Telangana Registration and Stamps dept clears pending dues of over ₹5,700 cr to local bodies

Telangana Registration and Stamps department exceeds revenue target, repays dues to local bodies, and contributes significantly to state tax revenue.

Telangana Registration and Stamps department is continuing its impressive run in terms of revenue generation of over ₹10,000 crore at the end of the first three quarters of the current financial year (2024-25). The department is one of the key contributors to the State’s tax revenue. It has been contributing close to 10% of the total tax revenue generated annually.

The department is the among the few which achieved more than 50% of the ₹18,228 crore target set for it [this financial year]by achieving close to ₹11,000 crore at the end of third quarter. And,the buoyancy in the revenues can be seen from the fact that it has repaid most of the dues it owed to local bodies in the last couple of months. The department levies charges in the form of stamp duty, registration fee, transfer duty and mutation fee for the land transactions. Of these, revenue through stamp duty and registration fee accrues to the department while transfer duty and mutation fee would be devolved to local bodies.

The devolution of transfer duty and mutation fee was made once every quarter in the past, but it has been stopped for a couple of years resulting in piling up of dues. Senior officials said the department was able to clear over ₹5,700 croredues of transfer duties and mutation fee to the local bodies. The department had transferred ₹3,046.45 crore to local bodies in December and it was ₹2,694.77 crore in January, thereby resulting in decline in progressive receipts as indicated in the provisional data released by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

“The huge dues are because of the fact that these duties were not transferred to local bodies over the past couple of years,” a senior official told The Hindu. The dues were paid because of the present Government’s insistence that the dues for the local bodies be cleared at the earliest so that they can take up developmental works in their respective jurisdiction.

The department has seen a slow down in the registration process recently but this was not on account of the demolitions by Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency HYDRAA as speculated by a section of people. “There are several factors involved in registration revenue. The slow down in registrations can be because of the correction in the markets, over supply and other factors. Recessionary trends in the industry too partly affects registrations as IT professionals rethink about investments during such trend,” the officials said.