Lucknow: Smaller districts in Uttar Pradesh are reporting far more cases of stamp duty evasion than the state’s major urban centres, with Ayodhya topping the list among smaller districts and Prayagraj leading the metropolitan category.
Larger cities such as Noida, Lucknow, Agra, Kanpur and Meerut lag far behind, indicating that land-related disputes and irregularities are now spreading deeper into smaller districts. The construction boom around the Ram Temple and rapidly rising land prices have turned Ayodhya into a major hotspot.
Across the state, 53,816 stamp duty evasion cases have been recorded, and 51,922 of them remain unresolved. Prayagraj has 3,175 pending cases, closely followed by Ayodhya with 3,077. Sharp increases in land prices in Ayodhya and surrounding districts have led to a rise in undervaluation of property during registry to save on stamp duty. Neighbouring districts such as Amethi, Sultanpur, Barabanki and Ambedkarnagar have also recorded a rise, but the highest pressure is on Ayodhya.
Prayagraj ranks first overall in Uttar Pradesh. A surge in land prices across urban and rural parts of the district, along with extensive buying and selling, has fuelled stamp duty violations. The district has already been under scrutiny due to land disputes, old partition cases and irregularities involving properties of charitable organisations, and stamp duty evasion is adding to the concerns.
In contrast, large cities like Noida, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Meerut, Agra and Kanpur have high real estate prices but fewer instances of stamp duty evasion. Officials attribute this to stronger monitoring systems in revenue and sub-registrar offices, wider use of digital registries and regular updates in circle rates, which reduce the scope for manipulation. Ayodhya and Prayagraj, however, have seen sudden spikes in real estate activity, creating more room for irregularities.
Bundelkhand, where land remains relatively affordable, has recorded the fewest cases. Districts such as Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jhansi and Lalitpur together account for just 657 cases.
In major cities, Prayagraj leads with 3,175 cases, followed by Lucknow (1,793), Ghaziabad (1,610), Meerut (1,611), Noida (1,293), Agra (1,049), Kanpur Nagar (977), Gorakhpur (1,613) and Varanasi (1,324).
Among smaller districts, Ayodhya has 3,077 cases, Jaunpur 2,107, Gonda 1,470, Mathura 1,446, Mainpuri 969, Azamgarh 1,236, Ballia 1,230, Kushinagar 1,175, Barabanki 849 and Hathras 828.
