Whiff of a scam

Activists and citizens seeking details from various authorities through Right to Information have been running from pillar to post for the court fee stamp of Rs 5 and Rs 10, for the past three months. The stamps, which are a must for any RTI application, are not available from the courts. However, one can find these stamps easily available with vendors outside courts.These vendors are doing brisk business and are selling these stamps in black often charging double.

Outside Borivali Magistrate's Court, stamps were available openly, though at double the face value. At the court counter, only stamps of Re 1 and Rs2 denominations were available but not of Rs5 and Rs10. When asked how the stamps were available in black, the person feigned ignorance and said that they were unaware about it.

A lady known as Nanda having her table outside the court audaciously demanded Rs10 for the stamp worth Rs5.

When asked the reason for the double rate, Nanda said, "Andar jaake dekh lo milta hai ki nahi phir yahaan aana. (Go and check in the court whether the stamps are available or not, then come and haggle about the price)".

Another vendor Nishikant Jaiswal was selling stamps of Rs10 for Rs15. When asked about this black marketing, he said, "Why do you want to know this? Take it or else leave".

Pradeep Bhalerao, an activist from Social Worker Protection Forum, said, "I started facing difficulty since March. My other activist friends too faced the problem as we were not getting tickets from the court. But at the same time the stamps were available with the vendors."

Bhalerao added that each agent have stocked stamps worthRs 15,000 and Rs20,000.

Shalini Joshi, Registrar of Courts, said she will inquire into the issue and find out how this happened. She also assured that she will check out the reason for non-availability of stamps.