Errors in database, glitches pause property registration in Haryana

GURUGRAM: Pankaj Jha, an IT firm employee, had applied for a home loan for a flat in a group housing society in March, but lockdown forced the bank to shelve his application. After Unlock 1 was announced, Jha re-applied for the home loan in July.

But by the time the bank approved and disbursed the loan to the property seller’s account, the state government had halted the property registration process, on July 22.

Though the Haryana government lifted the ban on August 31, with the launch of an online system to curb malpractices, Jha has still not been able to get the property registered in his mother’s name. “After much effort, I managed to get an e-appointment, but have failed to get the property registered at the local tehsil office in Wazirabad despite multiple visits due to snags in the software,” he told TOI.

“I have been paying EMIs for the home loan since July. I have been running from pillar to post to get the flat registered, even wrote to chief minister Manohar Lal but do not see any respite,” Jha said.

Like him, several people have been facing issues while trying to get their properties registered online from the local tehsil offices. Errors in the database, properties and locations not matching, irregularities in names of land owners and plot sizes, delays in issuing tokens, and anomalies on dues — a raft of glitches has hit Haryana’s new online system, putting thousands of registrations in Gurugram and other districts on hold.
A senior official from the revenue department said that the calculation of stamp duty for Gurugram is different from other districts, “therefore there are discrepancies in the software”. “The software is reflecting higher stamp duty for builder floors in Gurugram as it is adding the land cost and construction cost whereas it has to be collector rate. Similarly, in case of flats, the software is adding the cost of land for calculation of stamp duty,” he added.

The revenue department had stopped the process of land registration in Haryana on July 22 to upgrade the software after allegations of properties being registered without the compulsory no-objection certificate from the town and country planning departments and urban local bodies. The state government had also suspended seven tehsildars of Gurugram for alleged irregularities in the registration process.

With the new software launched on August 31, the applicants could book an e-appointment for getting their properties registration though the online platform at the local tehsil offices.

Manoj Kumar, another resident, said even the new e-appointment system is too complicated. “It is unable to identify whether the property or land falls in rural or urban areas at the time of registration. Another problem is that the record of plots under the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) and plots of licenced colonies are not updated on the portal,” he said.

When contacted, Gurugram’s deputy commissioner Amit Khatri said, “When the new software was launched, there were several issues but most of them have been resolved. Few issues related to jamabandi, property tax, private developer areas are still pending, but the district teams are in touch with state teams to address the issues. We hope to resolve them soon. But I don’t think that there has been a drop in the number of registries.”