The concept of ‘patta’ — a legal paper attesting to the actual owner of a plot of land — may not have been so popular in big cities, but landholders in Chennai can soon get ‘patta’ online under a new government initiative aimed at curbing bogus transactions.
As the run-up to the exercise, 3.76 lakh land records in Chennai district have been computerised. The National Informatics Centre is developing a software. Once it is ready, computer-generated ‘patta’ documents can be issued, say officials.
Initially, Egmore and Mylapore will be covered as these taluks have a large number of land records.
Under the Revenue Department’s plan, applicants will have to go to government common service centres to access the system. After studying the experience, the department will make the system accessible to people “from anywhere at anytime,” explains an official.
Prior to the inspection of the property in question, applicants will get SMS alerts. Similarly, the decision of officials will also be conveyed through SMS. Later, the applicants can download the document, which will have the digital signature of the Tahsildar or the Deputy Tahsildar with the barcode.
The applicants can also know the status of their applications through the website.
The Revenue Department has started working with the Registration Department so that at the time of land transfer or sale, the data will automatically flow from the latter’s database to a central server, through which taluk officials will process the records.
Asked what the ‘patta’ document would contain in the case of flat owners, the official said such a document would be known as a “joint patta,” which would have the names of flat owners and their undivided share of land as reflected in their sale deeds.
