E-stamp paper project: Chief minister terms plea bargain rules ‘fraud’

Believes corruption will end through the launching of e-stamp papers


Our Correspondent December 26, 2016
PHOTO: EXPRESS

LAHORE: The plea bargain rules of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) introduced by a military dictator are a ‘fraud’ that need further deliberations, said Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday.

“Corruption worth billions of rupees is legalised after paying peanuts under the provision of this law. Law-abiding societies have plea bargain provisions in their laws but culprits have to face imprisonments as well,” he said while speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the e-stamp paper project.

Shehbaz also believed corruption would be eliminated through the launching of the e-stamp papers.

He said the new stamp paper system replaced judicial and non-judicial stamp papers which were around 70-years-old. He added the initiative would provide easy access and eliminate sale backdated stamp papers. He said the public could now check the official value of their property through a few clicks of the mouse.

Shehbaz said it was an important day in the history of Punjab as the e-stamp paper reduced issuance time from three days to just 15 minutes.

The CM pointed out that the Punjab government implemented the Land Record Management and Information System (LRMIS) in 144 tehsils of the province.

He underlined that the government was also introducing reforms in the health, education and police departments to improve efficiency. The CM said that modern information technology systems were being introduced at public hospitals to improve service delivery and attendance of doctors as well as paramedical staff.

He believed this step would also reduce medicine theft at public hospitals.

Criticising medical practitioners, he said the managements of public hospitals were happy to stick with decades-old systems and were resisting change. He appealed to doctors and paramedical staff to embrace the new system.

Shehbaz said patients were suffering at public hospitals, but doctors and medical professionals were not available. He concluded that the government wanted to replace the old system with modern technology.

E-stamps

Last week, the Punjab Information Technology Board launched the judicial e-stamp paper system to ease the process of acquiring stamp papers. In the past, people had to wait for two or three days due to a cumbersome process. Instead of purchasing judicial stamp papers from vendors or the treasury department, people can now buy them from any branch of the Bank of Punjab.

E-stamping Additional Director Sajid Latif told The Express Tribune that non-judicial stamp papers of high value (above Rs1,000) were already being issued through the new system since September 26, 2016.

He said these could be used for the sale, purchase or transfer of property and commercial agreements. They are used as court fee and range from Rs21 to Rs15,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2016.

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