KOCHI: Are you looking for a rented house or planning to purchase a property? Then, book your stamp paper in advance, or else, be forced to go for plane white papers. For, there is a heavy shortage of stamp papers in the district. People will have to depend on white papers for making agreements for purchasing land or house, renting out a house and even for filing an affidavit for LPG connection.The Ernakulam Stamp Depot is running short of stamp papers of `100, one of the most sought-after denomination for making agreements. One of the major reasons being pointed out for the shortage is delay in procuring stamp papers from the security press in Nashik, Maharashtra. “We are facing a huge shortage of stamp papers of `50 and `100. The Ernakulam district stands first for the demand of stamp paper irrespective of denominations. The coordination of different departments, especially Finance and Registration, is necessary to procure the stamp paper. We came to know that there is delay in the allocation of fund from these departments which has caused the present crisis,” said an office-bearer of the Stamp Paper Vendors Association.The shortage arose after Onam and it became acute in October. Usually, the stamp papers are supplied to vendors on all Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.A greater number of stamp papers of `10 and `20 are available in plenty with which the people have to fulfill their requirement. But this has led to further complexity, as more stamp papers of smaller denominations have to be used instead of a single paper of larger denomination. This will gradually lead to scarcity of smaller denominations too, a vendor at the Kerala High Court said.Another fact the vendors assume behind the current shortage is the government’s decision to use `100 stamp paper for all types of agreements for which a `50 stamp paper was used. “The land transaction in Ernakulam is in such speedy manner that an agreement made for buying a property is changed within hours or in the very next day for a resale. For this, more papers are required,” another vendor said. Joy Vettikatil, who came all the way from Kannur for a business purpose in Perumabvoor, had to search every pocket of Perumbavoor and Kochi areas, including the High Court and District Court premises, for getting a stamp paper.“I urgently needed a stamp paper of `100 for preparing an agreement for a room I rented in Perumbavoor. The vendor told me that I have to wait for another fortnight to get the stamp papers. So I am going back and will return after two weeks,” said Joy.When contacted, Ernakulam RDO S Shanavas said the dearth of stamp papers has not been reported. “I have contacted the stamp depot and as per the available report, there is no such shortage. However, if there is such a complaint, it will be looked into,” he said.
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