A recent circular from the Department of Registration and Stamps, implementing an increase in document handling charges (scanning charges of each page) by 100 per cent, has not gone well with housing experts and professionals. A circular to this effect was issued by the department on April 15, and it was implemented from April 17.
Experts claim that the department first made an exorbitant hike in the recently released ‘ready reckoner rates’ and now they have increased the ‘document handling charges’ (scanning charges of each page) from Rs 20 to R40. And that such a hike would only adversely impact the common man. The state earlier this month increased ready reckoner rates by an average of 4.39 per cent.
As per available data in the year 2024-2025, the department of stamps and registration, which is also one of the largest revenue generators for the state exchequer, had registered almost 13,40,464 documents, earning Rs 35,858.54 crore. On average, the number of documents (pages) that get scanned is around 20 to 200 pages in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra, and with the increase in price from R20 to R40 (per page), for the 13,40,464 documents X R40 per page scanned, the department will earn more than aproximate Rs 107.23 crore (Rs 107,23, 71,200).
Not a transparent process
The circular notifying an increase in document handling fees under the ‘e-Sarita’ software system has not come with a justifying transparent process, said Advocate Shreeprasad Parab, expert director, Maharashtra State Housing Federation.
“Modernisation and digitisation of government services are essential, but the burden of funding such changes should not be unfairly transferred to the citizens. Firstly, the circular lacks a clear justification of the calculation that has made the said charges immediately double. Secondly, the timing of the hike amid the hike in the ‘ready reckoner’ prices, thereby the citizens already having a burden of increased stamp duty rates is questionable,” explained Adv Parab.
“Increasing fees for basic documentation services, which are essential for property transactions, legal registrations, and citizen-government interactions, may disproportionately affect low- and middle-income groups and further may affect the affordability of the real estate sector. Thirdly, while the software upgrades and operational enhancements are necessary, they are long-term investments that should ideally be absorbed by the state’s budgetary provisions, not through increased fees. The circular essentially passes on the cost of administrative inefficiency and infrastructure lag to the end users,” said the expert director.
“In conclusion, without a transparent cost-benefit analysis, public engagement, and a phased approach, the fee hike seems unjustified and regressive. The state must reconsider the decision and explore equitable means to support digitisation efforts without penalising citizens,” he concluded.
Unreasonable
Advocate Godfrey Pimenta, who practices in MahaRERA, said, “The recent decision to double the handling charges is highly unreasonable. The additional hike in handling charges, reportedly due to the outsourcing of registration-related work to third-party agencies, only adds to the financial burden of homebuyers.”
Advocate Dharmin Sampat said, “This is an invisible burden on a common man, which deserves to be condemned by one and all. One should not forget that computerisation has resulted in an increase in the collection of stamp duty; it would be unfair to recover the maintenance cost of digitalisation from the parties registering the document. Why cannot this cost be offset from the revenue earned by the state government from the Stamp Duty Department?”
Other side
An official from the Department of Registration and Stamps, justifying the price hike, said, “The department had maintained a fixed rate of document handling charges at R20 for over a decade, and it is legitimate to increase the rate, as the entire service is outsourced to a third party, who have to handle the entire servers, software, and even the manpower. Also, an increase in document handling charges would lead the advocates and solicitors to do crispy drafting of documents, which would run into a few pages.”
The official also mooted an idea that the department should also increase the cost of certified copy charges, which is only Rs 5 per page, and if hiked, it would refrain people from unnecessarily asking for five to six sets of certified documents, which only increases the workload on the handful of staff.
April 15
Day circular was issued
