Tamil Nadu makes presenceless registration of bank title deeds mandatory from Sept 15

The Tamil Nadu government has issued an order making presenceless registration mandatory for deposit of title deeds and deeds of receipt presented by banks and financial institutions, with effect from September 15. The move forms the second phase of the State's Anywhere Registration initiative.

The order follows an announcement in the Assembly by Minister for Commercial Taxes and Registration D. Logesh Tamilselvan, who said the government would issue appropriate orders to make such presenceless registration compulsory.

The first phase of Anywhere Registration was inaugurated by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on August 17. It mandated registration of deeds relating to the first sale of plots by plot promoters and the first sale of flats by builders, along with consecutive deposit of title deeds.

According to the latest order, banks and financial institutions routinely present deposit of title deeds for registration when creating security over immovable properties against loans they sanction. A deed of receipt is registered when a secured loan is repaid or discharged, serving as evidence that the liability has been cleared.

Both transactions are institutional in nature and are carried out by banks and financial institutions in the ordinary course of their lending operations. Since the documents originate from regulated institutional entities, and their authorised officials can be given dedicated institutional access to the STAR (Simplified and Transparent Administration of Registration) system, the order describes them as particularly suitable for an end-to-end presenceless registration process.

Deposit of title deeds and deeds of receipt were already enabled under the presenceless registration framework. Making their registration through the system mandatory therefore amounts to an expansion and optimal use of digital infrastructure already built by the Registration Department, rather than the creation of a new category of registration, the order notes.

Under the new arrangement, banks and financial institutions will be able to submit documents electronically without sending their officials to Sub-Registrar Offices. The government expects this to cut physical footfall and manual interface, speed up processing, improve traceability of mortgage-related transactions and allow secure digital preservation of registered documents.