BENGALURU: The Lokayukta has issued notices to all 43 sub-registrars in Bengaluru Urban district after discovering malpractices and irregularities in the functioning of these offices, which are visited by the common man for works such as property and marriage registrations. The Lokayukta, Justice BS Patil, has posted the matter for hearing on September 6.
The Lokayukta had constituted 10 teams to visit the sub-registrar offices and report on irregularities and illegalities, along with the common corrupt practices in vogue. Based on inputs received from different teams, the Lokayukta report stated that in almost all sub-registrar offices, no CCTV cameras were found to be installed and touts and middlemen were seen collecting money from the public visiting these offices for property registrations.
“In most of the offices, cash declaration registers for both regular and outsourced employees weren’t maintained. And the ones who had maintained these registers had the same entry for almost all days. Offices were seen collecting administrative charges illegally,” the report added. In a violation, the sub-registrar at Gandhinagar had appointed two private individuals at his office.
Evasion of income tax
The teams discovered that in all property registration summaries, the PAN numbers of property owners weren’t mentioned deliberately to avoid payment of income tax. Similarly, most of the offices hadn’t maintained a separate registry for issuing encumbrance certificates. Further, the middlemen collected more money than what’s prescribed by the government towards stamp fees, registration and scanning charges.
The teams were shocked to see private persons operating from the cabin of the sub-registrar in JP Nagar, Basavanagudi, Rajajinagar and Dasanapura offices. At Begur and Bommanahalli offices, the teams found it difficult to differentiate between officials and touts, with the latter acting as officials to execute the jobs. At Rajajinagaroffice, a few outsiders were even provided with separate cabins and computers.
Full report: toi.in
