The Hindu Business Line : Kerala decides to cut stamp duty by half

A MEETING of the Cabinet of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday decided to substantially reduce the stamp duty, which is expected to "unlock the real value of land" and provide a boost to the housing and real estate sector in the State.

Briefing newspersons here on the proceedings of the meeting, the Chief Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, said the State Government would soon promulgate an Ordinance to effect a downward revision in the prevailing rates, among the highest in the country, to almost half.

Dwelling further on the new rates, he said the duty would be reduced to 6 per cent from 12 per cent of the transaction value in panchayats, to 7 per cent from 14 per cent in municipalities, and to 8 per cent from 15.50 per cent in city corporations. The decision is in line with the recommendations made earlier by a specially constituted Law Reforms Committee.

The reduction in stamp duty is expected to drastically bring down the incidence of evasion and undervaluation, the Chief Minister said. There has been a perceptible increase in recent times in the number of undervaluation cases where the Government has had to announce amnesty schemes from time-to-time, leading to avoidable administrative inconvenience.

The Cabinet also gave its unanimous approval for promulgating an Ordinance to exempt cashew from land ceiling as required by the provisions of the Land Reforms Act. Again, this was one of the recommendations made by the Law Reforms Committee.

The Government is expected to introduce at least 20 new legislations during the next session of the State Assembly in line with the recommendations of the committee.

There would also be a separate law for repeal of obsolete laws that were originally meant to apply to the erstwhile princely States of Travancore, Kochi and Malabar, prior to State reorganisation. These laws pertain to town planning, irrigation, fisheries, public health, Christian marriage, registration of societies, prohibition of begging and contagious diseases control.

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