Whether Statutory dues as per CARO (ix) includes Stamp duty

The requirement of Clause ix A of CARO is as follows:

Is the company regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues including Provident Fund, Investor Education and Protection Fund, Employee State Insurance, Income-Tax, Sales Tax, Wealth Tax, Custom Duty, Excise Duty, cess and any other statutory dues with the appropriate authorities and if not, the extent of the arrears of outstanding statutory dues as at the last day of the financial year concerned for a period of more than six months from the day they became payable, shall be indicated by the auditor.

Since the emphasis of the clause is on regularity, the scope of our inquiry should be restricted to only those statutory dues which are required to be deposited regularly with a statutory authority. Accordingly, it is not necessary to determine whether the Company is regular in depositing amounts which may be levied from time to time upon the occurrence of certain events and are, therefore,  not required to be paid regularly. In your query Stamp Duty and Registration fees is not in the nature of Statutory dues which are deducted and deposited regularly like ESI,PF,PT,TDS,VAT/CST,Excise etc.......

No as per clause (ix) of CARO stamp duty and registration fees is not covered in the said clause.