MAPUSA: Threatening to boycott their work at the Mapusa Sub-Registrar's Office, lawyers from Bardez have slammed the unpardonable delays in online approval for registering property documents, and the poor working conditions at the office due to inadequate staffing and non-functioning of basic infrastructure that inconvenience them.
Mapusa Advocates Forum President Paresh Rao said the association had submitted a petition outlining their problems to Law Minister Nilesh Cabral back in June and after a two-hour discussion, the Minister had promised them a solution. "It has now been two months, but there has been no change in the functioning in the office of the Sub-Registrar,” said Rao.
"The government receives maximum direct revenue from this department in the form of stamp duty and other fees, and we do not understand why so many hurdles are being created. No work happens on time. Earlier, we would meet the sub-registrar directly, but now there is a fixed time slot. As a result, we are forced to wait in queues, like at the ration shop,” said Rao. In the 24-point petition, the forum had asked the government to notify and fix a market value of land for a specific period of one to two years, which should be considered the uniform market value for all the transfer deeds. The practice and discretionary powers of the Sub-Registrar to increase and decrease land rates should be discontinued, the forum said.
The forum also demanded changes in the way all applications and deeds, be it the succession or transfer deeds, are processed. "Online approvals of any such deed should be done within a week. The sub registrars need to be directed not to raise objections with respect to the approved deed on the day of its execution," said Rao. The forum called for the grievance/clarification timings of the office to be shifted to an earlier slot, from 2.30 pm to 5:30 pm, to avoid keeping the advocates standing in long queues.
The advocates also complained about the poor infrastructure at the office, like non-functional photocopy machines and printers, outdated and slow computers, erratic internet connectivity and glitchy software that causes their paperwork to be delayed, requiring them to make multiple trips to the office for simple tasks. "To make matters worse, the office does not have adequate seating arrangements or toilet facilities. these are inhuman conditions to work under, and we will suspend our services if these issues are not addressed immediately," said Rao.