Soon, e-register docus without witnesses

In an incentive for people who e-register documents like leave and license, the Department of Registration and Stamps is planning to do away with the need for their executors to produce identifiers at the time of registration.

"We are planning to do away with witnesses (for those opting for Aadhaar-based e-registration). This is because Aadhaar is an identity in itself. This will promote e-registration and encourage people to use it," Dr Ramaswami N, inspector general of registration and controller of stamps, told dna.

The plan, which was in the initial stages, would ensure that people going in for e-registration, which was linked to the UIDAI biometric database, thus enabling authentication, would not have to produce witnesses to the transaction (unlike those who register these documents manually), he said. This will also eliminate middlemen, who move around as professional witnesses.

A proposal in this regard would be sent soon to the state government. The state has seen around 40,000 documents being registered so far in the current fiscal, said Ramaswami. At present, the licensor and licensee have to produce two witnesses to the document.

The department has enabled e-registration of leave and license documents and first sale of flats. The Aadhaar-based biometric facility launched in February 2014 enables people to file their documents through authorised service providers (ASPs) and also through the state government's MahaOnline portal.

This does away with the need for the parties to the document to physically visit government offices. Those with the necessary hardware and software can also file these documents from their homes. This was meant to reduce footfalls in government offices as these agreements form a bulk of the registration burden in Mumbai and give boost to e-registration at empanelled service providers.

The department is planning to gradually ensure that all leave and license documents are e-registered. These service providers will charge Rs700 (of which Rs150 will be paid to the department) and an extra Rs300 for home visits.

The department has used a carrot and stick approach to push the plan.

Mumbai has 25 registration offices, including five in the city, six in Andheri, five in Kurla and nine in Borivali.