BENGALURU: The landmark bill passed by the Assembly on July 19 to amend the Registration Act 1908, awaits the Presidential nod. It is set to offer relief to property owners who ended up as victims of fraud and impersonation, by empowering district registrars with the right to cancel registrations using bogus documents, and a jail term of three years for officials involved in forgery.
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who pushed the amendment, said, “The objective is to provide immediate relief to property owners. As of now, litigation is the only way out for victims of impersonation or fraud, or in cases where fake documents are used. This happens with government lands too. It could take up to 10 years to get relief through courts. Many lack resources to pursue the matter, and go in for a compromise or lose a part of their share.” A revenue official added that Tamil Nadu has already put in place such a system.
TNIE caught up with one such family waging a battle for the past two years to establish itself as the owner. The irony is that Dinesh Baliga and wife Divya will have to shell out Rs 2.5 lakh as stamp duty to re-register their house in their name.
The couple inherited four flats at ‘Audel Heights’ apartment complex in Panduranganagar in IVth Phase of JP Nagar. Baliga said, “We sold three flats which we estimated to be worth Rs 75 lakh then. Though we turned down many buyers, Keerthana pursued us and even paid a deposit of Rs 5,000 for the house. We gave her copies of the documents. She was never seen after that,” he said.
“A year later, I got a call from our house owners’ association that one Sridhar had met them and said his wife (Archana R) had bought the house and they would move in within a couple of days,” he explained.
Then unravelled a web of forgery and impersonation. The woman, a serial offender, had taken the help of an employee of BTM Sub-Registrar office and a nationalised bank employee in Malleswaram, who sanctioned Rs 69 lakh loan.
The couple approached police, stopped the bank loan cheque issued to the new buyer and changed the house lock. “Our tumultuous journey to retrieve our house by nullifying the fraudulent transaction and cancelling bank hypothecation has shed light on the complex web of real estate forgery and lax verification processes.”
The gang submitted fabricated BBMP tax documents, PAN and Aadhaar cards. They have not provided any online financial transaction details to support the sale deed application. Cops at Puttenahalli station and Stamps and Registration department are helping the couple retrieve their property.