- I Paid A Bribe
- 14 years ago
- 377 views
Bribe for queue jumping
- Stamps and Registration
- Power of Attorney Registration
- Paid INR 1,000
I wanted to register the power of attorney. The lawyer who prepared it confirmed that this can be done next day itself and we just need to be present with required document in the registry office and he will get the document prepared for the next day. He said he would charge about 2500 including the stamp duty. Being pressed on time, I did not bargain much and ageed. We landed in the office and after 3 hrs we completed the registration. In the mean time I got to know the process there:
1. For any registration there is token system. Some of them are issued online and some in person
2. The queue for token was running on my day for about 2 days ie I could get token only for 2 days later. Thus I was surprised as to how the lawyer managed to get us a number for today when we did not have the document prepared till current day morning
I got to know that of the 2000 lawyer fees 1000 was paid in the department to jump the queue :-(
I was disturbed with this thought of having to pay this just because we do not know the process or even try to find out the process. We totally rely on agents and touts.
Some recommandations:
1. Just like a bank, each registration office should be transparent with the token that is being processed by having a display
2. Government itself should charge "Tatkal" (last minute booking) fees for those who want to urgently process their documents
3. The offices should display the key performance indices of their process eg. Processing time for each application/registration
4. Each standard type of registry should display clear checklist of items to be appended so that people are not harrassed for any small issue like additional photographs, ID proof accepted documents etc
5. Give out a checklist of all items missing in a document incase it is rejected