UP toll lessee evades stamp duty of 63 crore

LUCKNOW: A Delhi-based company contracted to operate a toll plaza on NH-19 in UP is under investigation for allegedly sealing a 15-year lease by fraudulently paying Rs 100 as stamp duty instead of the stipulated Rs 63 crore.

The lease, signed on March 18, 2023, entitles the firm to collect toll for a 72.64-km stretch of the highway between Prayagraj and Varanasi for 15 years.

The value of the lease was calculated at Rs 3,144 crore, for which stamp duty to the state govt was to be paid at the rate of 2% of the registered value. Stamp paper worth Rs 100 was illegally used to register the agreement between the company and National Highways Authority of India, sources said.

The alleged fraud came to light after the chief secretary wrote to all district magistrates on Sept 26 last year, asking them to review the agreements being registered by toll collection agencies operating across the state. The circular was based on complaints that many of them might have short-changed the state govt by evading stamp duty.

The circular cited the Supreme Court's July 19, 2024, order on a dispute between Rewa Tollway Pvt Ltd and the Madhya Pradesh govt. The district collector stamp of Bhadohi served notices on the Delhi-based lessee in Jan and again in March. He filed a case against the company under the Uttar Pradesh Stamp Act on June 20. Pankaj Kumar Singh, assistant inspector general of the stamp and registration department in Bhadohi, said recovery proceedings would be initiated against the company. Senior officials said over 30 such cases against toll plaza lessees were pending.