Gujaratstartups, GANDHINAGAR: A click could seal a property deal in Gujarat shortly. Narendra Modi’s Maninagar could well be the first place to experiment. All property records in the chief minister’s constituency will go online from March 1. Subsequently, the entire state will be covered.

Officials are hopeful that apart from access to land records across the state in coming months, even buying property would go online by end of 2010. Under this scheme, e-property cards will be issued against entries for new property sale deeds after taking biometrics impression and photograph of buyer.

“Apart from the buyer’s name and photo, the e-property will also carry history of past owners and map of the land. All past entries are being updated,” the official said. The system will make registration process online and usher in transparency. “Even a non-resident Gujarati in US can buy a plot she or he is planning to buy,” the official said.

Currently, the procedure for undertaking mutation entry for any new buyer of land is clumsy and one has to obtain a document from one authority and take it to several others before a deal is formalised. National Informatics Centre (NIC) is preparing the software for online details of past and present land owners, type of ownership, whether the current owner has mortgaged the land, approximate price as found in jantri, etc.

Source: Times of India