New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) The Centre’s Department of Land Resources has prepared a draft ‘The Registration Bill 2025’ to align it with a modern, online, paperless and citizen-centric registration system for immovable property and other transactions.

Once enacted, the Bill will replace the pre-Constitution Registration Act, 1908, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Rural Development on Tuesday.

As a part of pre-legislative consultative process, the draft ‘The Registration Bill, 2025’ has been uploaded on the website of the Department of Land Resources at https://dolr.gov.in for inviting suggestions from the public in a prescribed format within 30 days (on or before June 25).

The Registration Act, 1908, has served as a cornerstone of the document registration system in India for over a century. It provides a legal basis for the registration of documents affecting immovable property and other transactions. Over time, the role of registered documents has grown significantly in both public and private transactions, often forming the basis for financial, administrative, and legal decision-making.

It is therefore essential that the process of registration is robust, reliable, and capable of adapting to evolving societal and technological developments, the statement explained.

In recent years, the growing use of technologies, evolving socio-economic practices, and increasing reliance on registered documents for due diligence, service delivery, and legal adjudication have underscored the need to create a forward-looking registration framework.

Several states and union territories have already introduced innovations such as online document submission and digital identity verification under the existing 1908 Act.

Further, it is equally important to delineate the roles and responsibilities of registering officers, enabling them to uphold the integrity and reliability of the registration process in a manner consistent with applicable law. Building upon these advancements, there is now a need to provide a harmonised and enabling legislative framework to support secure, efficient, and citizen-centric registration practices across the country. The Registration Bill, 2025, has been designed to realise this vision, the statement added.

–IANS

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