This article starts with a disclaimer. This article was printed in Times of India's December 19, 2020 edition of Times Realty. The government on the same day reverted to the old system of registration providing much needed relief to the real estate industry. Hopefully this reversal is just a temporary setback and soon the new system would be launched with better preparation.

The famous character of Sir Humphrey Appleby in an episode of the classic serial Yes Minister pronounced that, 'government policy has nothing to do with common sense'. He was right and the earlier unfolding saga of implementation of the new registration policy by the state seems to be a proof of it.

To begin with, the government needs to be lauded for coming up with this new policy for registration of properties across Telangana State. It is a path breaking idea, something that rest of the state governments would learn from and implement in the future.

Land / property records have always remained a complicated matter handled by any empire or government in our country. Historically, the first attempt at making land records was by the Mughal empire. Possibly the rest of the empire / neighbouring kingdoms just copied it. This system did not change for a long time and kept getting complicated as the centuries passed. Even the mighty British empire did not have the stomach to tinker with or change this archaic system, they let it continue. Post independence, this system has survived and continues to be followed in various shapes and forms across the country, till date.

Once land became a state subject the archaic system got localised but no state has actually done anything about overhauling the land record systems till now. Many of the terms like khasra, pahani, khata etc. are all words from the Mughal era. Once I had got a chance to see the actual manuscript, a cloth on which the patawari / registrar, from a North Indian state, was maintaining the survey map of his jurisdiction with most of the information mentioned in the Urdu language. It was his prized possession and he guarded that piece of cloth with his life. Imagine the journey of land records from such archaic cloth based system to the modern digital age. It surely has taken centuries to evolve.

Anybody who has been to the present-day Sub-registrar's office would never forget the nightmarish experience of that entire day / days spent in getting a property document registered. This is one department which never changes it's way of functioning, that which is always shrouded in mystery and intrigue for the layman. There is no secret of how things work here. On a lighter note, with the right approach even the iconic Charminar could be registered in one's name if the old process continued.

Dharani an integrated land record management system / portal is a fantastic attempt at revolutionising this entire process and experience. As aptly stated by the government, Dharani would lead to the state digitising every inch of the land mass to clean up the land records and put an end to the malady of "double and triple registrations" in Hyderabad and elsewhere. This is the main objective behind the launch of the 'Dharani' portal.

In the long term Dharani would be a boon to the state and our city. One of the biggest challenges always faced with land dealings here is title disputes or document shortages or encroachment or Full Tank Level (FTL) issues, etc. It takes years to close a land deal in our city and even at the end of it there is a good chance that investors would be disappointed with the outcome of their due diligence. Hyderabad has attracted a lot of investment in the past but clean titles would have ensured more investment flow into our city. If one were to evaluate most of the national / international investments in the city the one common thread is that almost everybody has taken land from the government only because of the presumption that a clear land title that is available in government transactions.

Private land owners have been able to do deals with mostly city based builders primarily for developing residential projects. Thanks to the escalation in land values in past few years some of these private land owners have now started getting into joint venture contracts to develop commercial properties as well. Larger companies have generally preferred national or international developers for the office space requirements in Hyderabad.

Lack of clear or clean titles has always been a blot on Hyderabad's investment attractiveness and the new system could address this critical weakness. This system should pave way for more investment in the city in partnership with private landlords also. Land title is the most basic of due-diligence that any investor looks for. Clarity and consistency of title ownership will herald a new chapter in Hyderabad's real estate growth story.

However, the process followed by the government to implement this idea seems to be very tedious and time consuming and might have caused more harm to the industry in general. Some key challenges are as follows:

• The industry is already reeling under the effects of the national lockdown. From the last week of March 2020 to effectively May 2020 end, all works had to be stopped including construction and sales. The industry had just started to come out of this shock, when registrations offices got closed about 3 months back. The registration operations have since resumed but still require a lot of on-ground clarity. Effectively the real estate industry has witnessed a lockdown situation of 5-6 months in this calendar year itself. This kind of situation could be a body blow to the industry and will impact regular sales, cashflow, construction, etc. When documents are not registrable then it directly affects sales which effects everything else.
• Registrations put on hold effectively means deals are on hold. A lot of discussions on prospective investments would have come to a naught when registrations were stopped. Anybody who deals in property can tell you that 3 months is a long time for registration of deals. Many prospective deals might have been called off due to these delays as both parties might have had a change of mind.
• The government has been forthcoming in launching a lot of policy initiatives in the past few months but lack of registration impacts the attractiveness of these policies. It appears as though the background work on the registration portal started after the registration process was suspended. Such long term policy initiatives need to be handled carefully and much in advance. On a trial basis, registration of a non-agricultural land / properties in a specific area could have been attempted as an experiment to overcome initial glitches and modification of the system. Once the system has become perfect only then it should have been launched.
• Such abrupt closure also delivers a blow to the investment attractiveness of the city and state. For e.g. few lease deals have been completed post lockdown both in SEZ and non-SEZ category. It becomes very difficult to keep telling clients that their agreements cannot be registered as the relevant office is closed. These clients are asked by other government departments for registered lease deeds for various compliances but registration department is closed. Such inconsistency in dealing with long term assets / investments is detrimental to the city and its real estate market. Lack of clarity on this front gives a negative impression to the office market where almost 100% deals are leasing deals only.
• The industry has generally been supportive of the government's initiatives but the various representative agencies have been publicly silent about this critical aspect of delay in registrations. When government is keenly supported in all their good initiatives or political efforts then it becomes even more important for industry representatives to stand up when haphazard and wasteful efforts are being meted out in the guise of progress. Just submitting memorandums or representations to the government will not help. Positive pressure needs to be built-up to get the process done in a proper and sustainable manner.
• Builders / developers who are constructing new apartments or office complexes are the worst hit. The interim registration system requires a Property Tax Identification Number (PTIN) for registration of a property. For under construction projects PTIN is only granted post issue of occupancy certificate and unit wise property tax assessment. This entire process takes time for completion. Without registered documents banks will not release money to builders / developers. These builders / developers are now stuck between the devil and deep sea. There seems to be a provision of TPIN which I am told is a complicated affair.
• How all these changes links up with RERA compliance is still not clear in terms of use of approved sale deeds, projection completion, use of suggestive sale deeds by the registration system, etc.
• The real estate industry is a major contributor to the state's economy but the handling of the matter of registration appears to have been quite callous. Only by the grace of the almighty, Covid-19 cases have been coming down in our country / state / city, which is contrary to what is actually happening in the rest of the world. The presumption seems to be that we will not see a 2nd wave of infections. Let us hope and pray for the same but major policy decisions cannot be done on such presumptions. With major countries and parts of the world again going in for a lockdown any declaration of further lockdown in our state could sound the death knell for this industry.
• A major digital initiative was needed to familiarise people with this new policy, still a lot of confusion prevails.

This entire saga reminds me of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' story, in which the townsfolk uncomfortably go along with the pre-tense, not wanting to appear inept or stupid, until a child blurts out that the emperor is wearing nothing at all. It is high time the industry speaks up for itself in a matter which will change its destiny for ever. For getting positive changes not only policy initiatives are important but a positive implementation plan is also critical otherwise the fruits of this good work will remain elusive.