Property docus of 144 years to be digitised soon

Chennai: Tens and thousands of property documents, dating back to nearly 150 years, lying in the record rooms of sub-registrar offices across Tamil Nadu would soon be pushed to the cyberspace.

The project aims to digitize about 30 crore pages registered since 1865.

According to registration department sources, these documents pertaining to registration of land are stored in volumes of books.

“Pages in these books mainly containing sale deeds and powers of attorney would be scanned across the 575 sub-registrar offices. It would be a massive process, wherein approximately 30 crore pages would be digitised,” a registration official told TOI. The brittle pages in the books will be scanned.

The government is expected to give its nod to the digitisation proposal in a couple of weeks, official sources added.

“It will take six months to scan all the documents,” the official said. The department has already digitised documents since 2009 and the new initiative is meant for scanning documents of 143 years between 1865 and 2008.

The department started operation during the time of Madras Presidency in 1865 with Colonel Robert Mackenzie Macdonald being appointed as the first inspector general of registration.

Official sources with the department said the purpose of digitising the documents is to make them public online.

“Our ultimate aim is to make people access all the old records. In the future, if any one wants certified copies it can be done at the click of a button,” the registration official said.