As part of e-governance, to carry out all the activities of Sub Registrar offices in Kerala, Windows based client-server application PEARL was initiated in the year 2000 and was implemented in all the 311 offices in Kerala. Even though the system automated the activities of SRO, the decentralized data storage was the main disadvantage of the system. To satisfy the requirement of a centralized database and to enable flawless delivery of G2C, G2G, G2B services, web-based applications PEARL_NET and Open_PEARL were designed and developed using Open Source technologies.
PEARL Suite (Package for Effective Administration of Registration Laws- http://keralaregistration.gov.in) is a package of web-based applications which are hosted at the State Data Centre and have been implemented in 41 SROs of the Trivandrum district in Kerala.
PEARL_NET FEATURES yyOnline submission of application for Encumbrance Certificate, Marriage Certificate, List Certificate, certified copies etc. yyOnline submission of document details for registration yyProvides e-payment facility and SMS utility yyFair Value Integration yyMulti-lingual yyGehan filing/Gehan release for District Co-operative Societies and banks yyMIS queries yyProvides information on public queries yyE-Stamping yyFinger print and photo capturing options
OPEN PEARL FEATURES yyGeneration and issuance of Encumbrance Certificates yyGeneration and issuance of List Certificates and certified copies yyScanning of registered documents yyAuto-generation of under valuation cases yyAuto-acceptance & information of memo cases yyAccounts and reports for Sub Registrar offices yyArchival of the registered documents yyMIS queries yyMulti-lingual, centralized and open to SROs yyGeneration of accounts & reports yyBack log data entry for marriage registration yyAudit Module yyDigital Signature facility yyData sharing with other departments like Revenue, Treasury etc. yyIntegration with SSDG
The Encumbrance Certificate contains all the transactions registered relating to a particular property for a period (as required). It is advisable to get Encumbrance Certificate before effecting any transaction, as it will provide useful information about previous transactions. In computerized Sub Registry Offices, Encumbrance Certificates are issued to the applicants within 30 minutes after submitting the applications. Registration process is completed within half an hour and the document after registration is returned to the presenter on the same day itself.
ONLINE PV-INTEGRATION WITH LAND RECORDS AND SURVEY As an initial step, it has been decided to make use of the existing online systems of Registration Department namely OpenPEARL for online deed registration and Revenue Department namely ReLIS for the ensuing mutation process - ‘Pokkuvaravu‘. Registration of deeds by SRO based on the online request made in OpenPEARL and the subsequent mutation process can be ensured and achieved through the integration of these two systems wherein after deed registration, Form 1B which is required by the Village Office, is made available in ReLIS from OpenPEARL.
DATA CONVERSION & MIGRATION PEARL is an application with client-server architecture with VB & SQL server as backend. In the desktop application, data is stored in ISFOC format using ISM utility. Data Conversion to UNICODE format and migration of data from SQL server to PostgreSQL has to be done for each SR office data. This is completed for Trivandrum district and ongoing for other districts such as Kollam.
E-PAYMENT The E-payment facility has been implemented for the following four services: yyEncumbrance Certificate yyMarriage Certificate yyList Certificate yyCertified copy yyReissue of Marriage Certificate
IMPLEMENTATION STATUS & IMPACT Implementation of PEARL Suite has helped in improving transparency in the system, enabling citizen empowerment. Online services have helped in curtailing corruption by reducing the number of visits to the SR offices. Introduction of E-stamping feature has helped in eliminating fake stamp paper, thus ensuring increase in state’s revenue inflow. The system generates Encumbrance Certificates with Digital Signatures which can be easily viewed and obtained from anywhere. Centralised information on property transactions has helped State Government in informed decision making for better governance.
PEARL Suite has been implemented in 41 Sub Registrar Offices in the Trivandrum district of Kerala. For integration of the system with Treasury Department, trial run has been completed on e-stamping for Government of Kerala. For integration with Revenue–Registration, pilot of the project has been completed between Thycadu and Chalai Sub Registrar Offices.
For further information: BINDU SUNIL KUMAR Technical Director, NIC Kerala E-mail: bindu.sk@nic.in