A linguistic ambiguity in a Haryana government notification had left some families in a peculiar legal limbo: while property could be transferred to a son’s children without stamp duty, the same benefit was not always extended to a daughter’s children. The Haryana government has now closed that loophole.
The state has clarified that its 100% stamp duty exemption on lifetime transfers of immovable property within a family also covers grandchildren through daughters, referred to as dohata-dohati or nati-natin, placing them on an equal footing with a son’s children.
The clarification follows confusion over the wording of the Hindi version of a 2014 notification. While the English text broadly referred to ‘grandchildren’, the Hindi notification specifically used the term pautra-pautri, which is generally understood as a son’s grandson or granddaughter. As a result, officials at some sub-registrar offices did not extend the zero-stamp-duty benefit to a daughter’s children.
The government has now addressed the issue through a corrigendum published in the Haryana Gazette on August 13, replacing pautra-pautri with pautra-pautri, dohata-dohati/nati-natin. The change explicitly brings the children of daughters within the scope of the exemption.
Financial commissioner revenue and disaster management department, Sumita Misra, told the Hindustan Times newspaper that the state government has issued a formal corrigendum to remove a long-standing linguistic ambiguity in the Hindi version of its 2014 notification.
Misra explained that on June 16, 2014, the Haryana government had remitted 100% stamp duty under Section 9 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, on property transfer deeds executed during the owner’s lifetime in favour of blood relations, including parents, children, grandchildren, siblings, and spouses.
Misra noted that issuing the clarification as a corrigendum to the original 2014 order ensures retrospective legal clarity across all revenue and registry offices in the state, enabling citizens to gift or transfer property to their daughter’s children smoothly without unnecessary tax disputes or procedural delays.
Also Read: No stamp duty on property transfers to daughter’s children: Haryana govt
What the 2014 notification provided
On June 16, 2014, the Haryana government had remitted 100% of the stamp duty under Section 9 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, on property transfer deeds executed during an owner’s lifetime in favour of specified blood relations and family members. These included parents, children, grandchildren, siblings and spouses. The latest clarification does not create a new benefit. Instead, it makes clear that daughters’ children were always intended to be covered by the exemption where the other conditions were met, providing retrospective clarity to revenue and registry authorities across the state.
Also Read: UP cabinet decisions: Stamp duty relief extended to industrial, commercial property transfer to kin
Why has the issue surfaced now
The ambiguity has gained prominence as property values have risen and families have become more conscious of women’s equal rights to inherit and own property. As more parents transfer assets to their daughters, some have also wanted to pass property directly to their daughters’ children, just as they could to their sons’ children. But the wording of the Hindi notification created uncertainty during registration.
According to media reports, over the past year, the Haryana government received representations from families seeking the same stamp duty treatment for daughters’ children. The subsequent corrigendum now removes that distinction.
For families, the practical takeaway is straightforward: eligible lifetime transfers of property to a daughter’s son or daughter can now claim the same 100% stamp duty exemption available for transfers to a son’s children, subject to the applicable conditions. The correction may appear to be little more than a change in terminology, but for families transferring high-value property, a few words in a government notification could mean a saving of lakhs of rupees and the end of an avoidable registration dispute.
What do legal experts have to say?
The Haryana Revenue and Disaster Management Department has now issued a corrigendum dated July 24, 2026, published in the Haryana Gazette on August 13, 2026, expressly including a daughter’s children within the expression, thereby placing maternal grandchildren on the same footing as paternal grandchildren for the stamp-duty remission. The Government has described this as a correction/clarification of the 2014 position, giving it retrospective legal clarity rather than treating it as a new concession commencing in 2026.
Haryana stands apart from other states because the clarification specifically resolves the earlier ambiguity and confirms equal treatment of a son’s children and a daughter’s children. Accordingly, for an otherwise qualifying lifetime intra-family transfer, both maternal and paternal grandchildren are presently covered by the 100% remission of ad valorem stamp duty; the clarification does not create a separate or lesser concession for the daughter’s children, explains Suman Kumar Jha, Founding and Managing Partner of Corp Legex.
He says that where stamp duty has already been charged and paid in excess of the legally chargeable amount in circumstances covered by Section 45(2) of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, an application for refund may be made to the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority, subject to the statutory conditions and prescribed limitation period. The retrospective clarification, however, should not be construed as an automatic or unrestricted right to refund in every case.
The remission applies to the stamp duty chargeable on the qualifying instrument and does not necessarily extend to registration fees, mutation charges, computerisation/service charges, pasting charges or other applicable statutory or administrative charges, he adds.
How stamp duty on lifetime property transfers to grandchildren differs across UP, Delhi and Maharashtra
The treatment of lifetime transfers of immovable property to grandchildren differs considerably across the four states, particularly in the definition of eligible family members and the nature of the stamp-duty concession.
Uttar Pradesh: UP’s August 3, 2023, notification under sub-section (1) of section 9 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, expressly identifies eligible family members, including “son/daughter of son/daughter”. This wording covers both the children of the donor’s son and the children of the donor’s daughter, without making a paternal/maternal distinction between grandchildren. For qualifying residential and agricultural property, the stamp duty is capped at ₹5,000. The notification also contains conditions, including the five-year restriction on re-gifting.
Delhi: In Delhi, the stamp duty applicable to a Gift Deed is generally determined by the gender of the donee, with stamp and transfer duty at 6% for a male donee and 4% for a female donee. No separate distinction or concession is provided based on whether the grandchild is through the donor’s son or daughter, explains Jha.
Maharashtra: Unlike the general conveyance duty of 4-5% for transfer of immovable property, Article 34 of the Maharashtra Stamp Act provides a specific concession for gifts to specified family members. Where residential or agricultural property is gifted to a husband, wife, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter or the wife of a deceased son, the stamp duty is only ₹200. For other property gifted to specified family members, the concessional rate of 3% applies. Maharashtra does not distinguish between paternal and maternal grandchildren. Article 34 refers to a “lineal ascendant or descendant” of the donor, which includes both maternal and paternal grandchildren for the applicable concession, adds Jha.
