Ranchi, Jul 2 (IANS): The Jharkhand government has suffered a loss of Rs 1.07 crore due to widespread misuse of a scheme that allows registration of property worth Rs 50 lakh by women at only Re 1 stamp duty.

Launched by the state's Raghubar Das government in June 2017, the scheme made registration of immovable property worth Rs 50 lakh in the name of women free of stamp duty save for a token amount of Re 1. For property above Rs 50 lakh, women had to pay Rs 50 lakh as registry charges.

The stamp fee was waived only if the property was registered in the name of women.

"So far, 1,52,521 women have benefitted from the Re 1 registry scheme," Jharkhand Land and Revenue Minister Amar Bawari told reporters on Tuesday.

"But the scheme, which aimed to empower the women in the state, has also been misused. Till now 238 cases have come to our notice where women have benefitted from the scheme more than once. The state government has suffered a loss of Rs 1.07 crore. We have recovered Rs 27.90 lakh from the violators and process is on to recover more," Bawari added.