Power woes in Tiruchi complicate sale deed registration

It takes about 15 to 30 minutes to complete each transaction, say staff

People waiting to register their property at the Sub-Registrar's office in Tiruchi on Friday. Photo: A. Muralitharan

The use of biometric system for registration at sub-registrar’s offices has turned out to be more a bane than boon. According to sources and document writers, the process consumes 15 to 30 minutes for every transaction. Though the procedure was aimed at eliminating the scope for fraud and impersonation, it seems to have its share of drawbacks. For instance, the pictures printed on the documents are not clear.

“A property document is an important record and the image of a person buying or selling a property should be clearly identifiable beyond doubt,” say the regulars at the office. Power cuts aggravated the crisis. Those registering a document have to wait for a few hours till the power supply was restored.

Fall in numbers

One of the document writers at the Sub-Registrar Office in the city says there was a serious fall in the number of deeds being registered daily. “Against 30 or 40, only 10 to 20 deeds are registered a day,” he says.

According to E. Vasudevan, Tamil Nadu Registration Department Employees’ Association State unit president, the association has planned to take up the matter with the State government.

The association was opposed to having surveillance cameras at the registration offices. The association has urged the State government to supply new computers, printers, and scanners.

In a number of registration offices, outdated computers were lying in disuse. He said the recent order by the government that the documents should be registered only based on encumbrance certificates was in violation of Rule 55 safeguarding the interest of the registrars and sub-registrars. The State government should re-consider this direction, he said.