Stamp Vendors Now Public Servants: Will a ₹2 Bribe Lead to Jail Time|| Stamp Paper

Ayaan Siddiqui, St. Xavier’s University Kolkata

Stamp Paper

In a registrar’s office in Mumbai, the people waiting are not for a judge or lawyer, but for a piece of paper. This is no ordinary piece of paper – it is a government stamp paper, stamped with seal, and value. Indians have, for a while, depended on stock sheets stamped from property sale deeds and rental agreements to affidavits and court fee documents to provide legality to their deals. It turns out to be much more than just any stationery; it is an amalgam of law and revenue, sired by a colonial era statute and I found it every day in my daily life. In this narrative, I explore the reasons for stamp paper in India, the rules for its usage, the scams reported around it, the quantity of business it generates, and most importantly, why it exists.

What Exactly Is Stamp Paper and Why Use It?

A thick special paper provided with a pre-printed revenue stamp, or a watermark of some denomination is known as stamp paper. The origin of the Act dates to the Indian Stamp Act of 1899 which brought a tax on legal documents. If significant documents are being executed on the stamp paper, the value printed on it signifies the stamp duty charged to the government about that transaction. In brief, one pays the tax to render an agreement legally valid and enforceable by buying stamp paper of the due amount. 

Stamp paper is plain paper, upon which a document can be prepared, and its advantage is, that instead of writing it on paper without the state’s imprimatur and tax paid thereon, it has the state’s imprimatur and tax paid, which is proof of validity of the document. For example, a contract that is drafted on ordinary paper but does not bear a stamp duty may undergo a short shrift on the ground of its being inadmissible in the court or may even attract penalties for evading duty. However, the same contract written on a ₹100 stamp paper (for example ₹100 is the imposed duty) is treated as properly stamped i.e. government dues are paid. 

The Stamp Act details dozens of instruments – real estate conveyances and mortgages, powers of attorney, marriage certificates, the document lists them – that require stamp duty. The underlying principle is that the state gains from official transactions and thus gives to the stamped document a legal equivalence of an evidence that the parties paid this tax. 

Nowadays, stamp paper has been a vogue to mean the word referring to any official or notarized agreement. In India, however there are two broad types of these papers,

1. Judicial stamp papers- which are used in legal cases for court fee payments and 

2. Non-judicial stamp papers- used for all other agreements and documents. 

People use non judicial stamps for agreements, affidavits, property deeds etc., and judicial (stamps) for covering court fee charges (often by means of special (stamps) or coupons for filing suit, petition, etc.). In both cases the principle is the same, that a stamped document constitutes a receipt of the revenue paid to the government, and example therefore with the writing of the document. 

On its Face Value, the Stamp Paper

In no way can the use of stamp paper be construed as a legal formality, it is, in fact, a massive daily business through which funds keep flowing into state coffers. Estimates put stamp paper sales to be in the crores of rupees per day across the country and the scale really goes up on a business day. 

To get an idea, in the State of Maharashtra, stamp duty and registration fees led to over ₹43,000 crore in revenue during the financial year 2022-23. That works out to well above ₹100 crore a day in just one state on average. Multiply it to all states and union territories and its scale becomes staggering. 

Few key facts and figures about usage of stamp paper in India are:

• Nationwide, the stamp paper sold generates forecasts of revenues more than ₹200 crore per day. This plot, which sums all denominations in all states – the ₹10 affidavits to the multi crores of property deed stamps – certifies how stamps are present everywhere in the economy of India. 

• Top States for Stamp Duty: Maharashtra is in the top of the pile in terms of stamp duty collection (thanks to the housing boom in cities like Mumbai, Pune etc.), followed by other big states. Maharashtra collected an unheard of ₹43,289 crore in stamp duty and registration charges during 2022-23, the highest in India. There are other states which have high stamp usage of the paper because of their large populations, markets of the various properties, and they include Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi. Drawing an example of Uttar Pradesh, the state has a large number of court cases and land transactions which means courts and registrars of Uttar Pradesh consume a large volume of stamp paper (though in terms of actual value, it is not comparable to collections from Maharashtra’s urban leanings). 

• Property & Legal Deals are Biggest Consumers: Naturally, and by far, it is in property transactions that the maximum value of stamp paper is consumed. Real estate is something that calls for stamp duty which is payable before transfer or sale of the same, and does so often to the extent of lakhs of rupees in a transaction, generating the bulk of income. An example is the ₹5 lakh stamp duty payable on a deed for the sale of a single apartment in Mumbai, which may be paid using as much as high denomination stamp paper or e-stamps. Times that by the thousands of daily property deals and you know why real estate the golden goose of stamp revenue is. Other heavy uses for stamp paper, besides property deeds, include commercial contracts (partnership agreement, business contract, lease agreement) and financial instruments (like loan agreement or bond paper) whose stamp duty is specified in law. 

Sworn affidavits for government jobs, college admissions, etc as well as small rental agreements on ₹50 or ₹100 stamp paper are the two most common consumption items of stamp paper in terms of sheer number of documents (if not total value). Especially in litigation heavy states, quite a bit is used for court fee stamps (judicial papers) for filing lawsuits – big civil suit could involve payment of thousands or lakhs in court fees, usually requiring judicial stamp papers or e-stamps. 

Denominations and validity of stamp papers

There are different denominations of stamp papers – other than judicial court fee stamp papers, one which can be of small values of ₹5 or ₹20 and can also increase depending on needs, the most common non judicial stamp papers are of ₹10, ₹20, ₹50, ₹100, ₹500, and ₹1,000. Currently one can pay any arbitrary amount with the use of electronic stamping (e-stamps) but traditional physical papers are fixed for these denominations (if some required duty is not exactly one of them, then several stamp papers or adhesive stamps are combined). 

It is a common question how much time it takes to get the stamp paper expired. Under the Indian Stamp Act however, a stamp paper never technically expires once purchased; there is no blanket ‘expiry date’ mentioned in the central law. It didn’t matter if you bought a ₹10 paper or a ₹500 paper, you would be within your right to use it years later because it would still be an acceptable instrument for an agreement. 

The only six-month time limit to “six months” they mention is something different; in most cases you have up to six months to return stamp paper to the government (the Collector of Stamps) for a refund after buying it but not using it. If you have forgotten the act on which you bought a stamp paper, then remember that once you purchase one, you cannot get a refund from the vendor for the same in case you do not use it in six months, but you can still use it to execute a document. 

In the subsequent court judgments, the myth that it would expire six months if not used has been effectively debunked. However, few states laid some of their own restrictions against abuse of these papers: Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan amended its stamp law, restricting the validity of unused stamp papers to six months. In those states, if you don’t use the stamp paper within six months from the date of purchase, the stamp paper becomes invalid (people are not supposed to hoard them with the intention of returning to these shopkeepers for an expression and then using old stamp paper or trading them in the black market). 

However, in most other places in the country, one can keep or use a stamp paper of any kind later on for a document (without a legal infirmity as long as no refund is sought). However, in practice, lawyers frequently advise utilizing brand new stamp papers to prevent any questions, but in many parts of India, an old one which is well preserved stamps and papers is as excellent as new as per law. 

A Day in the Life of a Stamp Vendor -And a New Legal Status in India

Stamp papers are mostly bought through licensed stamp vendors – an official who runs a kiosk alongside courts and government offices. The vendors, in turn, get stock of the stamp papers from the treasury and sell them to the public at face value. Typically, outside a district court there are these vendors who type whatever affidavit or agreement their customers require and, on the spot, furnish the stamp paper. Through decades, they were considered as semiprivate businessmen who channelled revenue collection. 

But stamp vendors have been put thoroughly in the public eye – by the law. In May 2025, the Supreme Court of India had ruled licensed stamp vendors to be “public servants” as per an anti-corruption law. It is a landmark judgment as stamp vendors, who are neither traditional government employees, are now deemed to be performing a public duty and fall within the ambit of Prevention of Corruption Act. 

This ruling stems from a forceful case that sharply highlights the extent and a crux of the everyday nature of the issue: way back in 2003, a stamp vendor in Delhi was caught red-handed earning a commission of ₹2 for overstamping a stamp paper that was sold for ₹10 for ₹12 — in other words, an overcharge of ₹2 or bribe of ₹2. Instructed to prosecute under the PCA, on the ground that he had taken illegal gratification as a vendor authorized by the government. This seemingly petty bribe case wound its way through the courts for over two decades. The last question that the Supreme Court tackled was whether a stamp vendor is a public servant liable for bribery charges. And the answer the apex court gave was yes – yes, absolutely. 

The stamp vendors perform such an important public function that the Court reasoned they are entrusted by the state, by providing them authorities to collect the revenue by selling the stamp paper, and the stamp vendors in turn are remunerated by the state in the form of a commission or discounted purchase price of the stamps. By legal terms these stamp act license and commission structure made them agents to government for this task. 

It is, therefore, not just about a private con, but of corruption of the public, analogous to that of a government cashier pocketing extra fee, if a vendor does abuse this position, say demanding extra money over and above the official value, or colluding in any fraudulent dealings. 

The Supreme Court, by bringing lakhs of stamp vendors within the definition of “public servant” under the PCA, therefore, cautioned them that if they take any unauthorized payment or bribe, they will invite serious criminal charges, including imprisonment. The Delhi case is worth noting as outcome of that: the Supreme Court ultimately acquitted the vendor who had kept the extra ₹2 but it was only because there was a clear lack of evidence in that vend of so many years. 

The facet of the case settled: Future misconduct by stamp vendors can and will be punished by anti-corruption laws, but the individual, after 22 years of delay and appeal, was not so unlucky and [is] free because of the evidence. It’s ironic, the irony wasn’t lost: a man who allegedly took ₹2 illegally spent years, two decades, tangled in the justice system, such that the principle at stake was an important one. With the law clarified, now, a stamp vendor asking even small premium on the stamp paper is now tantamount to bribe taker under the law.

From Petty Premiums to Big Bribes: Curbing Misconduct

Why were stamp vendors suddenly defined as ‘public servants’? As we have seen in all too many cases, there is simply no reason misconduct in the sale of stamp papers should be a perennial problem, ranging (as it does) from the petty to the pernicious. The most common issue with this unit is overcharging. Millions of people can recall being required to part with a few rupees extra at the stamp counter, Rs5 or Rs10 over the stamp’s principal value, this with the justification from the vendor that it was fair to compensate him for the typing or just ‘chai-pani’ (an endearing euphemism for a petty tip/malfeasance). The stamp should sell for face value, but it might seem trivial, it’s illegal. In fact, even in such small cases, there have been convictions. The Delhi case was of a vendor and his assistant being sentenced to two years in jail for a charge of ₹5 over the printed value of a stamp paper. The courts thought it sternly that if the amount taken is a quid pro quo for performing a public duty, even a minor amount, the act is that of corruption.

Minor overpricing has not been the only thing that has plagued the system, larger bribes and collusion have also had their fair share. For instance, a stamp vendor (but a deed writer as well) was arrested by Punjab's Vigilance Bureau for accepting a ₹30,000 bribe in July 2024, to enable property registration. In that case, the vendor was said to be making collections from a local official to obtain the registration of a plot more quickly or specially (playing the intermediary in a corruption chain). So lucrative was such illegal facilitation that investigators even found a a whopping nearly ₹9 lakh in unaccounted cash when they raided the vendor’s premises during the investigation. Cases like these further illustrate that some stamp vendors did more than just turning over paper; they were acting as middlemen and cutting payoffs in land transactions, causing a loss of faith in the land registry system.

The second malpractice has been to back date stamp papers. Out of all these, vendors that have been caught stamping with stamps dated in the past and so can be used by unscrupulous people to show that an agreement or a transaction has been made earlier are among the worst categories. A few years ago, two licensed vendors in Ludhiana were caught in one such sting operation red handed that took place a few years ago, providing old date stamp papers (and for this hazarazy commission). If, say, you use a stamp paper dated last year, you can facilitate the person for fraud – you get an earlier agreement, and you can evade taxes. These actions do not only cheat the revenue but can also be part of legal forgeries, mainly, because such taxes can only be paid through specially printed stamp papers (including an indelible publication of specific information); and one often uses outdated stamp paper after a new higher stamp duty has become effective. Vigilance officers who busted that racket also observed that the vendors had maintained a parallel register of backdated sales for a long time. The premise of this is that the Supreme Court’s ruling effectively serves to deter the very thing it seeks to do so – for if vendors know they can be charged for corruption, then perhaps they might think again before being sucked into this murky practice.

These issues have been fought by the courts, and the state governments and the central government have taken steps even aside from the courts. E-stamping and online payment of stamp duty have been one big reform so that everything could be done online. Today in many states, if you pay stamp duty electronically, you get an e-stamp instead of requiring a physical stamp paper and it applies for high value too in many of the states. The digitization gets rid of many deals’ middleman (the vendor) as well as cutting opportunities of being overcharged or fakes. For instance, Gujarat recently introduced a rule whereby for denominations, e-stamps would have to be used to cut a rapidly flourishing black market where stamp papers were priced at a premium for want of adequate vendors. Citizens were allowed to generate stamp certificates online via authorized portals and banks, therefore leaving little or no room for a vendor to say ‘no stock’ and then demand extra, one of the ways they used to justify extra premiums for popular low denomination stamps. Commissions being charged to vendors by the government are also being monitored so that inventory is not artificially shortened and prices artificially inflated.

However, the traditional stamp paper is still around and probably will not disappear anytime soon. Even today in semi urban and rural India for stamp paper and in due course filling out forms on it, we see the lines lining up for stamp paper and the clacking sound of stamp paper. That is why legal deterrents against misconduct should be strong. In the most recent court ruling, the message is clear: those who sell papers of authority of the state must themselves abide by the rules, or else.

Scams and Counterfeits: The Dark Side of Stamp Paper

No discussion of stamp paper in India would be done without the mention of the infamous Telgi scam, showcasing how high the stakes could reach when someone gets their hands on stamp paper. Later in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a criminal network led by Abdul Karim Telgi printed and circulated fake stamp papers, as big as possible, in various states. A conman turned counterfeiter by name Telgi expanded his business by incorporating or bribing a few others into old security presses and printing units and producing fine look-alike duplicate stamp papers from very small denominations to high value, much used in bank guarantees and share certificates. He sold these on to bulk buyers, banks, insurance companies, court officials, property registrars, anyone who regularly required bulk stamp paper, on the cheap. For many years these counterfeit stamp papers were employed as if they were money and the government defrauded of unbelievable sums of money.

The numbers that would be splashed across headlines when the scam finally unraveled around 2002–2003 were unbelievable. Issuance of fake stamp papers worth anywhere between ₹20,000 crore to ₹30,000 crore — one of the biggest financial scams in Indian history — had been estimated to have been done by him in connivance with the Income Tax Department as well as the state-level excise and registration departments of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka in the early 1990s. Media reports at the time reported how Telgi had an empire of forgery, had officials on his payroll and lived lavishly. Dozens of officials – from policemen, to bureaucrats, to politicians – were found guilty, having accepted bribes to play dumb to the racket. In 2006, Telgi has been convicted in various cases (spread across Maharashtra, Karnataka and other states) by courts. The then middle-aged mastermind got a term of rigorous imprisonment of 30 years that can effectively be stated as a life term for him. Though punished to different degrees, many of his associates — as well as his corrupt enablers — were tried and convicted as well. Locked away in jail, Telgi’s health deteriorated, and he died in 2017, but not before the scandal served as a hard look at how such fraud could be prevented in the future.

In the wake of the Telgi scam, there was a direct consequence and that was the move towards modernization of stamp paper system. The irony of this was that they were forced to consider e-stamps, which suddenly became urgent – if people were using a secure digital certificate or printout to pay stamp duty there would be no physical high value paper to counterfeet in the first place. Physical stamp papers of a large denomination were phased out by states such as Maharashtra and Delhi. For example, after Telgi, Maharashtra had stopped printing ₹5,000 and ₹10,000 physical stamp papers and chalked out electronic stamping for amounts above some threshold limit. This doesn’t imply that paper stamps were suddenly no longer available (low denominations remained for convenience), but they significantly reduced the opportunity of duplicating the kind of operation Telgi ran. In many states, the Stock Holding Corporation of India was appointed as such a central record keeper for e-stamps — and it employs tracking and verification mechanisms that make it much more difficult for a fraudster to put in fake entries. The Telgi saga then emerged as a case study in how you could undermine a system that was centuries old on a large scale, there was pressure then on the system to change.

However, as recent events prove, temptation to commit fraud remains. In late 2023, Delhi Police busted what the media christened a ‘mini-Telgi scam’. A group of forgers were involved in printing counterfeit stamp papers in the capital but on a much smaller scale. It was also a fact that even after two decades since Telgi, someone tried to pull off a stamp paper racket, which goes on to show that constant vigil is needed to stop such crimes. Fortunately, the 2023 racket was broken early and a number of people were arrested before it managed to spread too wide. It was, however, a reminder that so long as physical stamp paper existed, scammers would try to recreate it. There is a cat and mouse game between police and counterfeiters – police have better security paper features, studies and technology and the counterfeiters have ingenuity.

Conclusion: The Future of the Stamp Paper in India

In India, stamp paper represents the point of intermingling of tradition and necessity. Harkening back to the British era fiscal laws, it is present in some of the modernist transactions even today. From the time someone buys a house, sets up a business partnership, files a court case, or simply submits an affidavit for a college admission, there is at least one stamp paper making things legit and legal. 

The money raised from stamp duty is used to build up public infrastructure and the practice of stamping items gives it formality and authenticity.

Nevertheless, as the preceding demonstrates, this system has problems – petty corruption at the counter, monstrous frauds that can shake the nation. It is indeed a positive step taken by the Supreme Court when the judgment treats stamp vendors as public servants and makes it a significant step to tighten accountability at the grassroots level of this system. An effort to eliminate the malpractices associated with the electronic stamp paper trade that clung on in India is being made by India; and with the help of technological solutions like e-stamping, India is doing it gradually. Simplifying and unifying stamp duties (especially for the securities trading or the interstate commerce) is also becoming a talk of the town to make them uniform and harder to evade.

So, would it be possible to ask in a news magazine context: will stamp paper experience a good and healthy life in the digital age, or become an ancient footnote? It survives for now, rather than fading away. Although a parallel digital option is taking off, Indians still queue daily for physical stamp papers. Almost cultural is the allure of a piece of paper with an official seal, Ashoka’s emblem, and the conviction that ‘this deal is done right.’ As reforms continue there is hope that the stamp paper will continue to keep its legal certifying value but shed the taint of corruption. The story of stamp paper’s journey is the most unlikely, if not entirely bizarre, part of the epic of India's legal and economic development. So as of today in 2025, if you want to make anything official in India, as the saying goes, you still must get it in writing, specifically on stamp paper.

Ayaan Siddiqui, St. Xavier’s University Kolkata