The Department of Registration has hailed the advantages of having a full-scale online property registration facility and the advantages it offers like anywhere registration and access to data.
A senior official of the department said anywhere registration is the highlight of the facility. At present data and documents in the office of a sub-registrar comprise those of three or four revenue villages. “Even accessing district-wise data is almost impossible in the manual system,” the official added.
A property developer said that an online system complete with e-payment and e-registration would make transactions much more transparent, help keep property speculators at bay and cut cost.
The property developer pointed out how registration or cancellation of an agreement or a deed under the conventional system entailed the parties involved presenting themselves physically before the sub-registrar concerned.
Future course of development can involve proper identification of the persons using bio-metric details, which would enable easier registration process. This would be of great help especially to non-resident Keralites, who faced a lot of difficulties in property-related transactions in the State, he said.
With each of 311 offices of sub-registrar recording average 400 registrations a day, online registration will certainly bring down the work load on those officiating at these registrations. Online procedures will ensure quicker and more accurate transactions, the official added.
The official also claimed that traditional document writers did not face any immediate threat to their livelihood as they would be the point from which the documents would go online, using their license numbers. However, a future can be envisaged when it would be possible for ordinary people to register property on their own as the procedures become simpler.
Meanwhile, the Registration Department is also working on making Transfer of Registry real time in coordination with the Revenue Department. Pilot work was on at the Alathur and Wadakkencherry offices of the Sub-Registrars in Palakkad district, sources said.
Meanwhile, the Registration Department has gone fully online with registration of charitable societies. Registration has now been extended to all days of the week after it was found that opening up registration only on Wednesdays led to heavy rush at many of the offices.