Maharashtra to protect property e-registration agreements with blockchain technology
Before the pandemic, e-registration facility was only available for leave and licence agreements, which was started in 2014.
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Qatar World Cup will kick from Nov 1. (FILE)To promote e-registration of newly-bought property and instill confidence among home buyers, the Maharashtra government is adopting measure to protect the data linked to such transactions. In a press conference held in Mumbai on Tuesday, Shravan Hardikar, Inspector General, Department of Registration and Stamps, said blockchain technology will be used to prevent duplication of original agreement documents.
“Blockchain pilot has already been started with banks and other mortgage companies, including the Indian Bankers Association. They are being made aware about e-registration documents as questions were being raised that online documents do not have stamps and signatures, so how can they identify these as original documents. For this, in the second stage, we will have an unique number on these registered property documents, which the bankers can put in the system and match. If it doesn’t match, that means the document has been tampered with,” he said.
The main objective behind introduction of blockchain technology is to prevent duplication and tampering of registration that has taken place on an online platform. It will protect the interests of home buyers and lenders, said Hardikar.
Interestingly, Maharashtra is the first state to enable e-registrations of first-sale property. The e-registration facility was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, when maintaining social distance was necessary and visiting the registration office was difficult. Under the facility of online property registration, execution of the process till registration of document can be done online, and home buyers need not visit the stamp duty and registration office. They can complete the process while sitting in the developer’s office.
Before the pandemic, e-registration facility was only available for leave and licence agreements, which was started in 2014.
According to the Department of Registration and Stamps, on an average, nearly 30 lakh property registrations take place across Maharashtra every year. Of these, nearly 3-4 lakh agreements are for first sale of properties. Hardikar said with seamless online registration facility, all such deals will be 100 per cent online in the coming years. The government is reportedly also planning to do away with the requirement of witnesses at the time of registration.
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