Sindh launches new property certificates

Forms printed by security printed press; step aimed at curbing corruption

KARACHI: Sindh Board of Revenue (BOR) has brought in an innovative step by introducing a unified form of sale certificates of property printed by Security Printing Press of Pakistan throughout the province. 

This step would help check corruption, frauds and losses to general public inflicted received by mafia and corrupt officials of the revenue and registration departments who issue bogus sale certificates and then register those documents, a senior BOR official confided to The News, requesting anonymity. 

He said that by this step not only the government would earn additional millions of rupees in revenue, but also eradicated forgery, illegal encroachments of government and public properties and China cutting. 

According to the contents of official notification copy available with ‘The News’ this step has been taken to ensure transparency, minimize general public complaints regarding issuance of bogus and fake certificates and to introduce a uniform format throughout province. 

Senior Member Sindh BOR Rizwan Memon issued the notification after Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah’s approval. The approved design will replace all other formats of sale certificates in the province from December 1, 2016. 

The notification narrated that according to the new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of issuance of the sale certificates ‘all the registers henceforth will issued only by Board of Revenue, Sindh in the prescribed format, no private paper or any other form shall be printed, issued or utilized as Sale Certificate by any Revenue Officer classified in Section 7 of Sindh Land Revenue Act 1967. 

Official notification added that all the printed registers shall be issued by the Provincial Record Cell to the Mukhtiarkars (Revenue) in the same manner as the Record of Rights registers, Village Form (VF) VII-A, Village Form VII-B and Village Form (VF) II are being issued under the orders of Sindh High court in Constitutional Petition (CP) number D-11/ 2007 (Misbahdin V/S Board of Revenue, Sindh and others). 

Official notification further added that Sale Certificates Register published on the security paper will remain in custody of Mykhtiarkar who will be responsible for any loss and damage, and in case of any page destroyed, damaged, mistakenly written shall be returned to Provincial Record Cell, Board of Revenue Sindh Hyderabad in original. 

“The Mukhtuiarkar concerned shall send the photostat copies of Sale Certificates along with its counterfoil for scanning and data indexing at Provincial Record Cell, Board of Revenue Sindh, the Assistant Commissioner (AC) shall ensure maintenance of the relevant registers and its proper utilization on monthly basis and submit the report latest by fifth day of every month to the Provincial Record Cell in the prescribed format and Sub-Registrars shall accept only the prescribed Sale Certificates from December 1, and on wards”, concluded the official letter.