Unreasonable: Experts slam 100 pc steep hike in property document handling fee

A recent circular from the Department of Registration and Stamps implementing an increase in document handling charges scanning charges of each page by 100 per cent has not gone well with housing experts and professionals A circular to this effect was issued by the department on April 15 and it was implemented from April 17Experts claim that the department first made an exorbitant hike in the recently released lsquoready reckoner ratesrsquo and now they have increased the lsquodocument handling chargesrsquo scanning charges of each page from Rs 20 to R40 And that such a hike would only adversely impact the common man The state earlier this month increased ready reckoner rates by an average of 439 per centAs per available data in the year 20242025 the department of stamps and registration which is also one of the largest revenue generators for the state exchequer had registered almost 1340464 documents earning Rs 3585854 crore On average the number of documents pages that get scanned is around 20 to 200 pages in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra and with the increase in price from R20 to R40 per page for the 1340464 documents X R40 per page scanned the department will earn more than aproximate Rs 10723 crore Rs 10723 71200Not a transparent processThe circular notifying an increase in document handling fees under the lsquoeSaritarsquo software system has not come with a justifying transparent process said Advocate Shreeprasad Parab expert director Maharashtra State Housing FederationldquoModernisation and digitisation of government services are essential but the burden of funding such changes should not be unfairly transferred to the citizens Firstly the circular lacks a clear justification of the calculation that has made the said charges immediately double Secondly the timing of the hike amid the hike in the lsquoready reckonerrsquo prices thereby the citizens already having a burden of increased stamp duty rates is questionablerdquo explained Adv ParabldquoIncreasing fees for basic documentation services which are essential for property transactions legal registrations and citizengovernment interactions may disproportionately affect low and middleincome groups and further may affect the affordability of the real estate sector Thirdly while the software upgrades and operational enhancements are necessary they are longterm investments that should ideally be absorbed by the statersquos budgetary provisions not through increased fees The circular essentially passes on the cost of administrative inefficiency and infrastructure lag to the end usersrdquo said the expert directorldquoIn conclusion without a transparent costbenefit analysis public engagement and a phased approach the fee hike seems unjustified and regressive The state must reconsider the decision and explore equitable means to support digitisation efforts without penalising citizensrdquo he concludedUnreasonableAdvocate Godfrey Pimenta who practices in MahaRERA said ldquoThe recent decision to double the handling charges is highly unreasonable The additional hike in handling charges reportedly due to the outsourcing of registrationrelated work to thirdparty agencies only adds to the financial burden of homebuyersrdquoAdvocate Dharmin Sampat said ldquoThis is an invisible burden on a common man which deserves to be condemned by one and all One should not forget that computerisation has resulted in an increase in the collection of stamp duty it would be unfair to recover the maintenance cost of digitalisation from the parties registering the document Why cannot this cost be offset from the revenue earned by the state government from the Stamp Duty DepartmentrdquoOther sideAn official from the Department of Registration and Stamps justifying the price hike said ldquoThe department had maintained a fixed rate of document handling charges at R20 for over a decade and it is legitimate to increase the rate as the entire service is outsourced to a third party who have to handle the entire servers software and even the manpower Also an increase in document handling charges would lead the advocates and solicitors to do crispy drafting of documents which would run into a few pagesrdquoThe official also mooted an idea that the department should also increase the cost of certified copy charges which is only Rs 5 per page and if hiked it would refrain people from unnecessarily asking for five to six sets of certified documents which only increases the workload on the handful of staffApril 15Day circular was issuedatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params