The initiative has been taken by the Urban Development department, under its ‘ease of doing business project’.

A major initiative is in the works to simplify the process of property registration in Delhi, under which a web portal is being created where digitised copies of every document needed to carry out a transaction will be available at the touch of a button.

Considering the multiplicity of agencies in Delhi, the same task currently requires a person to browse through multiple portals or make trips to government offices, before registering the property at one of the many sub-registrar offices in the city.

The initiative taken by the Urban Development department, under its ‘ease of doing business project’, comes months after the Centre made a renewed push ahead of the assembly polls to hand over ownership rights to owners of properties in the city’s over 1,700 unauthorised colonies.

The department recently floated a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the proposed integrated portal. An official of the department explained that in order to register a property, a person may need access to details including chain of ownership, loan taken using the property as mortgage, arrear of dues of property tax, water tax, status of litigation in courts: “Getting the requisite papers is a cumbersome process now. One needs to run around offices of the MCDs, revenue department, land and development office, or log onto their portals…”

This is where the proposed web portal promises to be useful. It will also have options for people to view and download land records, including certified digitally signed maps in possession of land record agencies of Delhi, and all other property related historical and current information required for its registration.

Similar plans floated in the past, including by the Sheila Dikshit government, did not see much progress. The conferring of ownership rights to residents of unauthorised colonies has also remained a politically contested issue over the years, gaining steam ahead of every state election.

The latest RFP rekindles that promise. The objectives of the project, it says, is to put together a system where a citizen can view, request, apply or engage with various government authorities related to property registration in Delhi, and also obtain certified copy of documents online by making requisite payments.