The order was in pursuance of Minister for Commercial Taxes and Registration D. Logesh Tamilselvan’s recent announcement in the Assembly that the government would issue appropriate orders to make presenceless registration for deposit of title deeds and deed of receipt presented by banks and financial institutions mandatory.
In the first phase of Anywhere Registration, inaugurated by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on August 17, the State government had mandated the registration of deeds relating to the first sale of plots by plot promoters and the first sale of flats by builders, along with consecutive deposit of title deeds.
The latest order noted that banks and financial institutions routinely present deposit of title deeds for registration when creating security over immovable properties against loans sanctioned by them. Similarly, a deed of receipt is registered upon repayment or discharge of the secured loan to evidence the discharge of the liability.
Both these transactions were institutional in nature and undertaken by banks and financial institutions in the ordinary course of their lending operations. Since the documents originate from regulated institutional entities and their authorised officials can be provided dedicated institutional access to the STAR (Simplified and Transparent Administration of Registration) system, they are particularly suitable for an end-to-end presenceless registration process.
Deposit of title deeds and deed of receipt had already been enabled under the presenceless registration framework. Mandating their registration through the system would, therefore, constitute an expansion and optimal utilisation of the digital infrastructure already established by the Registration Department rather than the introduction of a new category of registration, it said.
Under the new system, banks and financial institutions will be able to submit the documents electronically without deputing their officials to Sub-Registrar Offices. This is expected to reduce physical footfall and manual interface, facilitate faster processing, improve traceability of mortgage-related transactions and enable secure digital preservation of registered documents, the order added.