At Rs 245 crore, Gurugram civic body has the highest stamp duty arrears in Haryana

GURUGRAM: MCG has the highest amount of pending stamp duty among all municipal corporations in the state at Rs 245.2 crore. It is followed by the Sonipat municipal corporation, which is yet to recover Rs
78.4 crore, and the Panchkula civic body (Rs 50.3 crore). In Manesar and Faridabad, the corporations have to recover Rs 43.8 crore and Rs 31.2 crore, respectively. These arrears are for the fiscal years 2021-22 and 2022-23. The state’s municipalities altogether have to
recover stamp duty arrears of Rs 644.1 crore. Of this, MCG, MCM and MCF collectively have pending stamp duty amounting to Rs 320.7 crore – in comparison, the municipalities of the remaining 21 districts
in the state are yet to get Rs 323.9 crore in stamp duty.

The urban local bodies department has now asked municipalities to recover the dues from the revenue
department and also make a fresh assessment of stamp duty and submit a report. Since stamp duty is a
major source of income for the municipalities, delay in disbursal hampers the functioning of civic bodies,
the department observed in a letter issued to all deputy commissioners and municipalities of the state on
Monday. Revenue from stamp duty is used for development works carried out by the municipal
corporations, it said.
“The stamp duty share is one of the major regular sources of income of any municipality. Hence, all-out
efforts are required on the part of all concerned to recover amounts due to municipalities from other
departments, such as revenue and disaster management departments, DHBVN/UHBVN etc,” read the letter sent by ULB commissioner and secretary Vikas Gupta to the corporations.

It further added, “The matter should be taken up with the deputy commissioners concerned promptly with
personal follow-ups for getting the arrears released as soon as possible, so that the financial position of
municipalities is strengthened, and they are able to execute ongoing development projects timely.”
Moreover, the letter also stated that the ULB department has already asked the state revenue department
to release corporations’ stamp duty share of Rs 663.1 crore pending from 2012 to 2021.
MCG, which has the highest dues, earns around Rs 20 to Rs 25 crore each month from stamp duty. In the
last fiscal year, the civic body generated a revenue of Rs 320 crore from stamp duty alone, said MCG
officials.
“The revenue department calculates the stamp duty on the basis of the number of registries done in the
city. We have received a letter from the ULB department to submit our assessment of stamp duty dues to
verify the duty evaluated by the respective revenue departments. It is likely that our pending stamp duty
will be more than Rs 245 crore,” said a senior MCG official.
As per Section 87(1)(c) of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994 and Section 69(c) of the
Haryana Municipal Act, 1973, a duty of 2% is charged on the transfer of immovable properties falling
within the limits of municipalities. Of this, the municipalities and the ULB department each get 1% stamp
duty. For MCG, MCM and MCF, however, 1% duty is transferred to the Gurugram Metropolitan
Development Authority and Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority, respectively.