Registering quality service by cutting out red tape

Registering quality service by cutting out red tape
ARUNA CHAKRAVORTY

MUMBAI, SEPT 23: This Independence Day heralded a new wave of `quality service' in Stamp Duty and Registration offices across the state wherein property documents are being registered immediately, and returned to the parties within 48 hours. If papers cannot be returned on the same day, parties are notified a date for collection.

It's a far cry from the situation that existed only a few months back when papers once given for registration, would take months and years to get back. All of which not only distressed the parties, but also contributed to unnecessary stacking of documents in stuffy offices.

The revolution, as the Inspector General of Registration (IGR) Dr Nitin Kareer himself acknowledges, has ensured that as against the earlier 15 per cent, a record 85 per cent of the documents presented for registration in the city of Mumbai between August 16 to August 31, 2000 have already been returned.

``It is how we want services to be made available to the people,'' says Kareer matter-of-factly, when contacted in Pune. ``What we are trying to say is that these are the standards of services we are setting for ourselves and hopefully these would set the norms for quality in all public services''.

So while earlier, the officer just took your documents and `lodged' them for registration, the new rules implemented from August 15 ensures that if all your papers are in order, the registration will be done immediately. If not, you will be given a checklist showing which documents need to be attached. There is no procedure for `lodging' anything now.

``Earlier even if there was no IT (Income Tax) or ULC (Urban Land Ceiling) clearance certificate or stamp duty was not paid according to the market value, we accepted the documents for lodging. No longer,'' says Mohan Sardeshmukh, sub-registrar at the Bandra office.

The earlier procedure was cumbersome. ``First the officers would have to go through the papers, then send notices. And since the document was already lodged for registration, none of the parties bothered about the notices sent. As a result, the state was losing out on revenue and the parties' right to their documents were being discounted'' he says.

Today, fewer `completed' documents make their appearances, reducing the rush to manageable limits. Since registration is immediate, workload has also improved.

``We never expected that something like this could happen,'' admits Sardeshmukh. Except that they had not counted on a determined IGR. It took months of brainstorming with all concerned sections like builders, stamp duty payers associations, the cadre of officers in the registration offices, to delineate how the work of registration is to be done. The result is a booklet: SARITA (Stamp And Registration Information Technology & Administration), which gives the details that your documents should contain.

Besides, any person wanting information of the stamp duty which he has to pay, can apply to the sub-registrar's office in a certain format. The officer then goes through the papers and informs him of the exact amount to be paid. ``It is easier for the flat purchaser to decide if he can really afford to buy the flat. Till these rules were passed, he paid less stamp duty to lodge his document. And when the notices for the arrears were sent, he had to pay interest at the rate of 24 per cent per annum,'' said Pankaj Doshi, a stamp duty practitioner. ``These steps were long overdue and we are glad it has happened,'' agrees advocate Vinod Sampat, Registration Fees and Stamp Duty Payers Association.

Strategies however are needed to handle the backlog. The pre-1995 work alone involves 1.5 crore documents, with has a volume of 7 crore papers. ``Only 15 days back the state cabinet approved a sum of Rs 12 - 13 crore for reducing the backlog, which will be done by sub-contracting. Most of these documents have been registered, but have to be scanned for records,'' Kareer said.

With registration offices across the state acutely understaffed, there is also a separate proposal which has been mooted for increasing staff as well as introducing computerisation.

``At present the motivation level is very high. We have to watch and see how it goes,'' says Kareer.