Why hasn’t govt started e-registration of legal documents, HC asks Delhi chief secy

The Delhi high court Thursday asked the Delhi chief secretary to file an affidavit on why a system can’t be put in place for the e-registration of legal documents

The Delhi high court Thursday asked the Delhi chief secretary to file an affidavit on why a system can’t be put in place for the e-registration of legal documents such as property deeds and wills, etc., while stating that the government attitude towards e-registration is “completely averse”.

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A bench of chief justice DN Patel and justice Prateek Jalan made the remarks after it was informed that the Delhi government is yet to start the online registration of legal documents, despite the pandemic and social distancing norms in place.

The high court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Gaurav Gambhir claiming that sub-registrars in the national capital are refusing to register wills and other documents of senior citizens, persons with co-morbidities and pregnant women by citing the risk of Covid-19 infection.

Gambhir had told the court, during the last hearing on August 31, that Maharashtra, West Bengal and Haryana have all started online registration of legal documents, thereby doing away with the need for the citizen to go to the sub-registrar’s office

“Your attitude appears to be, “we will do what we feel like”….You are not doing online registration of legal documents at all. As we are doing online filing of cases, and recording evidence via video conferencing, we want you (Delhi government) to also move towards an electronic system. We want to reduce the human interface between your officials and the public,” the bench said.

“We do not want the public to go to the sub-registrar offices and stand in queues, especially during the pandemic. There are many other benefits also of e-registration,” the bench said.

The court further said if applying for passports, filing tax returns, submitting board exam forms by class 10 and 12 students, etc., can be done online, and if in all such cases the documents can be verified electronically/ digitally, “then why cannot the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi?”

It then directed the chief secretary to file an affidavit before the next date of hearing, answering the points raised by the bench and keeping in mind its earlier orders in the matter. The bench will further hear the matter on November 24.