SINDH is expected to complete automation of its revenue record by June this year under the Rs4.9bn project, which was started in 2012 by its revenue department. The reconstruction of land rights documents, which were burnt in December 2007 arson attacks, is also part of this exercise.

Four million land record entries are available online and 24 service centres have become functional while the remaining three would be operational by April, Board of Revenue (BoR) Member Syed Ali Zulfiqar Shah informed Dawn. The Land Administration Revenue Information Management System (LARMIS) project is based on a centralised system.

Five million registration documents like sale deeds available in the shape of microfilm and registered in sub-registrars’ offices across the province would be computerised under a separate programme to be supervised by Nadra.

Authorised banks would issue electronic stamps (E-stamp) to individuals and they would not be required any longer to buy a separate stamp/ticket for several types of transactions. And this record — mostly pertaining to transaction of residential and commercial properties — will be available online.

Documents for mortgaging of a property by banks/farmers/landowners, sale certificate and loan provision will be made shortly valid for subsequent transactions. The project authorities believe that any kind of anomaly and manoeuvring get documented electronically to be detected easily in computerised record.

“The project will formally be launched after full computerisation of record, 90pc of which has already been achieved. The pending record’s reconstruction will be completed by June,” he explained.

Now the Supreme Court wants the BoR authorities to tally the 4m entries with microfilms (932,000) for authenticity.

According to the BoR figures, the automation would facilitate 7m small landowners of which 76pc own less than four acres. “Once these service centres become functional, the BoR officials would be authorised to attest copies of land documents which can be easily used for all kinds of transactions especially in the farm sector,” said Nabi Bux Sathio, General Secretary Sindh Chamber of Agriculture.

So far the reconstruction of burnt land record of 525 dehs out of 878 dehs has been completed after approval by a scrutiny committee constituted by the apex court and headed by a retired revenue officer, Nazar Mohammad Leghari.

Fake entries, which are part of the existing record, could not be avoided since computerisation involves entire available revenue record. So, according to the BoR sources, these entries are being compared with original microfilms and deleted accordingly, which is a time-taking exercise.

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, March 21st, 2016