Govt to amend Registration Act to update land rates

To enable farmers to get market value for their land, Government is bringing an amendment to the century-old Registration Act to update the land rates and ensure compulsory registration of power of attorney among other steps.
The amendment is being brought to the Registration Act 1908 to "update and record" the market value of the land in the changed scenario so that farmers whose land will be acquired for various projects will be assured "real market value" under the proposed Land Acquisition Bill, Government sources said.
The changes are being made because the value being fixed now under the existing Act was "old and outdated", they said.

The objective of the legislation says that "all manner of agreements relating to land or property need to be registered if they are to be considered as evidence in a court of law".
The new measure proposes compulsory registration of Power of Attorney. This has been brought as the 1908 Act does not make it mandatory for registration of a Power of Attornedy and this has been exploited by individuals using the power of attorney to transfer property without getting it registered.
This has caused enormous loss to the state exchequer and has given rise to numerous disputes.

It also proposes to define the term "lease" more comprehensively "so as to make leases for periods below one year (but above a specified amount) compulsory registerable".

Autonomy is given to the states to specify the floor amount for such registration. Currently leases for a period of under a year need not be registered and this provision has been exploited repeatedly particularly in the case of disputes.
The Government is also introducing amendments of adoption clause to ensure gender equality. Presently, the Act requires the document for adoption of sons to be compulsorily registered.
The new measure suggests that section 17 (3) is to be amended to include daughters.
It is also proposes to empower the Sub Registrar Officer to use the UID number to check and verify the identity of the persons appearing for the registration of the property.