Govt begins e-registration of land documents

Hemendra Shah,Joint Secretary (Revenue),said e-registration would allow people to verify whether the person selling the land is its actual owner and also prevent litigation and dispute,which is common in villages.

Officials said photographs and thumb impressions of all landholders will be entered in their computerised records to ensure authenticity of owners and stop any fraudulent deals in future. The landholders will have to present themselves physically before web cameras to be used for capturing photographs and thumb impressions to avoid entry of unauthorised persons in the land documents and records.

The new process will also relieve people from visiting several offices in case of land deed registration. It was registered at sub-registrar’s office,documented in mamltadar’s office and final mutation done in talati’s office. But under the new system,these services will be integrated as the master server of registrar’s office will be connected directly with the master server in mamlatdar’s office. As soon as the land registration is done in registrar’s office,the mutation entries will automatically be recorded in mamlatdar’s office,along with photographs and thumb impressions of the parties.

The parties buying properties can get their 7/12 extracts or the property card bearing survey numbers and other details within an hour of the registration. Earlier,the same process took three months to one year or more because of the complexities involved.

Hareet Shukla and Anupam,district collectors of Ahmedabad and Surendranagar respectively,told The Indian Express they had already initiated the process in Bavla taluka (Ahmedabad) and Dhrangadhra taluka (Surendranagar). Hailing the project,Surendra Patel of the Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (GIHED) said it was the most encouraging step of the state government towards preventing fraudulent land deals.

Check on encroachments

The Revenue Department has directed all district collectors in the state to remove encroachments from government land by initiating tough action against the trespassers. The instructions were issued at a high level meeting chaired by the state Revenue Minister Anandiben Patel on Thursday.

According to department sources,there are over 62,000 registered encroachments in urban and rural areas on public land. They said there are a total of 35,934 registered encroachments on government land in urban areas and 26,677 in rural areas,with Panchmahals accounting for the highest number of 7,790,followed by 5,490 in Surat,and 4,910 in Banaskantha. Ahmedabad district has reported the lowest number of encroachments at 659.