Complaints galore, all sub-registrar offices to get help desks in a week

MARGAO: Even as complaints have been pouring in from citizens and lawyers about a marked slowdown in the process of registration of documents and conveyance deeds ever since an online system was introduced in several offices of taluka sub-registrars, state registrar Ashutosh Apte has exuded confidence that the citizencentric system will prove to be a game changer in the service delivery protocol at every sub-registrar’s office.

That is, once the “teething problems” that have been encountered since the online registration system was rolled out on November 26 are effectively addressed.

“The software is working well in many other states for the nearly two years. We have customised the software to suit our requirements. Two rounds of training were provided to the staff of all subregistrars in October-November before making a switch-over to the online mode,” Apte told TOI brushing off complaints about “inefficient staff ” at the offices leading to a slowdown in the online registration process.

There have been complaints galore with regards the sub-registrars offices in South Goa about inefficient delivery of services ever since the switch-over to the online mode.

“The new system is citizen-centric and absolutely transparent. Right from submitting the draft to obtaining approval from the sub-registrar to paying the stamp duty and registration fee to seeking appointment with the sub-registrar has been made online, leaving the sub-registrar with no discretionary powers in the registration process. Even the stamp duty and registration fees are auto-validated and auto-calculated, thus eliminating all scope of manual intervention and cash transactions, thereby, reducing any scope of corruption,” Apte said.

Acknowledging the problems faced by the people while using the system, Apte attributed the reasons partly to intermittent slowdown of the internet network, and largely to resistance of people and staff to the change.

While the department of information technology is looking at the network issues, Apte said a dedicated help desk at each sub-registrar’s office to help people log in into the system will help streamline the new system.

“People find it difficult to feed the details into the system, a task which was earlier being done by the office personnel. The help desk will take care of this issue. It should be in place within a week’s time, and remain functional for nearly a month so that people get acquainted to the system,” Apte said.

Sources said the greatest beneficiaries of the system are likely to be non-resident Indians (NRIs) who can now schedule their appointments with the sub-registrar after getting the draft of their deed or document approved online, before planning their journey to India to execute the conveyance.

Suraj Vernekar, sub-registrar, Panaji, vouched for the citizen-centric and userfriendly interface of the system. “The best part of the system is that you can schedule the appointment with the sub-registrar at a date and time of your convenience,” Vernekar said.

“The power now lies in the hands of the user, not with the sub-registrar.”