Chapter 3: Extent of Digitisation of Textual Record

CHAPTER 5

DIGITISATION OF THE REGISTRATION PROCESS

Registering a transaction in relation to property and obtaining a copy of the registered document was once an extremely cumbersome and timeconsuming process in India. Over time, the use of technology and improvements in procedures have, however, led to considerable progress in reducing the time taken and the discretion available to various officials involved in the registration process. Even so, the possibilities offered by contemporary technology for eliminating the need for the physical presence of parties before a registration authority, are yet to be fully harnessed. Maharashtra has made considerable headway in this direction and set an example for other States/ UTs to follow. Most of the other States/ UTs are at various stages of digitising the registration process. This study attempted to assess the progress made by States/UTs in offering better service in this regard. The digitisation of the actual process of registration comprises the following five stages:

1) Entry of referent data related to the transaction to be registered;

2) Availability of the circle rate that is used to calculate the stamp duty/ registration fee payable;

3) Payment of the stamp duty/registration fee;

4) Attestation of the document to be registered, by the competent authority (the Sub-Registrar); and

5) Delivery of the registered document to the concerned parties. The progress made by States/UTs on the extent of computerisation of the above stages has been gleaned through an assessment of the KCs and a detailed search on the respective websites. The DoLR on its part, seeks reports from States/ UTs in a generic way on computerisation of registration and specifically on two of these five stages, viz., the online availability of circle rates and stamp duty payment. As regards the reference to the two stages on which DoLR seeks specific reports from the States/UTs, it has been found that 82 per cent of the SROs in 37 States/UTs make circle rates available online while 53 per cent in 37 States/UTs have online payment facilities.

In order to compare the achievement reported on the DoLR website with the status borne out by this exercise, at the basic level, computerisation of registration may be considered as referring to any one of the five stages mentioned above. Using this benchmark, 15 States/UTs were found to have a web portal for public data entry; 19 States/UTs had an e-stamping facility for stamp duty payment, though only 9 States/UTs had an online payment provision; 8 States/UTs allowed for the document being registered to be attested through digital signatures; and 11 States/ UTs offered the option of delivering the registered document as a soft copy.

The stage-wise details of the achievements on digitization of the various stages of the registration process are discussed below. Maharashtra has made considerable headway in the direction of digitization of registration process and set an example for other States/ UTs to follow