Minister plans monitoring, token system to revamp Registration dept

The registration department known for its ‘notorious practices of corruption’ has been witnessing something unusual in the past few weeks. Last week, the registration officials were forced to take oath in the presence of Minister P Moorthy stating that they would abide by rules and execute registration works in an honest and transparent manner. After the oath, the Minister assured that he would not intervene in cash for transfers, a regular phenomenon among the Commercial Taxes Department.

The Minister also warned that he would not spare errant officials, said a senior official, who attended the Minister’s internal meeting.

The Minister’s first official interaction was not pleasant for most of the registration and tax officials, who came to Chennai from different parts of the state. Registration department is all about money, tax and real estate where the officers enjoy the ‘working conditions’ but now things are sceptical, the official said.

To monitor the officials, a new control room had been established at the IG office to receive public complaints and the department secretary has introduced a token system due to which jumping the queues may not be possible. These tokens will bear the name of the applicant and will be implemented in all sub-registrar offices, the official said.

When contacted Commercial Taxes Department secretary Jothi Nirmala about the new administrative changes being brought into the department, the official quipped stating that the monitoring of officials and the token system were the brainchild of the Minister.

The department had also kick-started the transfer of officers, but those who have been posted as additional IG and DIG in the registration department have told their colleagues that they never paid any cut for the top postings, raising the eyebrows of other colleagues, the highly placed official told DT Next.