We know of business happening in sub-registrar offices: Minister

Revenue Minister R Ashoka on Monday admitted in the Legislative Assembly that sub-registrar offices had become a haven for middlemen and brokers.

“We know that there’s business happening in the offices of sub-registrars,” Ashoka said during the Question Hour. “That’s why we took some services online. But then, they aren’t getting enough response from the public,” he said.

Encumbrance certificates and booking of appointments to register property documents are some services that have been made online. “If more and more people use the services online, then the prevalence of agents or brokers will go,” Ashoka said.

Senior Congress legislator H K Patil said sub-registrar offices must be closed in view of the Covid-19 scare and the government should mandate that citizens make use of online services. “Use this situation to make online registration (of properties) mandatory for two months. Slowly, people will switch to that,” he said.

Another senior Congress legislator R V Deshpande, who was the revenue minister in the previous coalition government when some of the property-related services were made online, said not all services were available across the state. “If the online system is working fine, you can extend it to the entire state.”

Ashoka said he was in favour of that. “In fact, in view of the Covid-19 crisis, we are mulling whether or not sub-registrar offices should be open. Also, we will look at introducing a system in which registrations can be done online,” he said.

Regularisation deadline to be extended

Revenue Minister R Ashoka said the deadline to seek regularisation of houses built on government land in rural and urban areas, which ends this week, will be extended. This pertains to a regularisation scheme under Section 94C (for rural areas) and Section 94CC (for urban areas) of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act. In the Assembly, members across party lines sought an extension in view of the Covid-19 crisis.