial stamp of Rs 20 to execute a bond. However, Kandulna has now dropped the idea of getting his bike released due to the non-availability of non-judicial stamps of lower denomination.

His advocate Arwind Kumar Lal said: ?Even if the YMCA authorities pay me for taking a non-judicial stamp of Rs 500 denomination, I will not do so as it will create a problem for them at the time of audit. An auditor will never be convinced that YMCA had spent Rs 500 for a non-judicial stamp when all that was required was a stamp worth Rs 20 only.?

Similarly, students who are paid stipend by the social welfare department after executing a bond on a non-judicial stamp of Rs 5 denomination, are facing problems following the crisis.

?We are not turning up at the welfare office for the last seven days,? said James Tirkey, a tribal student of the state-run Raj Polytechnic.

Sandeep Singh has postponed his idea of taking a loan from a bank ever since he came to know of the crisis of non-judicial stamp papers. He has decided to wait till stamps of lower denomination are finally available.

?The manager of a nationalised bank (Allahabad Bank?s Harmu branch) told me to bring six non-judicial stamps of Rs 20 each for execution of a bond for the release of a loan of Rs 30,000 for a two-wheeler. When I reached the civil court premises, I was shocked to find that I would have to spend Rs 3,000 for the purpose instead of Rs 120 only. I have postponed buying the two-wheeler and instead decided to wait for stamps of lower denomination to arrive,? Singh said.

Vendors said the crisis had been caused because of a shortage in supply from the security press in Nashik. ?There has been no supply for the past six months. Obviously, there will be a shortage,? said a vendor at the civil court.

The vendors get a commission of six per cent from the sale of the stamp papers.

Ranchi deputy commissioner Pradeep Kumar admitted the problem, saying he was making all efforts to make the stamps available as early as possible.

?I have written three letters to the security press which supplies non-judicial stamps. Three days ago, I had a telephone conversation with the press manager. I expect the stamps to be available shortly but I cannot set a timeframe,? he said.