HC DISMISSES PLEA SEEKING CONTINUATION OF PRINTING OF STAMPS

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court had dismissed a petition seeking directions not to discontinue printing of judicial and non- judicial stamps in the state.

Justice Yashwant Varma was hearing the petition filed by All UP Stamp Vendors’ Association—an association of stamp vendors engaged in the occupation of distribution and sale of judicial and non-judicial stamp paper in its physical form.

The petitioners’ contention was that their members were in business of sale of stamp and if printing of physical stamps was stopped by the government, they would be out of business which would be in violation of Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution of India which guarantees a citizen to practise a business, trade or profession.

The state government’s contention was that licensed vendors have no fundamental right to trade or carry on the business of physical stamps since the conditions of their engagement is circumscribed by the terms of the licence that is granted to them. It was contended that a stock of physical stamp papers valued at Rs 17,000 crore still exist in the state and therefore the apprehension that licensed vendors would be deprived of a right of livelihood was clearly misplaced. Advocates Kshitij, Shailendra and Sumeet Kakker appeared for stock holding corporation which is ‘Central Record Keeping Agency’ for administration and implementation of mechanism of e-stamp. They argued that the corporation was appointed as per UP E-Stamping Rules, 2013 and the rules were not challenged by the petitioners. Hence, the petition was devoid of any merit.

The court after hearing the concerned parties observed that, “Introduction of this system rests on sound, germane and weighty reasons such as avoidance of fraud and forgery of stamp paper, securing collection of state revenue and a host of other factors which were taken into consideration. E stamping in essence represents a policy initiative formulated by the state. The aforesaid policy decision has neither been assailed nor has it been established to be arbitrary.” “It would be wholly inappropriate for the Court to frame any direction commanding the State to continue the system of physical stamping in perpetuity,” observed the bench while dismissing the petition.

It may be relevant to mention here that the petition was placed before the single bench of Justice Yashwant Varma after the division bench of Justice SP Kesarwani and Justice Ajay Bhanot differed on the issue. Justice SP Kesarwani in his judgment had dismissed the petition while in a separate judgment Justice Ajay Bhanot directed the state government to file a reply in the matter. The judgment was reserved on March 24 and delivered on April 8.