Maharashtra govt to protect property e-registration agreements with blockchain technology

The Maharashtra govt has announced that it has developed a blockchain technology that will store e-registration data which can be shared with relevant stakeholders including property buyers, government authorities and financial institutions involved in funding the purchase. The Maharashtra government, in 2021, amidst COVID-19, launched a software tool which enables developers to e-register fresh property sales at their own offices.

The system was part of an initiative to arrest falling revenues from registrations since March 2020, after the COVID-19 breakout.Currently, 417 developers in the state have opted for the e-registration system. Shravan Hardikar, Inspector-General of Registration and Stamps, Maharashtra said, "We have developed a blockchain technology where all the data of e-registration is being stored. It is under pilot and will be launched soon. The blockchain will store all the data of e-registration and it will authenticate the data. Currently, 20 percent of the registrations come for signing a correction deed, and we need technology to handle the data."

Hardikar added, "As many as 4,000 e-registrations have taken place till now, and we expect a majority of them to happen online in the coming days. Overall, annually three million registrations take place of which 0.3-0.4 million are for newly constructed properties. We expect everyone to go online." At present, property buyers have to go to the offices of their local sub-registrar to register the purchase of apartments, office space etc.

This office is also involved in the registration of agreements for leave and licence, gift deed, WILL, registration of cancellation agreements, settlement agreement and adoption deed, etc. However, the Maharashtra government, last year, developed software which helps developers register the agreement for sale at their own offices. This would mean buyers will no longer have to visit the sub-registrar's office and wait in long queues for registrations. According to authorities, with e-registration, they have also done away with the requirement of two witnesses during the registration of the agreement, but witnesses will be required during the execution of the agreement.