Punjab has inched a step closer to digitalise the land registration and record keeping process to stamp down on frauds and make the entire procedure all the more people-friendly. It is introducing e-stamping system from Tuesday after a delay of about three months. Announced to start from October last year, the project missed the deadline of its launch twice. Notwithstanding, the “cost-saving” and “user-friendly” initiative of the state government is expected to facilitate online registration in a completely transparent, hassle-free and secure manner with its state-wide launch on Tuesday.
Once implemented, all land registrations and mutation of deeds above ]Rs50,000 will be done under e-stamping system. After already computerising the property records, the state is now all set to make the revenue transactions citizen-centric and speedy as apart of its governance reforms. Earlier, the state government had planned to launch the system in phases by initially starting with just three districts of SAS Nagar (Mohali), Jalandhar, and Bathinda. Now, the new system would be launched for the entire state altogether.
As of now, the system is currently operational in the states of Gujarat, Karnataka, NCR Delhi, Maharashtra, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and the union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, and Puducherry. Following their footsteps, Punjab Cabinet had already notified a detailed policy regarding e-stamping. “Under this system, the e-stamp certificates cane be generated within minutes, and would have a unique identification number. The authenticity of these certificates could be checked anytime anywhere through inquiry module. Also, specific denomination is also not required for e-stamping,” a senior official from the state Revenue Department told The Pioneer.
For the purpose of implementation of e-stamping system, and to monitor the same, the state government has signed an agreement with the central record keeping agency — Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIl). SHCIl would be responsible for user registration, overall e-stamping application operations and maintenance. It would appoint authorised collection centers (ACC's) that will issue certificates to the clients at their counters.
Ahead its launching, instructions were issued to all Deputy Commissioners to get along all stakeholders, including the stamp vendors, to involve and educate them about the computerization of stamp duty advanced system (C-SDAS). The state government, through SCHIl, had also imparted required training to the users as well as the staff of sub-registrar officers and other concerned officers.