The state revenue department has worked out a proposal for floating the amnesty scheme for defaulters of several kinds of stamp duty. However, with the model code of conduct expected any time now, the scheme will be announced only after the elections.

“We have decided in principle to launch the scheme covering stamp duty on industrial property and transfer of development rights (TDR) and will consider extending the scheme to residential properties,” said Ramesh Kumar, Principal Secretary, Revenue.

Developers who have defaulted in paying stamp duty on TDR certificates, development agreements and conveyance, can pay the sum along with a nominal penalty for the duration of the scheme. In normal times, the penalty is 2 per cent of the total duty per month, calculated from the date of execution of the agreement, to a limit of 200 per cent.

During the amnesty scheme, developers will not have to cough up heavy penalty. Instead, they will be allowed to pay 3 per cent of the TDR certificate’s value and 5% of the market value of the property in case of conveyance and development agreements. Similarly residential stamp duty defaulters can get away by paying the original amount along with a nominal penalty.

With a staggering 1.31 lakh defaulters queuing up to benefit from last year’s amnesty scheme for residential properties in Maharashtra in 2008, the state revenue department had raked in a revenue of Rs 160 crore. Almost eighty per cent of these collections were from Mumbai.