Telangana Council unanimously passes Indian Stamp (Telangana Amendment Bill) 2020

Minister for Roads and Buildings, Housing and Legislative Affairs Vemula Prashanth Reddy explained that earlier citizens were allowed to register the property even as their appeal to reconsider the stamp duty was pending with the IG.

Hyderabad: Telangana Legislative Council unanimously passed the Indian Stamp (Telangana Amendment Bill) 2020 aimed at amending the Section 47-A of the Indian Stamps Act 1899, scrapping the discretionary powers of Inspector General of Stamps and Registrations and registrars in fixing the value of the stamp duty.

Introducing the bill in the Council on Wednesday, Minister for Roads and Buildings, Housing and Legislative Affairs Vemula Prashanth Reddy said that the amendment now gives that right to a committee headed by the concerned district Collector, district registrar as convener, Municipal Commissioner, Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Parishat and DIG Stamps as members in urban areas and to the committee consisting of Joint Collector, Divisional Revenue Officer, DIG stamps and sub registrar in rural areas.

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He explained that earlier citizens were allowed to register the property even as their appeal to reconsider the stamp duty was pending with the IG. “The IG after considering the appeal can either increase or decrease the stamp duty. This has given chance to corruption in some places,” he said. He said that once a decision is taken by the Committee on the final stamp duty, the consumer must then pay the entire stamp duty and book a slot for registration.

The Council has also unanimously passed a Bill amending the section 441 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act of 1973 and Form number 45 to make the “Zamindar” or guarantor of bail, responsible for bringing back the accused to Court on said date for trial. Introducing the Bill, Law Minister A Indrakaran Reddy said that the guarantor for the release of the accused on bail often fail to bring back the accused for trial leading to delays. “Now we are proposing to impose fine on such guarantors who offer sureties but take no responsibility,” he said.

Congress MLC Jeevan Reddy said that many accused were getting bail from the Police Station itself and such criminals cannot be governed by this amendment. The Minister clarified that the accused under non- bailable offences will have to seek bail only from the Court, hence the bill can be passed in its present form.

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