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Thursday, Nov 20, 2003

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Why use stamp paper at all?

The stamp paper scam threatens to be the mother of all the scams, against which the stock market scams following the doings of Harshad Mehta, and Ketan Parekh may pale into insignificance.

The rise of Abdul Karim Telgi from rag to riches is a pointer to the ineffective systems prevailing in the government revenue mechnism. All the culprits involved and those who helped cover up the operation should be booked and tried for their misdeeds.

The root cause of the scam is reported to be the artificial shortage created in stamp paper supply.

How the authorities concerned failed to estimate and get the requisite volume of stamp paper printed from the government source at Nashik, when the volume of business deals is increasing significantly, is a million dollar question.

Given the fact that the government lost hundreds of crores of rupees worth revenues because of the fake paper, there must be a quick rethink on the need for such paper at all.

Why should not we abolish the stamp paper mechanism and go for direct payment mechnism through bank draft, pay order or cheque, with only the Registrar's acknowledgement providing the requisite legal proof of the deal. Let the money be handled only at the bank level.

R. S. Raghavan

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