The association has pointed out that it is a normal practice that a seller sells a tenanted premise to its occupier at concessional rates. In such a situation, asking for the stamp duty to be payable at the prevalent market rates will be defeating the purpose behind the decision.

The association has also cautioned against another abuse of the circular whereby sub-registers are misrepresenting the circular. According to the May circular, if a deed for a purchase is executed, say in 1990, and the deed of confirmation isexecuted in 1999, then the stamp duty will have to be paid on the rates of 1990. However, sub-registrars are apparently taking the rates of 1999 and levying a penalty at the rate of 2 per cent per month from the date of execution of the agreement, ie 1990.

Referring to various other ills in the collection of stamp duty, the association in inequivocal in advising purchasers against paying stamp duty in cash since it has received various complaints of documents having been tampered with. According to advocate Vinod Sampat, honorary secretary of the association, while the Fort stamp duty office had been accepting pay orders, the Bandra office too has started recently to accept such stamp duty via pay orders. While the Collector have been able to charge persons under section 420 (forgery), section 408 (breach of trust), it is still possible for middle men to cheat flat purchasers by tampering with documents.

The association has also expressed reservations against one circular of 1994 issued under theCooperative Societies Act, whereby it was held that documents which record the transfer of a flat in a cooperative society should be registered with the registrar and only then should the transfer be effected.

Sampat, remarked that the circular flies in the face of the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, wherein under section 41, it is stated that cooperative societies are exempted from compulsory registration of documents relating to shares and debentures of societies.