Drawing up property agreements, whether rent or purchase, has become one step simpler with the state government deciding to rely on verified Aadhaar credentials of property exchangers, instead of asking them to produce two witnesses at the time of registering documents.  

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The state’s notification introducing Aadhaar authentication for registration was issued on Saturday with the aim of putting an end to benami and fraudulent transactions. 

It makes Maharashtra the second state after Gujarat to allow Aadhaar verification for property registration, and brings it closer to the transition to fully online registration.

Even in its current form, the move will speed up property registration in Mumbai, where over 2.60 lakh documents are registered annually, and also across the state, where about 24 lakh registrations take place in a year.

“Consent-based Aadhaar authentication service will prove cost-effective and fully auditable,” said a revenue department official. “It will fulfil requirements of Section 32A of the Registration Act, 1908, which relates to compulsory affixing of photograph.’’ 

The government, though, will now have to ensure that sub-registrar’s offices have high-speed Internet and other infrastructure for online validation of Aadhaar. 

The state has already introduced online registration of leave and licence documents.