E-Stamping in Islamabad Capital Territory: Manual Stamp Papers Are Over

If a filing or a deed in Islamabad Capital Territory still calls for a manual, physically-purchased stamp paper, that workflow no longer exists. Manual stamp papers stopped being issued in ICT on 26 January 2026, and e-stamping became mandatory across ICT courts from 13 February 2026. Anyone drafting, filing, or registering an instrument in Islamabad needs to work through the new process, not the old one.

What Actually Changed

The ICT Administration launched its own e-stamping service on 1 February 2026, ahead of the courts' mandatory-use date. The service is accessible through Pakistan Khidmat Centres, which is the practical starting point for anyone who needs a stamp for a plaint, petition, vakalatnama, or a registrable instrument such as a sale deed or lease. As of this writing there is no single, universally-advertised public web portal for ICT e-stamping the way some provinces have one; the Khidmat Centre route is the confirmed, working path.

Why This Matters for Filing

Court-fee stamps and stamp-duty instruments both sit inside this shift. A deficient or improperly-stamped document is a real objection risk -- deficient court fee can lead to the return of a plaint, and an improperly stamped instrument can be objected to at the registration stage. Since 13 February 2026, an ICT court is working from the assumption that a document in front of it was e-stamped, not manually stamped, so anyone still holding old-style stamp paper for a pending filing should confirm it will actually be accepted before relying on it.

Where This Fits Alongside the Duty Calculation

Knowing that e-stamping is now mandatory does not by itself tell you how much is payable. That is a separate question, governed by the Stamp Act 1899 as applied to ICT, and it depends on the instrument type and the property or transaction value. The Stamp Duty Calculator computes the payable figure for the ICT instruments that regularly come up in chamber and registration work; the Court Process Guides walk through the filing steps end to end, including where e-stamping fits into procedures like property registration and IHC petition filing. Check the duty payable first, then get it e-stamped through a Khidmat Centre before the document goes anywhere near a registrar or a court.