- Bribe Hotline
- 14 years ago
- 2642 views
Sir, I have finalised a property and in few weeks i would be registering the same. I am aware that no paper moves in the registration office with out bribe and the word bribe really catches on my neve
You want to buy a property. You want to register its sale. I presume that you want to pay the entire amount through cheque. In other words, the entire transaction is above board. If this is so, then nobody can stop you. Its your right to have the sale deed registered And if somebody refuses in the sub registrars office, the government will lose, because they collect stamp duty on the transaction!
In the past, there was a lot of scope for corruption. This was because the buyer would pay some part of the sale amount in unaccounted money. The registration office would know about it. So they threatened the buyer with the threat that they would launch an investigation into undervaluation. In such circumstances, the registration office and the buyer colluded to declare a low value and the buyer parted with a bribe, to pay the registration office authorities to look the other way. The government lost out, because the full stamp duty that ought to have been paid was not.
In order to prevent this from happening the government came out with fixed area wise guidance values. Regardless of the value on your sale deed, you had to pay the stamp duty as per the guidance value, (or the sale deed value, whichever is higher). This has changed the situation completely. The registrarâ??s office has no discretion now. They must register your deed. So, there is absolutely no need for you to pay a bribe.
The only thing the registration office can do if you do not pay a bribe is to make you wait, thats all. And even there they cannot do much.
Please go to the registration departments website, at
http://www.karigr.org/citizen/default.htm
Here you can download the citizens charter of the registration department. Do you in know in how much time the sub registrar has committed to complete your transaction? 2 hours 20 minutes! 20 minutes to verify the market value of property, 1 hour for Preliminary scrutiny of documents, enclosures and issue of Form No.1A. and one hour for admission of documents, recording signatures etc. Please print out the citizens charter and carry it with you. Let us see how many officials will disregard their own departments citizens charter!
At the end of the day, the registrars office is bluffing you. They have no discretion to refuse to undertake a registration, if your papers are in order. According to their own citizens charter, they have committed to finish your transaction within a short time. If they demand a bribe from you, it is because they believe they can fool you, for some more time at least.
When you go to the office, go confidently. Do not look nervous or behave submissively. The government cannot harm us if we do our homework and our paperwork is in order.
One practical minded individual has sent us some very interesting rules to avoid being asked for a bribe and one of the things he says is as follows:
Dont be submissive. Call Government officials by their names. Dont call them -sir. Be polite but dont show unnecessary respect. Be firm and confident. Talk about RTI Act & citizens charters. Government officials are always afraid of knowledgeable people, he concludes!
I will add some more things. Make it very clear that you will not pay a bribe. Make it very clear that if anybody demands a bribe, you will go to the Lokayukta. Also keep your mobile phone in the recording mode and record any demands that are made. Do not forget to carry the citizens charter with you. And do not talk to any touts or middlemen. If anybody approaches you, show them the charter in which it is clearly written that no touts or middlemen are required.
Best of luck! And if you do not pay a bribe, please report your story in our -I didnt pay a bribe section.