Online land record services for overseas Pakistanis to start soon, says report

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

The federal government has finalised technical and operational details for providing online digital land record services to overseas Pakistanis through its foreign missions abroad and is set to formally launch the programme next month to attract foreign inflows, said a report.

This programme, designed to boost foreign investment, will be available through Pakistani foreign missions and is expected to expand to other countries with large Pakistani diasporas, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the US, and the UK, followed by Spain, Italy, and Canada.

The scheme, initially to be launched jointly by the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis (MOP) and Punjab Land Revenue Authority (PLRA), with the co-operation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to attract investments and remittances from Pakistanis abroad.

In order to facilitate overseas Pakistanis using information technology, it is proposed that the land record services may be offered through the offices of community welfare attaches in foreign missions of Pakistan in countries with substantially large Pakistani diaspora, said a working paper shared with the Prime Minister’s Office.

The services included issuance of copies of record of rights (commonly known as Fard including for transactional purposes), e-Girdawari, e-registered deed, and mutation entry, as well as attestation of mutation and registration of deeds through the e-registration system.

The technical and financial details — process flows, related gadgets, fee and tax structure, etc — were finalised over the weekend at a meeting of stakeholders presided over by Secretary Overseas Pakistanis Dr Arshad Mehmood and partially participated in by the Ministry for Overseas Pakistanis, represented by Chaudhry Salik Hussain.

Under the agreement reached between the MOP and PLRA, 70 per cent of the service charges would go to the PLRA, which would provide most of the technical arrangements, including those in foreign missions, while the remaining 30 per cent would be the MOP’s share.

Under the agreement, besides the existing government fees and taxes, copies of Fard, mutation, deed, or Girdawari would be provided to overseas Pakistanis at foreign missions for an additional fee of Rs10,000 each. Similarly, the entry and attestation of mutations and registration of deeds would be charged at the rate of Rs20,000 each.

The meeting gave final touches to the service-level agreement (SLA) among the stakeholders, covering all aspects of the transactions including geographic, operational, legal, financial settlement, and related issues, and expressed satisfaction over the preparedness of relevant agencies.