Sub-registrar offices lost ₹600cr since lockdown

Yogesh.Kabirdoss@timesgroup.com

Chennai:20.04.2020

The various subregistrar offices across the state are set to reopen on Monday will have a herculean task. Thanks to the Covid-19 triggered lockdown, they have lost from April 1 to 19 a potential ₹600 crore in revenue, through stamp duty and registration fees. The revenue target for the 2020-21 financial year is ₹14,500 crore.

In the 2019-20 financial year, against a revenue target of ₹13,500 crore, the department managed a sum of little more than ₹11,000 crore that was close to its earnings in the 2018-19 financial year. “Now, we are expecting a revenue of ₹100 crore to ₹150 crore for the remaining working days of April," an official said.

But it is unlikely that the department will be able to achieve the target set for the current financial year, another official said. “We may be able to make up in the coming months the losses incurred in the past 19 days. That is all,” he said.

One of the top contributors to the state, revenue through property registration has been on the rise since 2009-10 except 2016-17. This year, the department hopes for some high value transactions. “We are thinking of keeping offices open on Saturdays in case there is a demand,” he said.

In a bid to maintain social distancing, only 24 property transactions will be allowed each day. All 575 subregistrar offices across the state were closed on March 28, four days after after the nationwide lockdown came into effect. “From Monday, we are expecting about 1,000 land registrations a day against the normal of 9,000 registrations a day.”

Some officials have expressed concern over reopening the offices in the absence of temperature scanners, issues over shifting offices in containment zones to nearest offices and lack of adequate staff. A circular sent from the office of the inspector general of registration to registration officials on Saturday clearly outlined the precautionary measures that need to be followed.

In a bid to maintain social distancing, only 24 property transactions will be allowed each day