Court fee stamps have run out in Rawalpindi's District Courts and Judicial Complex for the last few days, halting the registration of new cases and making the litigants inconvenient in routine legal processes.
For the past week, stamps of Rs20, Rs40, Rs50, Rs100, and Rs 500 denominations have not been available.
As a result, the registration of new cases has come to a standstill, and litigants are facing serious difficulties in filing judicial applications and obtaining certified copies of case documents.
The District Treasury has also halted the collection of payments from stamp vendors for the issuance of these stamps, instructing them that no challans should be accepted until a fresh supply of court fee stamps arrives.
Some vendors, who anticipated the shortage, purchased large quantities of court fee stamps two weeks ago and are now selling them on the black market. A Rs20 stamp is being sold for Rs50, Rs40 for Rs70, Rs50 for Rs100, Rs100 for Rs150, and the Rs500 stamp is being sold for Rs700 to Rs800.
According to sources in the District Treasury, the Punjab government is planning to increase the prices of court fee stamps in the upcoming budget, which is why the printing of stamps at the old rates has been discontinued. New stamps will be printed according to the revised rates.
Stamp vendors have complained that since May 27, they haven't received any stamps despite submitting the required challans. Vendor Naveed Khan complains that the shortage has severely impacted their business, and he hasn't sold a single court fee stamp in the past five days.
Lawyers Shahnzaib Khan, Kaneez Fatima, and Malik Amir Advocate are of the view that the judicial system cannot function without court fee stamps, which are essential for court decisions, record keeping, and the filing of new civil cases.
The entire judicial process at the courts has been paralysed due to the unavailability of these stamps, and access to certified copies from the record room has also been suspended. Dozens of cases are pending as a result.
The president of the District Bar Association, Sardar Manzar Bashir, has warned that if court fee stamps are not supplied within 24 hours, the bar will launch a strong protest.
He urged Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner Hassan Waqar Cheema to take immediate notice of the situation and ensure the prompt supply of court fee stampsor alternatively, allow payment collection until the new stamps are made available.
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