Buy a flat,see others settle in

In 2008,when the Khandars went to claim the property,they were told the flats they had paid for and registered were in the possession of another family. “I got the property registered,got loans sanctioned from the bank and after the payment was made,I see that some other family has made claims to the house. How can the registration department register the same flat twice?” says Khandhar.

“My brother Praful too had booked flats in the society and was duped. The banks have initiated legal proceedings against us for not paying the monthly installments,” said Khandhar,one of countless families who have moved the state consumer court seeking compensation and possession of flats they had paid for.

“Every day at least 4-5 such aggrieved parties approach the consumer court seeking their property back. But when the builder who has duped the family has gone missing,how much will the court be able to help?” says senior advocate Anand Patwardhan.

Last week,Patwardhan had moved the Bombay High Court seeking accountability fixed on the state government departments. “If the government can readily accept registration money,why can’t it maintain a database that shows if the property is registered in someone else’s name. Rampant fraudulence is possible only because of the laxity of the government,” Patwardhan says.

In the litigation,Patwardhan has noted that the sub-registrar’s office still maintains a manual database even when computers are available. “To go through each file,they charge Rs 25,but still no system is put in place to stop such multiple registration of properties,” Patwardhan says.

“Possession of many buildings from as far back as 1998 has been given very recently to claimants,following legal hassles. In such cases,even if the house is registered with more than one name,there is no way to check documents,” said advocate Harmeet Goyal,defence counsel in the consumer court for A L Mehta,a builder from the eastern suburbs who allegedly tried selling a flat to four separate people. “This could have been checked had the government shown some alertness,” said Goyal.

The Cabinet had approved integrated citizen facilitation centres,“Setu”,in early 2002 to computerise all government bodies. “The state revenue department is yet to get its act together and put all the land records into a system,” Patwardhan says.