Technical glitches hamper state government’s paperless land registration initiative in Karnal district

The Haryana Government’s ambitious move to switch to a fully paperless land registration system from November 1 has had a rocky start in the district, with major technical glitches bringing the process almost to a halt. In the past week, fewer than 10 registrations have been completed in the district, a drastic drop from the usual 250 to 300 registrations per day.

Lack of knowledge about the operation of this initiative among deed writers and advocates is also a reason behind the slow processing. After the state government’s directives, all tehsils and sub-tehsils across the district have completed their preparation for the digital system, which involves physical paperwork and replacing it with a secure online process using digital signatures. However, after holidays on November 1 and 2, the system went live on November 3, but ran into trouble.

“The idea is good and much needed, but the implementation seems to be a tough task due to different technical glitches. Every time we log in, either the property details are missing, or the terms and conditions page does not load on the portal. We have been visiting the tehsil office daily, but met with no success yet,” said Amit Kumar, a property buyer.

“We have faced issues like property ID details not being available, incomplete display of party details, and errors in GPA-based registrations. The system also behaved unpredictably at times, and the endorsement of documents is not always visible,” said a deed writer.

Under the new system, all property deeds are digitally signed — eliminating the risks of tampering, forgery or loss of physical files. Citizens must now upload all documents online in PDF format through the Haryana Revenue Department’s deed registration portal, which uses OTP-based and digital authentication for verification. Payments for registration fee and stamp duty are also made through a secure e-payment gateway.

Taking note of the problems being faced by various stakeholders, Inspector General Registration Dr Yashpal Yadav held a meeting of officials of the Revenue Department on Monday evening, in which issues were raised and addressed. He made it clear that the step would continue and never be rolled back.

Officials acknowledged difficulties. District Revenue Officer (DRO) Manish Kumar Yadav said while all technical arrangements had been made in advance, in the initial days some issues had come to fore, which were being addressed.

“Each application undergoes a three-level verification process — first by the Registration Clerk (RC-1), then RC-2, and finally by the Sub-Registrar. Only after biometric verification of the parties and witnesses is the final approval granted,” he said.

Dr Yadav assured all stakeholders that issues would be addressed if rise.