In a move that would spell trouble for thousands of revenue site owners, the government has stopped registering sites with no khatas. It has now made digitised khata – generated using the e-Swathu software from competent authority – mandatory for the registration of properties across the state.
The government had stopped issuing B khatas to revenue sites since 2016 following reports of frauds but still many people went ahead and bought sites since the registrations were being allowed. Till 2016, manual khatas were being issued.
“We have asked the sub-registrars and joint sub-registrars of properties not to register sale and transfer deeds of properties without the khatas issued by the competent authority in both urban and rural areas,” said KV Trilok Chandra, inspector general of registrations (IGR) and commissioner of stamps.
The decision has been taken in the backdrop of widespread complaints of allegedly selling agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes without land conversion or prior approval, especially in Bengaluru.
This is also a result of complaints made by some MLAs, against officials of sub-registrar offices who have been accused of breaking the rules to register revenue sites to private parties and manipulating the software used for property registration, causing huge losses to the state exchequer.
This decision might have an impact on the revenue collection as the real estate market is already sluggish. The stamps and registration department has collected Rs 8,297 crore in 2019 – a sum of Rs 650 crore more than the previous year.
Government estimates peg the number of illegal sites around Bengaluru at 40,000 and across the state at 5 lakh, but the actual figure might be double than that.