The state government has directed the Inspector General of Registration and Stamps (IGR) to submit a report on violations in property documents registered in Pune city from October 2019.
A four-member squad appointed for this purpose faces an uphill task — there an estimated 3 lakh documents registered at the 27 sub-registrar offices in the city. The panel would visit each office and check the documents for any violations under the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Act or the Maharashtra Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act.
The panel would have to scrutinize an average of 2,800 documents at each sub-registrar office per day and submit its findings to the government by December 1.
State IGR Omprakash Deshmukh told that the “Herculean” exercise has begun. “We may have to seek an extension if the work is not completed, but each document must be checked and verified without fail,” he said.
The government appointed this squad after complaints from citizens about the violations that many projects had not been registered with the state RERA regulator, and other projects also violated the other law.
State revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat on Thursday said they would replicate this across the state.
“The entire process is aimed at bringing about transparency and to ensure that all the documents, while being registered, are checked for compliance,” he explained.
As per a state government circular, officials must check for the RERA registration number and other details while registering documents. “If a project is exempt from this, then relevant documents should be submitted,” Thorat said.
A member of the committee said it would be a time-consuming process as the documents are not filed under separate categories. “We would need to check all registered documents, which include leave and licence, sale of new properties and gift deeds,” he said.
On an average, each office registers 600-800 documents per month. “The state government eventually plans to check for violations of other Acts,” another member said.
Consumer rights’ activist Shrikant Joshi said buyers should not be made to suffer if any violations were found. “The government should weed out such violations,” Joshi said.
