Govt to film land registration process to avoid disputes

Hyderabad: To avoid frequent land litigations by filing false cases in courts, the Registration Department has decided to handover a CD by video recording the entire transaction.

Committed to bringing reforms in the Registration and Revenue Department, the government has decided to video graph the registration process in all sub-registrar offices. During the transaction of a particular property both vendor (seller) and vendee (buyer) has to come to the office to ensure registration of property. Till now, after the completion of transactions in sub-registrar offices, buyers used to get only the registered documentation, but soon they have to collect a CD containing the video of the whole transaction, including the participants during the time of registration

Once the buyers receive the CD, it is easy to avoid legal cases. “After selling a property, vendors again knock at the court doors stating that the registration was made with forgery signatures, their family members had not signed, the document was tainted and other reasons. But, once the entire process got video-graphed, they cannot file cases on false grounds,” said an official working in Shamshabad sub-registrar office.

The department officials also faced several pressures during the registration of a property and later, they have to face the music for wrongdoings. The video recording of the registration process would become a substantial evidence to the buyers, said RV Constructions Managing Director N Venkat Ram Reddy of Hyderabad.

On a trial basis, the department introduced the system in Chikadpally Sub-Registrar office and planned to extend it to all 148 offices in the State soon.

Already, the department has procured required equipment — high-resolution video cameras, storage devices and computers — to store the data. The property buyers were welcoming the move and wanted the system to be introduced in all sub-registrar offices which would avoid almost 70-80 per cent of legal complications and the CD would become evidence under India Evidence Act, an official said.

It would also be helpful in identifying the persons during the illegal registrations. “In some cases, the government lands and other properties mentioned in the probity register also got registered. With video recording, it is easy to avoid such things,” said Chevella Sub-Registrar Arshad Ali. The department is confident that the system would bring in a great reform.