Maharashtra has made prior scrutiny by senior registration officials mandatory for property documents presented outside the taluka where the property is located, tightening checks under the state’s one district one registration scheme. The new process is intended to detect stamp-duty evasion, undervaluation and legal encumbrances before such documents are registered.
A revenue department circular issued on October 12 requires a joint sub-registrar receiving a document linked to property outside the taluka to attach a request for permission to register it. The document must then be scrutinised and forwarded, along with the joint sub-registrar’s opinion on whether it is fit for registration, to the joint district registrar.
The joint district registrar will have two days to review the documents, according to the circular. The additional scrutiny applies when a property document is presented for registration in a taluka different from the one in which the property is located.
The change addresses a procedural risk created by the one district one registration system. The scheme allows property documents to be registered at offices across a district rather than restricting registration to the jurisdiction where the property is situated. State registration officials told The Times of India that the new review mechanism is aimed at curbing irregularities linked to this flexibility.
The system has expanded the choice of registration office available to parties involved in property transactions, but it also requires officials to examine whether documents accurately reflect the property and transaction. The circular specifically identifies stamp-duty evasion, undervaluation and legal encumbrances as issues that senior officials must consider before granting permission.
The new procedure will not apply to agreements and sale deeds involving projects registered under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act when the properties are located outside the taluka. It will also not be required for registered documents that do not involve a change in ownership.
The state government is also directing the land records and registration departments to work out a mechanism through which property buyers may be able to obtain a measurement of land or buildings before registering a sale. The report did not provide details on how the proposed pre-purchase survey mechanism would operate, who would conduct the measurements or when it would be introduced.
If implemented, such a measurement process would place land records and registration offices more directly in the transaction pathway before a sale is completed. For now, the immediate change is the two-day scrutiny requirement for eligible out-of-taluka documents. The joint district registrar’s review and the departments’ work on a pre-purchase measurement mechanism are the next administrative steps identified in the report.
