The Law Commission of India has recommended that the required fee for any transaction/court fee can be paid by demand draft/cash/postal order/banker’s cheque instead of through non-judicial stamp papers or special stamps.
In its report to be submitted to the government, the Commission headed by Justice A.R. Lakshmanan said, “Non-judicial stamps are for use in transactions between persons, where a written instrument is used in such transactions. Adhesive stamps are printed on small pieces of paper and affixed to the instrument. There are special adhesive stamps to be used in particular instruments.” The report said: “Our country is carrying the unbearable load under the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, which is a British legacy. The main reason for stamp paper scams is that these stamp papers are printed in bulk. Another reason is the government not being alive to the fact that this Act is a ridiculous piece of legislation. Ridiculously small amount of court fee like 50 paise is still required to be paid on some type of documents. Then there are complicated provisions for cancelling those court fee stamps.” The report also noted that in the High Courts “where the paper books [case bundles] are very heavy, the petitioner is required to affix a court fee stamp of 65 paise on each page. Considerable amount of man hours are wasted in this useless process. These ridiculous provisions continue to remain on statute book even 56 years after the Constitution came into force. Added to all these problems is the artificial shortage of stamp papers occasionally created by agents, leading to sale of those stamp papers in black market. “There have been many scandals in this country in relation to stamp papers, including the latest Telgi scam involving printing and sale of stamp papers. Some State governments in our country it appears have decided to sell stamp papers through post offices.” The report said: “In view of more modern and convenient methods of charging court fee being available in our country, the mode of payment of court fee requires to be drastically overhauled. Court fee should be made payable for an amount in round figures, and should be payable through demand drafts or cash. In the Debts Recovery Tribunals and the Central Administrative Tribunals the system of paying court fee in lump sum on the entire petition through demand drafts or cash is working well.” The report, therefore, recommended amending the IS Act, 1899 to the effect that the required fee for any transaction should be payable through demand drafts, cash, postal order or banker’s cheque to enable the government save the huge cost required for printing court fee stamps and stamp papers and for payment of commission. It also recommended that a similar fee payment method be introduced in all the judicial forums and all other transactions.
