To bring in hassle-free services in a transparent manner besides checking fraud, the Punjab Government has decided to give a unique number to the plots of government and approved colonies in the revenue records which will show the khasra number as well as the plot number.

The state Revenue Department’s path-breaking step will protect the people from swindlers, said the Minister in-charge Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria.

Under the scheme, those, who want to purchase property in cities or their periphery area, will get a separate Khewat number (ownership number) which will do away with the problem of common account (sanjha khata) of land.

Besides, now common land for roads, parks, streets and drains etc cannot be sold out because such land shall formed a separate Khewat in the revenue record, and the work for the same is being initiated as a pilot project in Mohali’s Sector-79 by Greater Mohali Developm,ent Authority (GMADA).

Sarkaria said that the records would be updated in such a manner that when a colonizer sells a plot, a Tatima and field-book will be prepared for that particular plot so that every plot gets a unique number in the revenue records and shall ultimately formed an independent Khewat.

Elaborating, he said that a map of the residential colony would be superimposed on the revenue map. “In this way, a specific plot will get registered on buyer's name rather than a part of the colony as was the earlier practice, which would always remain to be the subject of partition,” he said adding that this will end fraud of selling one piece of land again and again to one or more person.

Now, a buyer will not face any problem in finding out the real owner of a specific property, and the complications, due to complex revenue record, will be eliminated, the Minister added.

The state Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Financial Commissioner Revenue MP Singh said that this would go a long way in ending unnecessary litigation, besides providing respite to the revenue staff in maintenance of cumbersome revenue records.

It would also be helpful for land acquisition collectors while disbursing amounts for the acquired land, he added.

Sating that several corrective measures had been undertaken for online registration of property in Punjab, he said that now any person can download the templates of different types of deeds from the Revenue Department's website and fill them on their own, thus reducing dependency on deed writers and lawyers.