No more stamp papers at banks

BANGALORE: Stamp papers are off banks' shelves. Nationalized banks that issued stamp papers of smaller denominations have stopped printing the same and will sell only till they exhaust existing stock.
Thanks to the delay in implementation of the much-hyped e-stamping scheme, banks have finally said goodbye to the government. Now, documents can be stamped at sub-registrar offices.
Stamp paper vending has been officially stopped by banks from October. According to a communication to the stamps and registration department, there will be no more fresh printing of the papers.
"Banks will not print stamp papers and will clear the stocks. We have made alternative arrangements to supply stamp papers at sub-registrar offices. A stamp certificate will be given for the money deposited which will act as a stamp paper till we introduce e-stamping," inspector general of registration and commissioner of stamps K R Niranjan told The Times of India.
After the Telgi stamp paper scam, four banks -- State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of India, State Bank of Hyderabad and Corporation Bank -- were authorized to sell stamp papers in the denominations of Rs 20, Rs 50 and Rs 100. SBM used to issue a large number of stamp papers. These stamp papers of lesser value are used for writing agreements, affidavits and mortgage deeds.
According to SBM officials, the government had requested the bank to print stamp papers up to March 2009 since the proposed e-stamping had to get rolling. When that did not happen, the bank was asked to continue issuing stamp papers from April to June, which was further extended till September.
The banks need three months to print the papers since it's a high security risk job.