Kolkata, The West Bengal government on Thursday decided to start e-registration of property deeds from April 20 in order to tackle the problem arising due to the restriction of movement during the ongoing Covid-19-induced lockdown, a senior official said.

"Under the e-registration process, the persons willing to register their properties can complete the entire deed submission process online from his or her location without having to visit the registration office," state Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha told media after the proposal was ratified by the cabinet.

He said the submission has to be done through the e-deed module of the registration directorate.

"We will receive all the documents digitally. These will then got to the finance ministry for processing. We will issue a provisional digital registration certificate which will be valid for all legal purposes," said Sinha.

Since there is a requirement for biometric imaging regarding registration of property, once the lockdown is over, the registrant can go to the registration office and give the biometric images and hand over the documents physically.

"The registered deed will be delivered on a priority basis upon completion of biometrics," the top bureaucrat said.

In case of bulk registration, an officer from the registration directorate will visit the place of the registrant at a given date and time, to complete the registration and deliver the deeds.

To provide further relief to the public, inconvenienced by the lockdown, the cabinet also decided to allow 20 per cent reduction on the applicable registration fees, with a ceiling of Rs 20,000, on registration of all e-deeds under the new system till May 31.