Despite the government making composite land sale transfer easier through the online process, maximum citizens are not using the service efficiently.

The Kamrup Metropolitan District Administration had on September 3 issued a public notification urging the public to apply for "Composite Land Sale Transfer" online. By applying through the rtps.assam.gov.in portal, mutation of land order and partition order can be availed on the execution of the Sale Deed without having to apply separately.

The applicant need not submit any application form or visit the Circle Office for processing the Office Mutation or Office Partition. As hearing and physical verification of land by Lot Mandal are already conducted during the issuance of NOC (No Objection Certificate for Transfer of immovable property), no further hearing or land verification is required during the processing of Auto Mutation.

Although the online provision of auto-mutation has been made available since May 2022, the process has not been well utilized by the public according to the DC Kamrup (M) office. The online procedure was made available to overcome the present tedious offline process with much room for loopholes. However, the lack of awareness from the authorities has kept the public away from availing of the benefits of the online auto-mutation process.

 People languishing for mutation orders have even been accused of malpractices at the circle offices, but have shown ignorance about the online auto-mutation process.

"I applied for the mutation order online about a year back. It is good that the Assam government has made it online. But once you apply for it online you have to keep on visiting the Mandal office from time to time. The Lot Mandal (LM) has to physically verify the land and submit a report to the Circle Officer. It is often here that the delay is made," said a person awaiting his land mutation order.

"I paid the Lot Mandal about Rs. 12,000 when my land was examined for NOC. Now again a similar amount has to be paid for the mutation order. Since I have refused to pay, the process has not been completed. The government has given a time frame of 45 days to complete the entire process. I know of people who have got the job done in just 7 days on payment, but for us who do not give the bribe it might take six months to over a year to get the job done," he added.

 Similar complaints have been made by others too.

A civil advocate explaining the discrepancies of the process said, "While opting for a 'No Objection Certificate for Transfer of immovable property, the land in concern is physically examined by the Lot Mandal. The NOC is provided following his report by the DC office.  Then why has the same land to be re-examined again on allotment of the Mutation order by the same office?"

However, even civil lawyers and other stakeholders were found to be unaware of the auto-mutation provision, let alone the public.

Only 40 applications for auto-mutation received in 6 months:

Since the provision of auto-mutation of "Composite Land Sale Transfer" was made available in May 2022, the district administration has received only 40 applications for NOC cum Auto-Mutation, of which 1 has been delivered, 11 rejected and 28 are pending.

Officials have stated that most cases have been pending at the Sub-Registrar Office due to the non-appearance of the buyer/seller for registration. Additionally, due to technical glitches cases are not reflected in the respective login of the concerned official, although shown to be pending at the central database.

"Although we are trying to sensitise people, most are reluctant to apply for auto-mutation as they are not confident about the outcome. Also when someone applies for a Composite Land Sale Transfer, another application for the same Dag cannot be applied for," an official added.

 Pallav Gopal Jha, DC Kamrup (M) speaking on the improvement process said, "More awareness programs have to be taken, and the previous process of applying for NOC for transfer of immovable property has to be stopped altogether. So people are bound to opt for the Composite Land Sale Transfer only.  The valid period of NoC should also be reduced to 6 months so that the administration is bound to provide the mutation order within that period, once it is applied for."

Applying for Auto-mutation of Land order on ARTPS:

Composite Land Sale Transfer can be applied online on the ARTPS portal, rtps.assam.gov.in. , furnishing complete details of the land, and uploading the required documents. Only the persons whose names are in the Chitha can apply for this service.

During application, the applicant can opt for NOC + Auto Mutation or NOC+ Auto Mutation+Partition.

Once the Registration is done for the Composite Application form following the official procedures, the application is automatically forwarded from ePanjeeyan System to the Dharitree system of the concerned Circle Office for Auto Mutation and Partition.

The Circle Officer will pass the Mutation order within 7 days from receiving the deed and accordingly update the concerned scheduled land. In case of any objection received within 7 days, the CO will issue further notice for hearing but is obliged to dispose of the case within the time limit of 45 days from registering the mutation case.

 After passing the Mutation Order, if the Applicant selected Auto Mutation + Partition, the partition process is then initiated at the concerned CO. Once the partition is done, new Dag and New Patta are generated for the scheduled land.

Finally, after completing all the process flows, the applicant can download the following documents against the submitted Composite application form.

The auto mutation process is likely to be made mandatory from October 2 onwards.

Notably, the Composite Land Sale Transfer is also beneficial in easy transfer of industrial land, and hence will serve as a vital component of ease of doing business.

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