The process of buying and renting property in Mumbai has just got a lot simpler. As part of its e-governance initiative, the Maharashtra government on Thursday launched an internet facility that allows citizens to download registered property documents.
With the introduction of the service, citizens no longer have to depend on real estate agents or make multiple trips to registration offices to procure certified hard copies of property transactions. It also reduces possibilities of cheating by opening up the transaction history of a property.
The feature is available under the eSearch facility on the official website (igrmaharashtra.gov.in) of the inspector general of registration (IGR).
The inspector general, S Chockalingam, said the service has been initiated for documents registered in 14 of the 23 registration offices in Mumbai on a pilot basis, but will soon be extended for all centres across the state. It currently provides details of registered transactions of properties from January 1, 2002, to December 31, 2011. But soon steps will be taken to make available documents registered before 2002 and in 2012.
Chockalingam noted that Maharashtra is the first state in the country to initiate such a facility. He explained that the time required to download a document from the website will be less than 30 minutes. This, however, is a bigimprovement on the current state of affairs, where procuring hard copies of a certified document can often take several days.
Equally importantly, the feature will facilitate the process of selecting real estate. If a citizen is interested in purchasing a property, say, in Bandra but would first like to conduct a thorough search of records, all he or she now needs to know is its city survey number (or the Milkat number or the plot number) and the concerned revenue village. Entering these details on the IGR website will throw up the property’s transaction history.
Chockalingam said documents can be downloaded for free from the site during its test run, which would last about a week. After that, a lump-sum fee will be charged. The facility will make the registration process more citizen-friendly, said Chockalingam, adding that it will “reduce footfall at registration offices and increase their work efficiency. Roughly 20% people visiting registration offices come for certified copies of registered documents.”
Vinod Sampat, president of Registration Fee and Stamp Duty Payers Association, welcomed the initiative, but cautioned that its effectiveness will be known after extended use.
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