Stamps & registration dept in for major overhaul

HYDERABAD: All 387 offices of registrars and sub-registrars in the stamps and registration department across the state which have become breeding centres for corruption are in for a major overhaul with chief minister K Rosaiah directing officials to plug revenue leaks by initiating tamper-proof changes to the existing software.
It has been observed that sub-registry officials were depriving citizens several user-friendly features incorporated in Computer-aided Administration of Registration Department (CARD) to keep their windows of opportunity open at all levels while registering various valuable documents.
With the stamps department turning into a major contributor to the state exchequer, chief minister K Rosaiah recently directed officials to sincerely improve their efforts to realize revenue which was lost either due to short-levy or undervaluation of properties. The revenue from stamp duty and registration fees increased from Rs 2,013.45 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 3,086.06 crore in 2007-08 and to Rs 3,456.39 crore in 2008-09.
Government sources said officials at the registrar offices continued to maintain manually 20 of the 26 major records/registers, which were not necessary after computerisation. Officials monitoring the functioning of the decade-old CARD admitted that corruption was rampant as most of the registrar offices continued to follow the manual system of indexing, accounting, reporting, copying and filing of documents by setting aside options available in CARD software.
Revenue officials said they were trying to plug a major breach in CARD software which did not have a provision to archive the pre-revised market values, which are revised twice every year. It was also found that there was no provision in CARD to reflect the cases of registration on holidays where a fee of Rs 500 had to be collected per each document.
Commissioner and inspector-general of registration and stamps B Aravind Reddy clarified that a more user-friendly and tamper-proof CARD software would be available within the next six months with a larger database and an active interface with various government departments.
Reddy said serious efforts were underway to provide an interface with other government departments and agencies such as local authorities to keep an up-to-date database of permitted house properties, to know the extent of site and built-up area permitted by local body and to update the classification of land use in urban areas and mandal offices.
Apart from removing discrepancies in CARD master data, the department would also put in place a disaster recovery and business continuity plan, map articles as per Indian Stamp Act, map all business rules in respect of lease agreements, registration fee which resulted in short levy of stamp duty and incorporate an exhaustive list of all prohibited properties in the state.