Modernized Sub Register Office, Tamil Nadu - A Boon

This is my recent experience, a week back. I had some registration work in my local sub register office (Aravakuruchi, Karur).I had expectation on how a register office would look, courtesy, Tamil Cinema. An office with few old staffs, lot of files, lot of crowd and of course bribes 

I reached the office around 10.30 AM, early in govt office terms. Very little crowd. Directly went to Document Writer office. Arrangements were made few days before while I was in Bangalore to avoid any delay. So my document was ready. Document charges were higher which includes document purchase charge, writing charge, DD to be paid in register office plus thing-that-should-not-be-named. This is the explanation given by the writer. DD will be 1% of the total property value. If the value is less 1000, it should be cash payment, else DD. This is the first thing that I dint expect. I mean the DD part I never heard of.

Our doc was the first to be taken to the registrar’s notice. Token no 1. She immediately asked for Encumbrance Certificate (EC) which is widely known as Villangam. This will give an idea about the past owners of the property, whether the guy you are dealing with is a proper owner and stuff. It can be obtained for any number of years. But govt mandated to submit it for last one year. If the numbers of years increase, the rate will increase. This is again a good move to avoid fraudulence. 

Only after we submitted that, the officer progressed with our documents. Next both the buyer and seller were asked to sit in front of the camera, photo and finger prints taken digitally. This is the advancement I am really surprised of. It will be a good solid proof for the transaction as it is available in the govt repository. Then buyer, seller and the witnesses were asked to sign and group photo taken. A separate 130 was paid as fee, which I don’t know for what. Then a receipt was given and I was asked to collect the document after a week. I was told the document will be completely scanned and uploaded in their data base. As there will be large number of documents pending, it will take time.

I am happy about the developments in government offices in terms of technology use. Hope this extends to other offices as well (I am not sure if this has already ). This will serve as a good documentation and proof in terms of conflicts.