Sena opposes 3 pc duty on property gift to blood relatives

The Shiv Sena, ruling coalition partner in the BJP-led Maharashtra government, today said it was opposed to state cabinet's decision to levy three per cent stamp duty on gift deeds transferring property among the blood relations.
Sena leader and Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam told reporters that the government should withdraw the decision, or his party would launch an agitation.
The cabinet yesterday approved three per cent stamp duty if a property is gifted to "blood relations".
The duty charged currently is barely Rs 200 to Rs 500, depending on the nature of the plot.
Section 34 of the Maharashtra Stamp Duty Act would be amended for this purpose.

A gift deed of property to spouse, brother or sister or a legal heir will attract the stamp duty at the rate of three percent.

"If the government does not withdraw the decision, the Sena will hit the streets," Kadam said, adding that party president Uddhav Thackeray was not happy with the decision.
When asked why the Sena ministers did not oppose the cabinet proposal, Kadam said they were in Akola for party's farmer outreach program and reached here late in the night.
"The next day we attended the cabinet meeting and had no time to go through the cabinet note," he said.

Sena is "not in power" in the real sense of the term but remains in the government only so that the state may not have to face a mid-term election, he said.