Maharashtra Government Doubles Document Handling Fee for Property Registration
Pune, 16th April 2025: The Maharashtra government has come under fire after it announced a steep hike in the document handling fee for property registrations—from ₹20 to ₹40 per page—effective immediately. The decision, notified via a government resolution signed by Joint Secretary Satyanarayan Bajaj, has sparked widespread criticism from citizen groups and service providers who called the move “unjustified” and “burdensome.”
According to the state’s Registration and Stamps Department, the revised fee structure aims to offset rising operational costs driven by rapid digitisation. “The registration infrastructure now includes advanced software, secure networks, and data storage systems. We need sustainable resources to maintain these systems efficiently,” said a senior department official, requesting anonymity.
Government sources pointed out that the registration department has seen a major transformation in the last two decades, including the establishment of over 200 new sub-registrar offices since 2001. “This has significantly increased the workload, and with digitisation, the cost of maintaining technical infrastructure has also risen,” the official added.
The Inspector General of Registration and Controller of Stamps, Pune, had proposed the hike, citing the need for continuous hardware upgrades, IT support, and digital document preservation.
The sudden revision has also led to confusion among service providers, who say they were not consulted before the fee hike. Many have demanded a rollback or at least a phased implementation.
