Saturday 30 May 2015

REAL ESTATE LEASES MAY HAVE TO BE REGISTERED

REAL ESTATE LEASES MAY HAVE TO BE REGISTERED
The Ministry of rural development has proposed that, the registration of real estate leases, even those lasting less than a year is made compulsory to be registered in an effort to improve transparency and modernise the Land Records in the country. It also wants to use Aadhar numbers to check the identity of the people registering the land.
The proposed amendments to the Registration Act of 1908 have been suggested by the Ministry’s Department of Land Records (DOLR). They were aimed at plugging losses to the State Exchequer due to the transfer of land by passing registration, a common practice across India. The proposed changes made it compulsory for all manner of agreements relating to land or property to be registered if they are to be considered as evidence in a Court of Law.
The proposals, suggested by an Expert panel, are still in a preliminary stage. The Ministry was unlikely to present the suggestions in the form of amendments to the 1908 Bill during the monsoon session of Parliament. The Land Survey Records that are in different parts of the country are still archaic.
“India is one of the few countries in World, where record of rights on land is presumptive; it is not conclusive unlike many other countries. They are presumed to be the Owners of land unless proved otherwise. That is why they have lots of disputes and lots of problems in land acquisition”.Government was aggressively moving towards the conclusive title. But, before they do that, they need to update their Land Records. They need to make them online and they must ensure that the survey of the Land Record is updated. The attempts are going on to modernise the Land Records and make them available online to avoid fraudulent transactions and claims.
The 1908 Registration Act is a “significant piece of procedural legislation”. The Expert panel noted that Act is rested on three principles: (i) a registered document always invalidating an unregistered one, (ii) a registered Mortgage Deed having precedence over an unregistered Mortgage Deed and (iii) the prevention of commission of fraudulent transactions in the form of sale or gift by requiring the registration of such transactions. As a result, all manner of agreements relating to land or property need to be registered if they are to be considered as evidence in a Court of Law. The Committee noted that the complexities of land acquisition are among the deterrents to investments in India, especially in infrastructure. A new Bill to replace the archaic land, the acquisition Bill is pending in Parliament and is expected to be taken up in the ongoing monsoon sessions.
The panel had advocated the redefinition and registration of leases as the provision had been exploited repeatedly, particularly in land disputes. Autonomy is given to the State to specify the floor amount for such registration. The 1908 Act does not require leases for a period of less than a year to be registered.
To ensure that all registrations are open to scrutiny, the panel has recommended the amendment of Section 18 of the 1908 Act that will ensure that the registrations are made open and available to inspection by the Public at all times.
Another section of the 1908 Act says that the panel has proposed to amend is Section 28, which states that, if a person has immovable properties in more than one State, they can get the documents related to their transfer registered in any of those States. Since, there is no provision as yet for active computerisation of Land Records, the Expert panel suggested that Registration Officers to be empowered to use the Unique Identification Authority of India’s Aadhar numbers to check and verify the identity of the persons appearing for the registration of the property.
The charges are expected to encourage and facilitate the creation of a database, with a new provision being made to allow applications online. To ensure gender equality, the panel has also recommended compulsory registration of adoption of daughters. So far, under the 1908 Act, only the registration of adopted sons was required.
The absence of a Comprehensive Law has allowed many loopholes in land registration and documentation, which has led to many unrecorded transactions as well as false claims of possession. While the last land survey in Bihar was held in 1907, in Andhra Pradesh it was in 1931 and in Uttar Pradesh in 1957. The Central Government has been funding the States for modernisation of Land Records. Under the Constitution, Land is a State subject. The Centre has launched a land record modernisation exercise in 267 districts and the process is expected to be completed by 2017.
More,
 
 

Friday 29 May 2015

A COMPARATIVE LOOK AT NRIs, OCIs AND PIOs

A COMPARATIVE LOOK AT NRIs, OCIs AND PIOs
Indian citizenship and citizenship of a Foreign country cannot be held at the same time as it is not allowed by the Constitution of India.  A new class of Citizenship i.e., Overseas Citizen of India ( OCI ) was therefore created by amending the Constitution to compromise with dual citizenship.
Dual Citizenship and holding of two nationalities at the same time of two different  countries is categorically prohibited by both Article 9 of the Constitution of India and Section 9 of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955.  OCI are specifically prohibited political rights and other rights by Section 7B of the Citizenship Act and they have only multiple entry lifelong visa facility to visit India any time for any purpose.
Under the Ministry of Home Affairs Scheme of August 19, 2002, the registration of Person of Indian Origin ( PIO ) Card holders was started and from December 2, 2005 the OCI scheme became operational.  We need to know the difference between an NRI, a PIO and an OCI.
For this purpose, the following description is given:
Non-Residential Indians ( NRIs ):
A person resident in India and a person resident outside India are defined in Section 2 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 ( FEMA ).  However, this portion does not define the term NRI.  According to a notification, NRI means a person resident outside India who is either a Citizen of India or is a person of Indian Origin.
A person who resides in India for more than 182 days  in the preceding financial year and who comes or stays in India for any purpose is a person ‘resident’ in India according to FEMA.  A person who is not a resident in India is defined as a ‘Non Resident’.  An NRI, therefore, is an Indian Citizen who ordinarily residents outside India and holds Indian passport.
Persons of Indian Origin ( PIO ):
A foreign citizen who held an Indian Passport at any time; or he/she or either of his/her parents, grand parents or great grand parents was born in and was a permanent resident in India; or he/she is a spouse of a citizen of India or of a person of Indian Origin is what is meant by a Person of Indian Origin.
PIO card holders are permitted to visit India  without visa for 15 years and have to register with Foreigners Registration Officer ( FRO ) in India if the stay is more than 180 days continuously.  PIOs have equality with NRIs where certain facilities are concerned but do not have any political rights and may apply for Indian Citizenship after residing in India for a minimum of seven years.
Overseas Citizen of India ( OCI ):  
A foreign national is eligible for registration as OCI if he was eligible to become a Citizen of India on January 26, 1950, or was a citizen of India on or at any time after the said date or belonged to a territory that became part of India after August 15, 1947 and his / her children and grand children are also eligible for registration as OCIs.  They will enjoy a multiple entry, multi purpose life long visa to visit India, do not have to register with Foreigners Registration Officer ( FRO ) / Police authorities however long they may stay in India and have the right to benefits notified under Section 7B of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955.  If an OCI is registered for five years and resides in India for one year he can be granted Indian Citizenship but will have no political rights.
Bank accounts in India can be opened out of funds remitted from abroad, foreign exchange brought in from abroad or out of funds legitimately due to them in India by NRIs / PIOs.  They can open these accounts with Banks that are authorized by the Reserve Bank of India.
Real Estate Properties are available in Bangalore City…….



Thursday 28 May 2015

EFFECT OF LOSS OF PROPERTY DOCUMENTS


The documents relating to a property inter alia include title deed, mother deed, encumbrance certificate, khatha, property tax payment receipts, building plan etc. These documents may be original or may be extracts or Photostat copies. Some of these documents are in the nature of evidencing payments, authorization, permission, approval etc.
More often than not, you may be noticing advertisements in news papers regarding the loss of property documents with a lucrative offer to suitably reward the finder upon return of the same.
Reasons for non - availability of documents
The reasons for non-availability of documents may be many. The following are few such instances:
  1. The original title deeds might have been kept in the office and got mixed up with other documents. In this case, even though the original title deed is not lost, it is owing to the fact that the documents are not traceable even after search, the necessity to take further steps for protecting his interest by the owner does arise.
  2. The original title deed might have been lost, stolen or might have come into wrong hands. In such cases, there is every possibil­ity of a fraudulent transaction being effected by making use of the original title deed by the possessor of such a document unless the real owner acts swiftly to protect his interest over the property.
  3. c) There may be some cases wherein a person has mortgaged his property by deposit of title deeds as security for the loan obtained by him. On the basis of a certified copy of the title deed, he may sell his property without redeeming the mortgage. In such circumstances, the innocent pur­chaser will not get title over the property since the mortgagee has a first charge.
  4. d) The property documents presented for registration in the Sub-Registrar's office are to be collected within a reasonable time but not later than two years since the documents remain uncollected in the Sub-Registrar's office can be weeded out after the lapse of two years period. In case a person fail to collect the property document within a period of two years and the said document is weeded out, then the said person at the most can get a letter from the Sub-Registrar's Office confirming the submission of the document for registration with a clarification that the said document has been weeded out as per rules since it was not collected from the office within the stipulated period.
Partition Deed
In a partition of the family properties, if a particular property falls to the share of more than one person, then all of them cannot have the original title deed of such prop­erty in their custody. Therefore, as a precaution it shall be clearly men­tioned in the partition deed that the original deed shall remain with a particular individual who shall declare and under- take to produce the original deed for verification whenever requisitioned by other sharers of the property. For use and custody of persons who do not get possession of the original title deed, they can obtain duplicate copy of the document at the time of registration.
Deed and Documents
To know the implications of the loss of property documents, it is better to understand as to what is meant by a deed and what is the difference between a deed and a document. A deed is a written document or instrument under which the right over a property is transferred from the transferor to the transferee. It may be noted that all deeds are documents but all documents are not deeds. The word "deed" has a wider meaning. It is to be properly exe­cuted, signed and delivered. Normally, it is registered. Examples of deed would include sale deed, settlement deed, exchange deed, partition deed, gift deed, release deed, etc. Examples of documents other than deeds would include photographs, maps, building plans, writings on various materials and substances, khatha, encumbrance certificate, tax paid receipt, unsigned records, certificates, etc.
Effect of loss of documents
Loss of original title deeds may lead to a lot of complications, affect or impede free dealings with the property causing great anxiety, stress and trepidation for the person who has lost these documents. Loss of title deed reduces the strength of owner­ship title of the owner. The intending purchaser or the mortgagee may suspect the genuineness of the title of the vendor or mortgagor. The moot question is 'why do they suspect?' and the answer to this is that the deposit of title deeds does not require registration. By merely depositing the title deeds, a person can create mortgage of the property to avail loan from banks and financial institutions. The period of redemption of mort­gage is 30 years. Suppose a person purchases a property for a valuable sale consideration ignoring that the vendor does not have original title deed and suppose at some earlier stage the property has been mort­gaged by deposit of the title docu­ment by its owner, then irrespective of the fact the purchaser has pur­chased the property for valuable consideration he will not get rightful ownership over the property but, the mortgagee has a first charge over the property though ownership is changed. In most of the cases, lending banks do refuse to grant loan in the absence of original title deed and the intending purchaser may back out of the transaction in the absence of the original title deed.
It is obvious that in most of the cases people would become nervous when they lose their property documents since they have a feeling that their title over the property is lost forever with the loss of property documents and thereby they con­clude that they have lost their right to deal with property any longer. It is the loss of the original deeds such as sale deed, gift deed, will, mortgage deed etc., that will have impact since by virtue of these documents, the finder of the document may misuse the same. But, loss of document does not deprive the owner of his ownership over the property, if necessary precautions are taken well in time. Loss of the original title deed requires urgent action.
Loss of documents such as encumbrance certificate, Khata certificate, tax paid receipt etc., does not have serious implications since it is possible to make up the loss of these documents by applying and getting certificates afresh from the concerned authority.
Real Estate Properties are available in Bangalore City…….

Wednesday 27 May 2015

PURCHASE OF AGRICULTURAL LAND


Purchase of Agricultural Land Involves compliance of venous statutes, in addition to the regular acts like transfer of property, registration acts, stamp acts, Indian contract act. There are various restrictions on sale/purchase of agricultural land, which are imposed in Karnataka Land Reforms Act.1961, Karnataka Land Grant Rules 1969. Karnataka Village Officers Abolition Act 1961, Karnataka Land Revenue Act 1961, BDA Act 1976 and Land Acquisition Act (Central) 1976.
These restrictions on purchase sale of agricultural land are applicable only in Karnataka, and many other states do not have such restrictions. We shall first understand the words agricultural land, agriculture, agricultural labor and agriculturalist. The word Agriculture encompasses aquaculture (fishery), horticulture, arising of crops, grass, garden products, dairy farming, poultry farming, breeding of live stock (animal husbandry) grazing. Any land which is used and capable of being used for any of above purpose is an agricultural land. Agricultural land does not include house sites or land used exclusively forenoon- agricultural purpose. Verification of revenue records is necessary to ascertain whether the land is agricultural land or not.
A person who cultivates land personally, that by himself or by the members of his family or by hired laborers servants under his personal supervision or of his family member, is an agriculturist. Wages to the servant’s labors should not be in the form of share in the crops, but may be paid in the form kind or cash. A person who lives mainly on the earnings out of manual labor on agricultural land including the one who prepares agricultural implements is an agricultural labor.
Karnataka land reforms act 1961 has put certain ceilings on agricultural land holdings per family / per person. Family includes the individual, wife or wives, minor sons and unmarried daughters. The ceiling is ten units. If the family comprises more than five members, an additional two units per every member in excess office is allowed subject to maximum 20 units. In case of tenant, it is 40.units.
The area of unit differs with the class of the land. Land is classified in to 4 classes based on irrigation facilities. Land having assured irrigated facilities from government canal, government tanks by which two crops of paddy or one crop of sugarcane can be cultivated in a year is ‘A’ class lands. 1.3 acres of ‘A’ class land is one unit.
Lands with assured irrigation from government canal, government tank by which only one crop of paddy can be cultivated or lands irrigated by lift irrigation project of state government by which two crops of paddy or on crop of sugarcane can be cultivated in a year is 'B' class land. 2.5 acres of 'B' class land is one unit.
More,

Tuesday 26 May 2015

GREENERY FOR HYGIENE

 GREENERY FOR HYGIENE

There is nothing like a splash of greenery to beautify your interior and exterior space. Your home or office environment will be better off with some green plants to reduce the effects of pollution and to give healthy air, rich in oxygen for your lungs. This will not only be conducive to overall health but will help to improve your complexion by giving a glow on your face. Psychology has proved that looking at greenery improves the mood and reduces chances of depression.

You don't have to worry if you don't possess a vast, spacious garden. You can even work wonders with greenery in a small space and a small home provided you exercise your imagination a little.
 If there is a small ground in front of your home, fill it with fertile soil and plant some varieties which will not grow too large or occupy much space. You can do this with the help and advice of a gardener or a nursery. The terrace or balcony is also a suitable place to start a small garden. An afford-able piece of sculpture inter-spersed with some potted plants would be ideal. Keeping a floor lamp there will add to the effect.
A paper lantern could be hung above the plants from the ceiling. On the other hand if your house has a small backyard, you could make a row of cuttings with plants in them.
You may be thinking that you just don't have the time or the space to look after any plants. In that case you could just make a corner decorated by a small sculpture in a niche with an elegant overhead lamp or painting on the wall. If you find it impossible to obtain green "plants or if you are not at home for long periods then dried ferns and flowers can be used in a tiny corner. There are also some plants that can subsist for long periods without water and these could come in use to you.
It could be that you can't find even an inch of space in your house or balcony for keeping plants. The window sill is the best place then to have some slow growing small plants. In such homes hanging plants can enhance the space in the entrance or balcony. These may be overhead or hanging from the railings by a firm support. Small desktop plants can be ordered from a nursery to place on a study table or kitchen counter in homes cramped for space.
A terrarium is a garden which requires a zero level maintenance after installation. It is very decorative and is usually found in large homes. However if it is only a small area, it can be used in small homes too and is like a small self-contained garden These are bottle gardens but are not the same as money plants or other plants growing out of a bottle. It consists of a plant or several plants along with the supporting soil growing in a small moist place enclosed in a glass container. You could make use of an old aquarium or a glass pitcher with a large opening for it. Plants of small foliage which are slow growing and thrive in such a space like ferns, small palms, ivies, crotons, begonias etc could be tried. Avoid flowering plants Go ahead and experiment with greenery in your home and soon every small or large space will come alive with beauty and new life.
Small desktop plants can be ordered from a nursery to place on a study table or kitchen counter in homes cramped for space.
More,

Monday 25 May 2015

WATER SHORTAGE

 WATER SHORTAGE

The most indiscriminate wastage of water and pollution of it has reached the highest level in our country.  The water shortage in Indian cities and the ecological imbalances are resulting in inadequate rains in the country.  The writing was on the wall for everyone to see, yet there was no preparedness to face it.  No new sources were searched, no new schemes to augment water supply were found.
According to Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, the mean rain fall has come down by four per cent between 1965 and 2006.  But the usable rain fall for the same period has decreased by 12 per cent.  A satellite study by the American space agency NASA conducted shows that the ground water reserves have gone down drastically.  In the farming fields all over the India, the crops are drying.  Kharif crops in the country is decreasing by 25 percent and the area under the oil seeds has also gone down by 0.70 million hectares.  Indiscriminate cutting of trees, has resulted in drought in majority of the parts of the country.  It is high time, which is running fast, that we take stock of the situation and put all out efforts to conserve water.
Technology for desalination plants is available to us.  We have been talking of desalination plants for more than two decades, but have never been implemented.  However, it has been implemented in Chennai successfully.  The cities are on the development mode because of the influx of the people.  The civic planners in India are not paying any attention to the growing population needs.  Water is the most essential and first important need of life, not only for drinking but also the source of food production, so the authorities should wake up and take immediate necessary steps.
Real Estate Properties are available in Bangalore City…….