That Indian stamp of indifference

If we go by past records of India’s criminal justice system, criminals involved in this scandal too would soon emerge as ‘‘celebrated’’ leaders in politics and society. It is these elements who ‘‘feel good’’ and go on to ‘‘feeling great’’.

Soon this ‘‘mother of all scams’’ could become another footnote to India’s history of corruption and non-governance. To facilitate this there are already suggestions that it was the handiwork of Pakistanis ‘‘who are trying to destabilise our country through cross-border terrorism’’.

Media reports suggest a staggering Rs 33,000 crore as loss to the exchequer caused by the scam. The face value of the fake stamps paper seized was estimated at Rs 3,376 crore. Since ‘‘the loss of revenue is to the states’’, it is incumbent on them to assess the actual amount involved.

The origin of a racket of such massive proportions has not yet been established. Though the ‘‘first’’ case pertaining to circulation of fake stamp papers was registered in 1991, it was only when the Karnataka police arrested Telgi in November 2001 that the magnitude of the swindle came to the fore.

If anything, this scam reflects the collapse of civil administration. State governments keep burdening people with taxes, levies and huge debts. But they have allowed such vast sums of money to be looted right under their noses.

The central government, with its high profile intelligence and investigative agencies, has failed in locating and plugging this plunder of the public exchequer. Even 12 years after the ‘‘last known stamp paper scam case’’ was registered, there is no clue as to the depth of this mega-scam.

Is it only 12 years? The fact is it is over 31 years since a case of stamp paper scam was registered in the industrial town of Jagadhri-Yamunanagar in Haryana! Police and revenue agencies handled this case shabbily and indifferently, thereby losing a great opportunity. Therein lies a sordid story that needs to be told now.

In mid-1972, when I was additional collector cum SDM, Jagadhri, I received information about the possibility of fake court fees stamps being sold by some vendors. It did not take long to substantiate the suspicion, roused by the pale colour and poor finish of the fake stamps.

The suspicion was strengthened by the ease with which these fake stamps could be pulled out. A count of the vertical and horizontal perforations of these stamps showed they differed from genuine ones.

Preliminary investigations revealed that as of June 1972, when the racket was unearthed, it had spread to other parts of Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. The damage caused to the state exchequers was a few crores.

If only this case had been followed up by the higher ups in the state and central governments, the racket would have been smashed in the very early stages. There would have been no Telgi today.

The ‘‘systemic failure of serious proportions’’ that the Union finance minister mentioned in a recent Lok Sabha intervention is the result of the state machinery acquiescing to this kind of loot. The fact that such plunder has been going on for over three decades without any counter-measures speaks volumes for India’s rotten civil governance.

In the event, goons and gangsters — Indian or imported — have been sucking the exchequer bone dry. The rot persists and India continues to ‘‘shine’’ for these looters.

The author is a retired IAS officer and has recently written a book on the Emergency