OKARA: For the first time in three years, the district treasury office has supplied low-price judicial stamp papers and low-price court fee (CF) tickets ranging from Rs1 to Rs15 but the vendors are selling them at exorbitant rates.

CF tickets are mandatory to be affixed on the power of attorney to get the certified copies of the subjudice and decided case files and family cases. Also, CF tickets and stamp papers are needed for civil and family plaints, various papers compulsory to be attached at the institution of fresh cases in the courts, and later for time-to-time miscellaneous applications to be submitted in the courts. To obtain these tickets, litigants have to buy them at inflated rates.

The office of the deputy commissioner (DC) after a two-month delay has renewed the licences of stamp paper vendors and currently the treasury office has provided the low-price stamp papers to the registered vendors. It is for the first time a fee has been imposed on fresh applicant vendors and on those seeking the renewal of stamp vendors licence.

Assistant Account Officer Dilshad Muhammad Khokhar told Dawn that the district treasury office had sufficient stamp papers and tickets.

Some vendors are selling stamp papers brought from other provinces.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment has forwarded the credentials of those vendors to the district treasury office to check their authentication.

Low-priced stamp papers are attached with applications for Wapda, gas, and PTCL connections and academic institutions and other offices.

Litigants have demanded that Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Board of Revenue, District and Sessions Judge Waseem Rehman Khakwani, DC Usman Ali and District Bar President Ramzan Nadeem Channer take notice of their exploitation by venders.

DIES: A minor boy, of Hujrfa Shah Muqeem, was burnt to death while his brother was in a critical condition on Thursday.

Paddy grower Malik Nazir Ahmad set his paddy stubble on fire. His sons Usman (five) and Shan (seven) were playing along the field when both suffered severe burns.

They were shifted a local hospital where Shan died while Usman was referred a Lahore hospital.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2020