Mancherial: Officials of registration dept face allegations of corruption

The officials, according to sources, were reportedly demanding bribes of Rs.30,000 to Rs 40,000 per asset for registration and were allegedly collecting the bribe through certain document writers.

Mancherial: There are widespread allegations of corruption against officials of the Stamps and Registration department unit in Mancherial in connection with registration of assets in illegal layouts and prohibited areas, with the department initiating a probe into the allegations, while a memo was served on an in-charge Sub-Registrar.

The officials, according to sources, were reportedly demanding bribes of Rs.30,000 to Rs 40,000 per asset for registration and were allegedly collecting the bribe through certain document writers. They are facing severe criticism for extracting the bribe even as the government prohibited registrations of house sites in unauthorized layouts.

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“Registrations of house sites in illegal layouts were prohibited by the government. However, the officials are collecting a bribe of Rs.40,000 for registering an asset. They set a target of earning at least Rs 2 lakh a day. They are carrying out the registrations of the house sites once the developer converts agriculture land into commercial one even the layouts were unauthorised. They are using some document writers to collect the bribe,” a source said.

One document writer was booked for allegedly extorting Rs.2 lakh from an owner of an asset citing bribe for officials, taxes and other registration charges a few months ago. Certain senior assistants and officials who were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau were being posted as in-charge Sub-Registrars at Mancherial when regular officials were on leave, resulting in corruption by the officials in registering the assets, other officials point out.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that a section of real estate developers entered into agreement with an influential Congress leader to get around 900 house sites in unauthorized layouts registered by offering a bribe. About 250 documents of the assets were said to be readied. However, the process was temporarily stalled when the information was leaked, it was said.

When asked, District Registrar Ravinder Rao told ‘Telangana Today‘ that memos were slapped against an in-charge Sub-Registrar of Mancherial unit following bribery allegations levelled against him. He stated that a probe was being carried out into the allegations and action would be initiated against him if found guilty. Steps were being taken to check irregularities by the officials, Rao said.

The Mancherial unit of the registrations and stamps department saw revenue of Rs 53.01 crore by way of registrations of properties, mortgages, marriages, firms, etc., in the 2023-24 financial year as against Rs 57.08 crore in 2022-23 fiscal and Rs 42.07 crore in the 2021-22 financial year.