DNA EXCLUSIVE: Biz at ease - World Bank reviews Mumbai's property registration steps

A team of experts from the World Bank visited the city on Monday and reviewed initiatives taken by the state government with regard to ease of business in matters of property registration. Some of the key steps included online registration of property documents, registration of all land plots in the city, and consent-based Aadhar for identification.

The state revenue department in its 55-page-long presentation has pointed out that the registration of a sale deed is done in less than a day and the registration fee and stamp duty can be paid online. The department informed the visiting World Bank team that in a bid to avoid human interface and curb corruption the document handling charges are required to be paid online. Challans were issued against all 27,844 documents between January 1 and December 31, in 2018.

As far as the processing of the mutation of a property title is concerned, the revenue department has abolished the indemnity bond and the time period has been reduced to 25 days from 30 days. There is no need to apply to the Land and Survey Office for mutations as now, it is automatically triggered after the registration of the deed. The disputes related to mutation registration are now disposed of within a year.

A majority of titles or deed records have now been digitised. The state revenue department official said, ''Of the total 3,92,781 digitised record of rights (RoR), 26,675 are for the city and 3,66,106 are for the suburbs. An electronic database for encumbrances such as liens, mortgages can be searched online through various applications like free search, premium search, and local tax dues," an officer from the revenue department said. He further informed that the mapping agency is expected to deliver an updated map within 30 days and it has been notified under the Right to Services Act (RTS).

The officer said all land plots in the city are mapped under Bhu-Nakasha. ''However, if anybody acquires right in any part of a privately held plot and wishes to separate out such part by metes and bounds, he is required to make an application to the City Survey office to subdivide the plot. Updated maps of subdivisions are required to be prepared within 30 days under the RTS,'' he said.

Also, information recorded by immovable property registration agency and mapping agency is kept in linked databases Bhu Nakasha.

Business At Ease

• Sale deed registration takes less than a day
• Nearly 27,844 document handling charge challans were issued between January 1 and December 31, in 2018
• There are 13,821 hits on Bhu-Nakasha portal
• There are 3,92,781 digitised record of rights (RoR) in city
• Property tax dues can be checked using property tax portal of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation
• 90 complaints with regard to immovable property registration in Mumbai were resolved between January 1 and December 31, 2018