Karnataka: Bond writers to protest at Suvarna Vidhan Soudha on December 16 opposing Kaveri-3

Hubballi: Registration of properties at sub-registrar offices across Karnataka could be affected on December 16 as over 4,000 bond/ document writers would stage a protest at Suvarna Vidhan Soudha in Belagavi. They are opposing the state government’s decision of going faceless and paperless during the registration of property through Kaveri-3, a comprehensive web-based application.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Wednesday, Dharwad District Stamps and Registration Department Authorised Licensed Document Writers’ Trust president Shanthraj P Pol said the state government’s decision will not only leave over 12,000 bond writers out of work but also result in increased litigation at court as there are higher possibility of misusing the provision of online registration of properties.

He said ever since the state government introduced Kaveri-1 and 2 and e-Swathu, people are facing hardships in registering property due to server breakdown, inability to fetch data, co-relate documents, mutations and other issues.

“There are a lot of lacuna in this online system and these are causing huge revenue loss to both state exchequer and public,” he said and added that with government planning to introduce Kaveri-3 where public can register their property without being physically present at sub-registrar office, it could lead to several frauds and misuse.

“The provisions of e-Swathu make it easy for miscreants to create fake documents as there is no need for description of the property (previous owners) and the boundaries. Moreover, it being Aadhaar-based registration and faceless, anyone can create fake owners’ details and register the property,” he said and added that in spite of current system being documented in papers and required physical presence of owners, "we are witnessing multiple cases of forged documents being created. Imagine the situation when it goes faceless and paperless, where any unauthorised person sitting in cyber cafes creating and authorising property mutation."

Rukmini Bai Chaluvadi, member of the Association said after the introduction of faceless registration recently, they have been reported incidents of men registering their marriage with women without their consent. “Sub-registrar office looks only at the documents being in order and if the fee is paid to approve applications. However, it is the girl who will suffer as she needs to dissolve the ‘marriage’ only in the court.”

The members demanded that Karnataka too follow other south Indian state models by providing exclusive vendor log-in IDs to only authorised bond writers to ensure transparency. They also demanded that all the property sales deed registration should be composed by the bond writers or advocates to ensure limiting fraud.

The members, who later staged a protest in front of the tahsildar's office, said their association has more than 12,000 registered members and majority of them will boycott work on December 16.

“On last Monday, the members of the association staged a symbolic protest in Davangere and that resulted in a notional loss of Rs six crore to the exchequer. On December 16, when all the members of the association would stage protest, it could result in loss of crores of rupees to the state government,” said Shanthraj and demanded that at least for the sake of public welfare, the government should withdraw Kaveri-3 application.