CHENNAI: Running after document writers to prepare sale deeds may soon become passé, as property buyers and sellers in Tamil Nadu can now draft them online through a self-drafting facility on the registration department’s STAR 3.0 portal. The facility also covers settlement and partition deeds, allowing users to generate documents without depending on intermediaries.
The proposal has not gone down well with document writers, who are protesting state-wide against the system, fearing that allowing people to prepare and register deeds online would make their services redundant and destroy their livelihood.
While the facility was announced in January, when STAR 3.0 was launched to digitise the state’s registration system, a department release on Wednesday said users could generate deeds by entering details of the parties, witnesses, and property online. The document can then be reviewed, downloaded as a PDF file and the applicable charges paid online.
The portal generates a TP number (temporary processing number) with which applicants can proceed with paperless registration and submit the document electronically. The executant, claimant, and witnesses must visit the jurisdictional sub-registrar’s office (SRO) on the date and time allotted through the online token booking system.
At the SRO, the sub-registrar will verify the identities of the parties along with their Aadhaar details.
Part of effort to usher in paperless registration in TN
Final authentication will be carried out through the Unique Identification Authority of India using fingerprint or iris-based biometric verification. The sub-registrar will then digitally sign the document, and the registered copy will be delivered to the login account through which it was submitted.
The department said the idea was to enable people to prepare documents themselves and reduce dependence on intermediaries. Commercial taxes and registration minister D Logesh Tamilselvan told TNIE that the online document preparation facility is part of TN’s broader move towards paperless and presence-less property registration, aimed to provide citizens with a hassle-free experience, simplifying document submission, and enhancing transparency in the registration process. The facility is available on the TNREGINET portal (www.tnreginet.gov.in) under the document registration option.