The preparation of legal and official documents for citizens has now become more expensive as the government has significantly increased e-stamp paper fees. According to a private TV report, the fees in different categories have been increased by two to five times, which will affect both the general public and business people.
According to the report, the minimum e-stamp paper fee has been increased from Rs 100 to Rs 300. In addition, the fee for divorce-related documents has been increased the most, which will now have to be paid Rs 1,000 instead of Rs 100.
Students and job aspirants will also face additional expenses as the stamp paper fee for domicile certificate has been increased from Rs 100 to Rs 500. This decision will increase the burden on new admissions in schools and candidates for government jobs.
New connections of utility services have also become expensive. Now the stamp fee for electricity, sui gas and water connections has been fixed at Rs 1,000, which was earlier only Rs 100.
Major changes have also been made in the property sector. The fee for e-stamp paper for property sales agreement has been increased from Rs 1,200 to Rs 3,000. Apart from this, the stamp paper used for other general agreements has also been increased from Rs 100 to Rs 500.
According to further details, the fee for agreements up to Rs 5 lakh is Rs 3,000, while a stamp of Rs 6,000 has been made mandatory for agreements between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh.
The fee for power of attorney has also been increased from Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,800. Along with this, it has also been made mandatory to have a mobile SIM registered in the name of the applicant under the new condition. Experts say that these increases will increase government revenue, however, there is also a fear of increasing the expenses of ordinary citizens.