The systematic settlement of land records was first made by Sir Walter Lawrence in 1889 under the supervision of Dogra ruler Maharaja Pratap Singh. The registration of documents was started by Maharaja Pratap Singh in the year 1920 and registration work was entrusted to Judiciary. The registration of documents and properties was done by the Judicial Officers under the Jammu and Kashmir Registration Act 1977 BK.
The Department of Registration under the administrative control of Revenue Department was created as an independent and exclusive Department vide Government order no. 117-Rev (S) of 2019, dated 24th of October, 2019, upon the reorganization of the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir into two Union Territories in terms of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019. Jammu and Kashmir Registration Act 1977 BK was repealed and the Registration Act, 1908 made applicable for registration of immovable properties and various types of deeds and documents.
Initially 77 Sub Registrar Offices and 20 Registrar Offices were set up across the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. At present, 88 Sub Registrar offices are functional across Jammu & Kashmir out of which 87 offices are doing online registration. Dr Pawan Kotwal, IAS was appointed as the first Inspector General of Registration, J&K. He has been a pioneer in establishing a fully computerized registration system across UT of Jammu & Kashmir.
Despite being in its early stages of existence, the Department took a major initiative of rolling out of computerized Registration System. Inspector General of Registration, J&K prepared a proposal to adopt 'National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS)' developed by the Software Development Unit (SDU), NIC Pune on the initiative of Department of Land Resources, Government of India under 'One Nation One Software' Program for online Registration of Documents. The system envisages payment of Stamp Duty through e-Stamping under Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SCHIL)- a Central Government PSU nominated as the Central Record Agency for Computerized Stamp Duty Administration. The government released Rs.24.00 crore for procurement of hardware items and setting up of State Data Center during the financial year 2019-20.
Through concerted efforts and after preparing around 22 lakh data entries and consequent to rigorous training sessions, workshops and conferences, NGDRS was launched in 5 Districts (Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur & Srinagar) in 24 Sub Registrar Offices by the Hon'ble Lieutenant Governor, J&K on 18th of September, 2020. The e-stamping through SCHIL was also launched across the UT of J&K on the same date, after imparting necessary training to the Authorized Collection Centers (Banks and Stamp vendors). By adopting the e-stamping, a huge amount of about Rs. 35 core, has been saved, which was earlier spent on the printing of stamp papers, payment of commission to the stamp vendors and ensuring transparency in the stamp duty collection.
Online registration of documents through NGDRS was extended to the remaining 15 districts of the Union Territory of J&K on 9th of November, 2020. The online registration system is working smoothly across the UT of J&K with all the stakeholders striving hard to work cohesively to offer transparent, speedy, accessible and efficient document registration services to the citizens. The primary objective of this software is to make the process of document registration easy, accessible, transparent, speedy with minimum human interface as far as possible. The system offers automatic valuation of property and facilitates time bound and hassle free service delivery by providing pre-appointment and uploading of documents. Citizens can know about the status of registration of their documents through SMS without having to visit the Sub Registrar office. The Registration Department is also in the process of adoption of 'Legacy Data Management System (LDMS)' developed by SDU, NIC Pune for maintaining and preserving the Legacy data and its integration with NGDRS.
Taking a leap towards the Ease of doing Business and enhanced transparency, the Department of Registration has commenced collection of registration fee electronically through Government Receipt Accounting System (GRAS), through which a citizen can deposit the registration fee in any branch of the J&K Bank. The department has integrated the GRAS with NGDRS with the assistance of NIC J&K and SDU Pune respectively.