Bengaluru: Retired photojournalist Eswarraj R of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has written to the Revenue department seeking an update on action taken in connection with large-scale evasion of stamp duty running into thousands of crores due to counterfeit documents.
Eswarraj had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in 2024 highlighting the scam. Former revenue minister Krishna Byre Gowda, now in charge of the Greater Bengaluru Authority, had estimated the annual loss to the exchequer in the range of Rs 3,000-8,000 crore.
The scale of the ‘scam’ was confirmed after the government looked into stamp duty payments on agreements signed between licensed electrical contractors and consumers of various electricity supply companies (Escoms). There are 70,000 electrical contractors licensed by Escoms. It was found that sub-registrars certified multiple stamp duty payments on a single challan. One stamp paper photocopied multiple times is sold to citizens at a premium.
While the case involves the Karnataka State Licensed Electrical Contractors’ Association, Eswarraj said authorities from the Mysuru South sub-registrar’s office lodged a complaint against one Karnataka State Government Licensed Electrical Contractors’ Union of Mysuru. “Officials have no proof as required to register an FIR in Mysuru. Hence, FIR is yet to be registered,” he said, adding: “Officials have designed a novel method of playing fraud on the court.”
Eswarraj also said that the total quantum...
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