

Legislative Competence of Union& State Legislature under the Constitution of India to enact stamp laws: As far as the instrument of Gift is concerned, provisions prevailing in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are covered. The said relaxations are also discussed herewith. The Maharashtra Government has given certain relaxations on account of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the Article also deals with the Amendments brought in the Central Law by Finance Act, 2019 & 2020 which have brought a new regime for levying stamp duty on securities and cleared confusions and disputes prevailing for many years. In this Article I have discussed the Central law and State Law prevailing in the State of Maharashtra. Also, in India there is Central Law dealing with Stamp duty. Most of these state laws are pari-materia. Every state has its own law dealing with Stamp Duty. (1) The stringent provisions of the Act are concerned solely in the interest of the revenue, and once that object is secured according to law, the party staking his claim on the instrument will not be defeated on the ground of the initial defect in the instrument. Thus, theyare not enacted to arm a litigant with a weapon of technicality to meet the case of his opponent. However, the purpose of the Act is not to exclude evidence or to enable parties to avoid their obligations on technical grounds or to alter the terms of the bargain between the parties.

This object is attained inter alia by excluding documents/ instruments which are not stamped or insufficiently stamped, as evidence. It is designed to secure revenue for the State on certain classes of instruments and all its provisions must be construed as having in view the protection of revenue and the prevention of evasion of the revenue that it imposes.Ģ. Laws dealing with Stamp Duty are purely fiscal measures enacted to secure revenue for the Government on certain class of instruments. The law relating to stamp duty on gifts to relatives, as prevailing in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, have also been explainedġ. The relaxations given by the State Government on account of the COVID-19 pandemic have also been discussed. authors have also dealt with the amendments brought in the Central Law by the Finance Acts 2019 & 2020 which have brought a new regime for levying stamp duty on securities and cleared confusions and disputes prevailing for many years. Advocates Kirit Hakani & Niyati Mankad (Hakani) have exhaustively discussed the Stamp Law prevailing in the State of Maharashtra.The constitutional scheme and important legal provisions of stamp laws have been explained.
