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Telangana government to regularise notarised property deals, eyes Rs 2,000 crore revenue

The government of the Telangana has announced its decision to regularize notarized property transactions, which have been a decades-old issue for the state. This move will benefit approximately six lakh individuals in the state, particularly in Greater Hyderabad, and will generate INR 2,000 crore in regularisation fees for the government.

In the past, notarized property transactions were done on a stamp paper attested by a notary advocate rather than being officially registered. This practice was not legally valid and, therefore, could not be transferred to others.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) had stopped assessing property tax on such properties a few years ago, as people were registering them using property tax receipts. The prevalence of these illegal property transactions has resulted in a significant loss of registration revenue for the state government over the years.

According to official sources, a majority of these notarized property transactions were from the Old City areas of Hyderabad, slums, and old settlements in Secunderabad, such as Begumpet, Manikeshwari Nagar, Addagutta, Quthbullapur, Pahadishareef in Ranga Reddy, Dammaiguda, and other places in Medchal-Malkajgiri district.

The cabinet sub-committee has already requested collectors to identify locations where the problem is acute. The issue has been raised by political parties on several occasions. Revenue officials are currently working on the kind of transactions on notarized documents that will be allowed and the fee. If a fee is collected, it is yet to be decided whether it will be through the revenue or registration department.

Officials said people opted for notarized documents instead of registration for multiple reasons. Often, the poor used it to avoid hefty stamp duty for small properties. Additionally, with houses being very old, the sellers would not have documents in many cases. Furthermore, some people, including politicians, encroached upon government land and sold them as plots using notarized documents. These layouts have come up even in full tank level of lakes, buffer zones, parks, etc. There are also notarized properties that are disputed land where the registration department denies registering them.

Following the government's plan, there are now demands from rural areas to regularize notarized property transactions on the lines of Sada Bainamas (transactions on plain paper) by registering them without any fee.

Overall, this decision by the Telangana government will have a significant impact on the lives of many people in the state. Regularizing notarized property transactions will help people avoid legal complications and transfer property ownership more easily. Additionally, it will generate revenue for the government, which can be used for various developmental projects in the state.

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