Law dept tells govt to scrap 'anywhere registration' scheme

Says it violates provisions of Central Registration Act

The Law department has again opined that the ‘anywhere registration’ (of property) scheme introduced in 2011 violates the Central Registration Act 1908.

The Law department has stated that an administrative decision will now have to be taken to cancel the scheme, which presently exists in Bengaluru Urban district. The Stamps and Registration department had sought a second legal opinion following a complaint by Committee on Judicial Accountability (CJA), an NGO.

The CJA in its complaint had stated that anywhere registration scheme has resulted in multiple registrations of a single property.

As per the 2011 notification, Bengaluru Urban district was divided into five registration districts as Gandhinagar, Rajajinagar, Basavanagudi, Shivajinagar and Jayanagar and the sub-registrar’s office in each of these districts was merged into the jurisdiction of the respective districts. The properties in respective districts could be registered in any of the sub registrar office pertaining to the respective district. Later, the state government proposed to further merge these five districts into one district so that the properties anywhere in Bengaluru could be registered anywhere in Bengaluru Urban district.

Merging of dists dropped
However, the Law department opined that the jurisdiction of sub-districts and the district cannot be one and the same and it violates Sections 5 and 6 of the Central act. Thus, the proposal of merging the districts into one was dropped in 2015. Meanwhile, CJA wrote to the Stamps and Registration department claiming that the opinion rendered by the Law department is also applicable to the prevailing practice of registration under the 2011 scheme, which has led to the same property being registered to many individuals resulting in property disputes. The representation by CJA was again sent to the Law Department for its opinion.

Referring to its earlier opinion, Law Department has advised the government to issue necessary administrative orders. This also means that the properties will have to be registered in the jurisdictional sub registrar office only and not anywhere. Inspector General of Registration Manoj Kumar Meena said that a decision will be taken soon on the prevailing scheme.

“We have not received the Law department advice as yet. Once the legal opinion is received, a decision will be taken in consultation with senior officials,” he said.
Ganesh S Kaundinya of CJA said, “The Stamps and Registration department and the earlier government have not applied mind while issuing the notification for anywhere registration in 2011. Though it may be convenient to the public, it has resulted in huge fraud with multiple registrations of the same property.

“It’s high time this government, considering the facts of the case and the legal opinion by the Law Department, immediately cancel the notification issued in 2011.”