The state government on Monday directed the state Inspector General of Registration and Stamps to initiate disciplinary action against 44 officers from various sub-registrar offices for registering documents in violation of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority Act (RERA) and the Maharashtra Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act. The order states that 44 officials have been found guilty of illegally registering about 10,561 documents.
The state had appointed a four-member squad for checking such documents from all sub-registrar offices in 2020 and a detailed report was submitted last year. The order was issued based on this report, state IGR Shravan Hardikar said on Monday.
The squads checked for the RERA number of the developer, whether the construction has got in-principle approval from the government and whether the land was parcelled before being sold. Complaints were made to Mantralaya alleging illegal registrations in connivance with officials.
Many complaints were related to the registrar’s office (Haveli No 3) in Magarpatta-Hadapsar. “For those who want to cancel the registration, the process would have to be initiated legally,” Hardikar said.
As on Monday, seven officials were suspended following this order while earlier, four officials were suspended to carry out a departmental inquiry, the order said. Orders of transfer were initiated by the state against nine officials while a departmental inquiry was initiated against another nine officials, and show-cause notices have been initiated against eight officials, the order said. Action will be initiated against seven officers by the joint district registrar officer from Pune city.