The Amendment Act further amends Section 52A of the Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958 (“Maharashtra Stamp Act”), which deals with applications for grant of allowance on stamp duty.

Section 52A of the Maharashtra Stamp Act governs the procedure for applications seeking allowance of stamp duty paid on instruments which are spoilt, misused or not required for use. Prior to the Amendment Act, Section 52A(1) permitted such applications only where the allowance sought was above rupees 5 lakhs. This threshold has now been revised upward to rupees 20 lakhs, significantly narrowing the class of transactions eligible to invoke the refund mechanism under this provision.

The Amendment Act also introduces a restructured decision-making framework under Section 52A(2), by substituting the earlier provision with a tiered authority structure. On receiving an application, the authority competent to decide the same is now determined based on the quantum of allowance sought, as follows:

(i) the Additional Controller of Stamps, where the amount of allowance exceeds rupees 20 lakhs and is up to rupees 1 crore;
(ii) the Joint Inspector General of Registration and Superintendent of Stamps, where the amount of allowance exceeds rupees 50 lakhs and is up to rupees 1 crore; and
(iii) the concerned Deputy Inspector General of Registration and Deputy Controller of Stamps of the Division, where the amount of allowance exceeds rupees 20 lakhs and is up to rupees 50 lakhs.

Where the amount of allowance exceeds rupees 1 crore, the above-mentioned authorities are required to forward the application, along with their remarks, to the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority for a final decision. This represents a departure from the earlier sub-section (2), which did not expressly set out a differentiated, tiered referral mechanism of this nature.

Additionally, Section 52A(1)(b) has been amended to include the Joint Inspector General of Registration and Superintendent of Stamps alongside the existing “concerned” authority as a recipient of copies of the refund application, thereby broadening the supervisory oversight at the application stage itself.

However, the revised framework appears to create an overlap in jurisdiction between the Additional Controller, the Joint Inspector General of Registration and Superintendent, the Deputy Inspector General of Registration and Deputy Controller of Stamps for cases between rupees 20 lakhs and rupees 50 lakhs, and rupees 50 lakhs and rupees 1 crore.

From an implementation standpoint, further clarification regarding allocation of jurisdiction among authorities may help ensure consistency in processing and minimise procedural uncertainty.

The above views on the Maharashtra Stamp (Amendment) Act, 2026, published in the Maharashtra Government Gazette on 7th April, 2026 (“Amendment Act”) are of our Associate Partner, Mr. Saheb Singh Chadha.

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