Friday, April 8, 2016

Chanda notary scam: Maha loses crores in duty




Chandrapur: A retired government accountant has brought to fore a major stamp duty evasion scam in the district which has caused financial loss to the state exchequer to the tune of crores of rupees.

Complainant Haji Ali has alleged that the act of notarizing property documents such as sale deed and gift deed, which are compulsorily registrable documents with the registrar after paying stamp duty, is the new modus operandi being used in the district. Such notarizing of the documents has already caused huge losses to the exchequer as the deals have taken place by avoiding payment of stamp duty and other taxes.

Ali's complaint to the law and judiciary department has opened a Pandora's box of illegal property deals and inquiry conducted by principal district and sessions judge has found all 12 notaries authorized by state government in district to be involved in this practice. Union government too has initiated inquiry against its authorized notaries in Chandrapur for similar misconduct.

Ali claimed that it is compulsory to register the sale or gift deed of every immovable property with the registrar by paying due stamp duty. However, land developers and property dealers have found a way of evading the stamp duty and have started executing the sale deeds and gift deeds by mere notarizing the documents. It is a big scam under which agricultural lands, land in flood zone, illegally occupied lands etc are sold with hefty profits by simply notarizing the sale documents. Ali charged that every year more than 30,000 such property deals are executed through notaries and the total sum of stamp duty evasion amounted to more than Rs 300 crores in last 10 years.

"The property dealers are not only evading the duty against conversion of agriculture land into non-agriculture one, duties against approval of the layout and stamp duty against registration of property, but also income tax against every deal made through notarized property documents. There are thousands of property holders in the district who have procured plots through such illegal manner and built their homes using their precious savings. However, the fact is that they could never be the owners of the property unless their name is registered in 7/12 document of the land and mutation of property can take place only when the sale deed is registered with the government registrar," he explained.

Ali also claimed that it is the responsibility of respective tehsildar and patwari to keep watch and take action against illegal sale of agricultural land for non-agricultural use. However, they apparently overlook such deals out of vested interest. "The instance of Ballarpur Municipal Council passing a resolution allowing mutation of properties sold through notarized documents too has helped this illegal practice to flourish," he charged.

"I had prayed for action against all the notaries by way of cancellation of certificates of practice and penal action for playing fraud on the government. Even as investigation report submitted by the principal district and sessions judge had indicted all state authorized notaries here of misconduct, the government let them off by issuing mere warning to desist from notarizing the compulsorily registrable documents. The government order (dated February 29), however, clearly states that a single instance of similar nature against them in future would invite inquiry and if found guilty their license might be suspended or even cancelled," Ali said.

Prohibition on notarizing the sale deeds of property has baffled all the developers and property dealers. The government order has completely stalled the illegal sale of properties in district through notarized deals. "There are thousands of people who have been deceived to purchase the properties illegally in this fashion. Hence, government should come up with an amnesty scheme, under which such victimized property holders could regularize their properties with relaxation in the penalty," Ali demanded.

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