Bihar Property Registration Senior Citizens

In a bid to reform Bihar’s land registry system and ease the burden on elderly citizens, Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary has launched a doorstep registration service for seniors aged 75 years and above.

To access the service, senior citizens must first book an online slot on the official e-registration portal. Once the slot is booked and the applicant’s age is verified, a Mobile Registration Unit, equipped with internet-enabled laptops, biometric scanners, webcams, and digital signature pads, is dispatched to their residence.

The unit verifies documents, conducts secure biometric authentication, and registers the property instantly. The finalised digital deed is immediately sent as a secure PDF via SMS to the applicant’s registered mobile number. This optional service is currently active across 10 offices, including Patna and Hajipur, and will be rolled out statewide in a phased manner in the coming months.

This tech-forward transition aims to dismantle the entrenched broker system that has dominated Bihar’s registry offices for decades. Historically, physical land registries were heavily gatekept by middlemen.

“Because physical appearance was legally mandatory to prevent fraud, vulnerable elderly citizens and widows were systematically targeted by brokers,” a government official said.

For two decades, middlemen exploited the paper-heavy, bureaucratic process, officials said. Citizens refusing to pay hefty, unofficial “facilitation fees” faced deliberate delays, misplaced paperwork, or false claims of document discrepancies.

“Brokers also colluded to manipulate property valuations to evade stamp duties or demand bribes, leading to rampant corruption and significant revenue leakage for the state. This technology will finally rid the system of brokers,” an official from Saran said.

The new e-registration system eliminates the physical touchpoints where brokers traditionally exerted control.

“By delivering the registration office directly to a citizen’s living room, the state removes the broker’s primary leverage — the chaotic registration hall,” a Land and Revenue Department official explained. “Furthermore, by using real-time biometric verification at the doorstep, the mobile unit completely closes the loophole for impersonation and unauthorised power-of-attorney sales,” added the official.

The portal uses automated calculations for registration fees, e-challans, and e-stamps. This leaves no room for brokers to extort extra money through fictitious “hidden administrative costs”, officials said.

Bihar operates 137 fully digitalised Sub-Registrar Offices (SROs) across 38 districts, all integrated with the state’s land records database. The Prohibition, Excise, and Registration Department has set an annual target revenue of Rs 8,250 crore.

Santosh Singh is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express since June 2008. Expertise He covers Bihar with main focus on politics, society and governance. Investigative and explanatory stories are also his forte. Singh has 25 years of experience in print journalism covering Bihar, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. ... Read More