CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu registration department is preparing a major technological overhaul of its property registration system, with the integration of Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, cloud-based architecture and artificial intelligence (AI) under the Rs 564 crore next-generation STAR 3.0 platform. The department plans to roll out the STAR 3.0 as early as January 1, 2027.
Inspector General of Registration GK Arun Sundar Thayalan told TNIE that the introduction of GIS would strengthen the department’s ability to determine market values more accurately and address long-standing concerns over undervaluation of properties.
The GIS layer is expected to link individual land parcels to precise geographic coordinates, enabling registration officials to verify whether a property exists on the ground and whether its boundaries correspond with official records before transactions are registered.
The initiative coincides with a broader effort by the Directorate of Survey and Settlement to modernise land records through the use of high-resolution satellite imagery. “We are migrating to the cloud. We are also working on a customised AI for STAR 3.0,” Thayalan said.
STAR 3.0 is being developed by TCS. The migration to cloud-based, microservices architecture is expected to transform STAR 3.0 from a document-registration platform into an integrated land-governance system, enabling real-time GIS verification, AI-driven valuation analysis and eventually anywhere registration across Tamil Nadu.
This would allow citizens to register documents from any registration office in the state, reducing dependence on jurisdiction-based registrations. The platform is being designed with a mobile-first approach to improve accessibility and service delivery, said Thayalan.
The integration of AI in STAR 3.0 would allow the system to analyse transactions, detect anomalies and support decision-making in real time, potentially improving valuation accuracy, fraud detection and citizen services. He said STAR 3.0 will include new safeguards against fraudulent registrations and document forgery.
The department is also planning real-time integration with revenue, survey and municipal databases. It will also be integrated with Aadhaar-based authentication, e-signatures and digital document repositories.
On a roadmap for linking registration records with land records and urban local body databases, Thayalan said, “Even now land records validation is done only through Tamil Nilam maintained by the revenue department. Automatic mutation of property taxes is done in Greater Chennai Corporation and Metro Water. Other corporations have not integrated their property taxes database. This will be done in Star 3.0.”
To oversee implementation, the government has appointed two nodal officers – P Kannan, Assistant Inspector General of Registration (Vigilance), and E Bhavani, District Registrar (Guideline).
They will coordinate with TCS, monitor project execution, resolve operational issues and submit progress reports to the government.
