Property registration a day’s affair from July 1
The e-stamping process is only an additional facility, apart from stamp papers available with the government treasury.
It’s official. From next month, Lucknowites would be able to get their properties registered on the day of filing the application, thanks to the launch of the IT-enabled online system called ‘e-stamping’.
The project promises to check irregularities in subregistrar offices, plug revenue leaks and offer people seamless services. Currently, the process takes more than a month, not to mention the irregularities and the subsequent harassment faced by the applicants.
Under this computer-based system, the applicants need to deposit the stamp fee at a bank designated by the Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL) -- the government appointed nodal agency for the project. Once implemented, one can pay nonjudicial stamp duty to the state government, within minutes, which takes not less than a month at present.
To implement the project in Lucknow, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Allahabad, Noida, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, and Meerut, in its first phase, SHCIL is in the process of designating 12 banks as the collection centres. Axis Bank, Corporation Bank, Allahabad Bank, Nainital Bank and the Punjab National Bank would be among the SHCIL-authorised banks to offer the facility, sources said.
To implement the long drawn e-stamping project, the state government had signed a memorandum of understanding with the SHCIL on Friday. “We are prepared at our level. All the computers have been connected with the Internet. The SHCIL is, however, on the job and would do it soon. I think the facility would be available within two weeks from now,” said OP Singh, additional inspector general (stamps and registration).
The e-stamping process is only an additional facility, apart from stamp papers available with the government treasury. Besides, people will not have to buy stamps by paying in cash. The facility would be effective for those buying stamps worth Rs 10,000 or more.
“Any person who wants to avail the facility will be given a system-generated unique identification number (UIN) that will be mentioned on the one-page e-stamp certificate provided at the bank. The person then needs to submit the certificate at the sub-registrar’s office. Once the verification process is completed, the e-stamp certificate gets locked and cannot be changed, tampered with or used again. It will not take more than a day,” added Singh.
In accordance with its impetus to the e-governance, the government expects to save about Rs 50 crore as a result of this paperless service. If the process is bar-coded and encrypted, e-stamping service also rules out any possibility of stamp paper duplication, fraud or under valuing.
The government plans to computerise all the 352 registry offices across the state by the end of 2014.
