INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - JANUARY 1^st - JANUARY 15^th - 2008

BANGALORE PROPERTY REGISTRATIONS SET FOR E-STAMPING

India's knowledge capital of Bangalore is all set to herald e-stamping for property transactions in all the eight sub-registrar's offices in the city. The move, expected to be launched on a pilot basis in the next four to six weeks, is aimed at curbing the fake stamp paper menace as also properly monitor the huge revenue collections.

Karnataka governor Rameshwar Thakur, who accorded formal approval for the proposal to introduce e-stamping after a cabinet meeting of his advisors, said the new measure will improve the availability of stamp papers to the general public presently distributed through select branches of a couple of nationalised banks.

The public will be required to make the necessary payment through demand drafts or cash for their property registrations at the authorised stock holding corporations, which would generate the stamp certificates. The introduction of estamping for property registrations would help the sub-registrars to reconcile the payments received, according to the inspector general of stamps and registrations Shashidhar.

Gujarat is the only state which has introduced e-stamping on a pilot basis so far, Shashidhar said.

The cabinet also decided to submit a detailed proposal for revival of the closed state government undertaking, NGEF, within a week to the Centre. It also decided to transfer 19 acres of land in the possession of NGEF to another unit for raising funds through better recapitalisation. Another big chunk of 50 acres of NGEF property has already been earmarked for the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation.