THE UT Administration is all set to launch another initiative for citizen welfare: online registration of immovable properties. The administration is in the final stages of launching the online facility for the immovable property registration in the city. The move aims at plugging revenue leakage, reducing disputes, ensuring transparency and offering residents a seamless experience. For the implementation of the project, the entire land record with the UT Estate Office, the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB), Municipal Corporation and Group Housing Cooperative Societies will be integrated in a software being developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). A file of each property with unique number will be generated and electronic signatures will be used to transfer and register immovable property online. The estate office has completed digitisation of the records. At present, the process of registration of an immovable property in the city consumes a lot of time and is marred by red tape, which leads to flourishing of touts. The immovable properties are registered at sub-registrar office under the Indian Registration Act and Registration Manual. An applicant has to undergo a long-drawn process from submitting of documents duly executed in true form between the parties as per procedure laid down in the Act before the sub-registrar. The property is registered after the sub-registrar verifies all the documents and payment of prescribed stamp duty by the applicant. [related-post] Sub-registrar Amarinder Singh says that under the proposed system, the applicant shall not be required to separately apply for mutation of property. “After the process of registry is complete, the title of the property will be transferred to the application without mutation,” he adds. Lauding the initiative, Kamaljit Singh Panchi, president of Chandigarh Federation of Property Dealers, says that the residents will be saved from harassment at the hands of officials. The proposed system will also help the authorities in getting rid of touts and middlemen. Despite repeated attempts, UT Deputy Commissioner Ajit Balaji Joshi was not available for comment. The estate office is also in the process to start online service for building plans. The estate office is getting a software developed which will be used for scrutinising the plans submitted for approval. The move aims at streamlining the process and reducing the time taken in approving the plans.
