Property racket lid blown off

Property racket lid blown off
22 Sub-Registrars Under Lens For Illegal Registration Of Revenue Land
S Kushala | TNN

Bangalore: In Dasanapura and Hesaraghatta sub-registrar offices, an acre of land has been transacted and registered as 40 different documents in one day. How? The land has been split into 40 guntas and there is a transaction for each gunta separately by a single sub-registrar.
Rampant registration of revenue properties has got 22 sub-registrars of Bangalore, of a total of 33, into trouble. They are now under the Governor’s scanner.
A confidential report prepared and submitted by the Inspector General (Stamps and Registration) H Shashidhar three days ago has recommended investigations into irregularities and action against 22 sub-registrars. The irregularities have come to light after a committee formed by IGR inspected the cases and reported their findings. The report has pointed to violations of the Stamp Act and Land Reforms Act. On Tuesday, the report was submitted to Governor’s adviser P K H Tharakan.
What the scam is: The Stamp Act does not ban registration of agriculture properties. It bans the registration of revenue properties — that is, agriculture land sold for nonagricultural purposes without land conversion. But here, agricultural lands were split into smaller blocks and sold separately. “Prima facie, such cases look fraudulent as the motive behind the transaction is development of land for non-agricultural purpose without land conversion. The sub-registrar does not have the power to check the genuineness of the documents but can prevent the registration,’’ revenue officials said.
When an acre is divided into 40 documents and registered as a gunta each, the transaction is considered abnormal. This happens when agricultural land is sold to builders without land conversion. The report has pointed a finger at the sub-registrars for clearing the transactions.
The Land Reforms Act has been violated by registering agricultural lands in favour of non-agriculturists. As a rule, nonagriculturists cannot purchase farmland. The department has estimated about 1,000 such document registrations which appeared to be in contravention of law with over 300 acres transacted. A high-level committee is likely to be formed to go probe irregularities.
In Dec 2006, the government issued an ordinance which banned registration of revenue properties. The directive was also meant to ensure that sub-registrars did not violate rules. Erring officials can be imprisoned for one to three years and fined Rs 5,000-10,000 if they aided fraudulent transactions.
SUB-REGISTRARS CAN BE BOOKED FOR AIDING ...

• Sale of farmland for non-agricultural purposes without land conversion or prior approval — 3-year jail and Rs 10,000 fine

• Creating bogus documents for conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural use — 1-yr jail, Rs 5,000 fine

• Failure to report or initiate action against unlawful conversion of revenue lands for non-agricultural purpose — 3-yr jail, Rs 10,000 fine Probe procedure

• Will ascertain whether there is any fabrication of documents. If so, sub-registrars can be booked for criminal offences.

• In case of a procedural lapses, a departmental inquiry will be ordered