13 years after launching ‘anywhere registration’ of documents in Bengaluru, Karnataka set to extend it to all districts soon

About 13 years after the concept of ‘anywhere registration’ was rolled out in Bengaluru to provide ease of registration to people, the State government has decided to extend it to all the districts in Karnataka. While the government launched the ‘anywhere registration’ facility in Tumakuru and Belagavi on Thursday, it will be extended to all districts over the next couple of months.

About 13 years after the concept of ‘anywhere registration’ was rolled out in Bengaluru to provide ease of registration to people, the State government has decided to extend it to all the districts in Karnataka. While the government launched the ‘anywhere registration’ facility in Tumakuru and Belagavi on Thursday, it will be extended to all districts over the next couple of months.

The concept was launched in 2011 in Bengaluru. Now, as many as 72 sub-registrar offices in five registration districts of Bengaluru (Rajajinagar, Basavanagudi, Gandhinagar, Jayanagar, and Shivajinagar), and Tumakuru and Belagavi districts have been covered. Under the concept, people are given the option to choose any of the sub-registrar’s offices within their district to register documents, instead of approaching only the jurisdictional sub-registrar.

“While I am very enthusiastic to scale it up, I have to be equally careful and watch the experience. We want to have 15 to 20 days of pilot in two districts. If the pilot succeeds, my system is ready for the Statewide launch. In about two months after the pilot, it could be rolled out in other districts too,” Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda told The Hindu. “It worked perfectly fine in Bengaluru because it is an integrated entity whereas district is not so integrated,” he explained.

In the State, Tumakuru, Shivamogga, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Belagavi, Hubballi, Kalaburagi, and Ballari cities report big registrations after Bengaluru. The extension of ‘anywhere registration’ to districts is coming after the launch of several online initiatives that have brought down the turnaround time for registrations in the State, including scheduling appointments after uploading documents and visiting sub-registrar offices only for registration and online marriage registration in a certain category where the visit to the sub-registrar office is not necessary.

The Minister said that the anywhere registration concept would also help in optimising human resources and infrastructure. “There are complaints that some offices are overcrowded and infrastructure is not adequate. While some offices report 15 to 25 registrations in a day, some offices report over 70 registrations a day. By multiplying options in allowing people to choose any sub-registrar office in the district, overcrowding can be prevented and time utilisation is better with transfer of load.”

Meanwhile, Revenue Department sources also point out that the new system would help in combating corruption as people have multiple choices to register their documents. “By democratising the registration process, people will have the choice as alternative offices are available, resulting in reduced corruption,” sources explained.

For 12 years, sources said, there was no political will to extend the concept to the State as officials in the department had resisted its extension. “It was just a lack of will. If it could succeed in Bengaluru there is no reason for this concept not being extended to other districts,” sources said.