Swanky offices for registrars

Transfer of land from one party to another has always been a tedious task given the myriad of documents one has to fill up and furnish. For most of the people, the whole process is incomprehensible and inconvenient. So, the touts and  middlemen in the garb of deed writers take advantage of the situation and make a good kill in every transfer. Not to mention that many of these land transfer deals are murky and the government incurs losses. But that's going to change now. The revenue department will make the templates of the relevant documents— sale deeds, wills, general power of attorney (GPA) and gift deeds —    available to the public. Former revenue minister of Delhi, Rajkumar Chauhan, who had initiated this proposal, told TSI, “ The revenue department plans to make templates of documents available to citizens easily who are presently forced to rely on the dubious expertise of the touts masquerading as deed writers.”

Besides, in Delhi the offices of sub-registrars, where the land records are kept, are unkempt and dingy. Thousands of people turn up daily at these offices related to their work but none of the existing 13 sub-registrar offices has a waiting hall or an information window for the public. The government wants to address this problem also. A note prepared by the revenue department on this issue reads: “The offices are rather unkempt and dingy. Facilities for those who work in these offices are abysmal. The staff is essentially unprofessional. Presently none of the sub registrar offices has a waiting hall or a decent set up which can offer a citizen-friendly environment.”

The government plans to set up facilitation counters in the offices of the sub-registrars where necessary information and advice would be provided to the citizens. It is proposed that these counters should be run by “large professional companies (such as law firms)” of repute.

With the increase in the circle rates, the government is expecting a revenue of Rs.2500 crore as stamp duty in the next financial year. “This change is necessary because the workload would increase with the regularisation of unauthorised colonies,” a senior official told TSI. Apart from massive overhauling of the sub-registrar offices, 14 new offices will be opened.