CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu will end compulsory Saturday duty at 100 sub-registrar offices from November 1, reversing a 2022 policy that kept the offices open on weekends for people who could not take time off work to register property and other documents. The offices will now operate only on weekdays.
The commercial taxes and registration department issued the order on October 1, cancelling an earlier order. The government said the change was intended to reduce the workload of sub-registrars as “presence-less” registration, in which parties do not have to attend an office in person, is expanded. Minister for Commercial Taxes and Registration D Logesh Tamilselvan had announced the decision in the Assembly on September 7.
The new order rests on a proposal from the inspector general of registration GK Arun Sundar Thayalan. In a letter dated September 8, he said sub-registrars carry out significant administrative duties on top of registering documents, and that Saturday registrations had left office work continually delayed.
He argued that all documents are intended to move to a presence-less, paperless system, which makes Saturday opening unnecessary, and that the change would protect the quality of service, the G.O stated.
