MULTAN: The shifting of property registration branch is allegedly creating troubles for people who have to shuttle between the Tehsil Office and kutchery.

The branch was shifted to the kutchehry by the district coordination officer (DCO) on Dec 8, 2014 after a new building was constructed for it on a piece of land earlier allocated for office of revenue field staff.

According to sources, it was announced that all functions relating to registry would be integrated under one roof with a one-window service, and besides shifting both city and cantonment registration branches, the domicile, arms license, National Database and Registration Authority registration centre and National Bank of Pakistan branches would also be shifted to the facilitation centre. They said only the registration branches were shifted besides the establishment of a branch of the bank, while remaining offices were yet to be shifted.

They said initially the property registration branch was established at the Tehsil Office and later shifted after public complaints to the kutchehry where other relevant offices, including the office of deputy commissioner, existed. Later, it was shifted in the building of the District Council.

“I did not imagine selling my own property will be this difficult,” said a man on condition of anonymity.

He said although he had submitted registration papers to the sub-registrar, the lengthy procedure had created a lot of problems for him. He further said he had hired the services of a notary public (wasiqa navees) to complete the procedure.

“The distance between Tehsil Office and kutchehry is 3km, but due to one-way traffic, it has increased to 7km and I have to pay several visits to and from the office to complete the entire procedure,” he lamented.

“The registration branch is considered crucial and to avoid the intervention of lawyers, the branch was shifted to a new place,” a source disclosed.

Muhammad Mustafa, a resident of Soraj Miani, had submitted various applications to authorities to re-shift the registration branch to its previous location.

In June, the Prime Minister’s Complaint Cell through a letter directed the DCO to look into the matter and submit a report. However, no arrangements had been made so far for re-shifting the branch.

Sources said complaints were also filed with the commissioner regarding irregularities in the registration branch. He assigned Inquiry Officer Muhammad Sarfaraz to probe into the complaints, who confirmed irregularities in his report.

They said the commissioner through a letter directed the DCO to change the entire staff of both city and cantonment registration branches. However, the DCO had not done so yet.

DCO Zahid Saleem Gondal claimed people were happy over shifting of the branch and only the notary public were making an issue out of it. He said many of these notary public were doing their business illegally and minting money from people by helping them complete the registration procedure. He said the decision to shift any branch in the district rested with the DCO.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2015

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