Bengal Finance Bill passed in Assembly

Kolkata: The West Bengal Finance Bill has been passed in the Assembly on Thursday. The Bill seeks to amend the Indian Stamp Act 1899 and Bengal Agriculture Income-tax Act, 1944.

The Bill has been passed in the Assembly to provide relief to the registrant people by reducing the additional stamp duty at the rate of one percent for purchasing immovable property valued upto Rs 1 crore, with effect from February 1.

At the same time, it was also necessary to provide relief by full exemption from agricultural income-tax for the period of two years.

Amit Mitra, the state Finance minister, said in the Assembly that he feels that there will be more number of registrations and it will easily make up the loss in revenue collection that may happen due the reduction in additional stamp duty. He further said that one day delivery of registration documents has also been ensured.

Moreover, easy searching of records and online issuance of certified copies of deeds have also been ensured. The process of registration has been integrated with mutation and it will be of immense help for people.

Mitra further said that the number of land dispute cases will surely drop with such initiatives. At the same time, verification of ownership record has also become an easier task.

He also criticised the Centre for hasty implementation of the e-waybill for entry tax. It was not at all a problem for Bengal as the system has already been digitalised here. But there are problems in other states due to lack of proper infrastructure.