The Andhra Pradesh government has ushered in revolutionary changes in the Registration and Stamps Department with a view to taking the services closer to the people.
“The registration services have been made available at the village secretariats. At present, the services are available in 2,000 villages where resurvey of lands has been completed,” a senior department official told The Hindu on June 30 (Friday).
“Now, we have decided to issue marriage certificates as well at the village secretariats. The software is being tested. The services relating to registration of marriages and issuance of certificates will be rolled out tentatively on July 5,” the official said, and added that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was likely to launch the new service.
Registration services
Following the Chief Minister’s directions to launch the registration services at the village secretariats, the department has imparted training to the village secretaries and staff of the secretariats. The village secretariats were made Sub-Registrar offices, while the Panchayat Secretary was designated as Joint Sub Registrar.
“The idea is to bring the mandal-level administration to the doorstep of people in villages,” the official said.
On a pilot basis, the services were made available in January 2022 in 51 villages where the resurvey was completed. The village secretariats were identified as Sub Registrar offices. Later, 1,949 village secretariats were identified as Sub Registrar offices in November 2022. Another 195 village secretariats were added this month.
The officials completed the mapping of 1,535 villages against the total of 2,000 villages where the resurvey was completed, and the registration services were launched.
Certified copies, Encumbrance Certificates, market value certificates are being issued at the village secretariats.
Earlier, the services were available only at the Sub Registrar offices.
So far, 4,340 registrations were made at these secretariats. The government received a revenue of ₹7,73,52,384 through these transactions.
East Godavari topped with the highest number of registrations. There are 44 village secretariats identified as Sub Registrar offices in the district. “At least one registration is being done in each village secretariat,” the official said.
