Karnataka to go for PAN and passport authentication to check fraud in property registration

Three identity documents—Aadhaar, PAN and passports—are required for property registration in the state. Due to the use of fake PAN cards, the stamps and registration department has submitted a request to the Income Tax Department. “In the manner in which Aadhaar authentication is done (by generating one-time passwords), I have written seeking access from the I-T department for PAN authentication. They have orally agreed to the request,” Gowda said.

Once implemented, this measure will curb registrations using forged PAN cards, as authentication will verify card holders’ credentials. The government is also in touch with the MEA to explore a verification mechanism for passports, which are currently used in only 3 per cent of registrations, while 46 per cent opt for Aadhaar authentication and another 46 per cent use PAN.

In reply to a question, Gowda said it is not possible to remove passports as an option for registration, as laws mandate providing residents with alternatives to Aadhaar.

Commenting on the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that grounded Kaveri 2.0—the government’s property registration portal—for 10 days in late January and early February, the minister said a “deliberate overload was created on the system” by pushing fake queries using bots.

The government has engaged experts from the International Institute of Information Technology, Bengaluru, to study the Kaveri 2.0 system architecture and its security features. Its report will include recommendations for upgrading the system, Gowda added.