Frankly speaking, 'Franking' can sometimes be an expensive affair
The registration department has time and again been in news for being the most corrupt government department in the country. According to the statistics calculated using the bribe reports filed on our website, approximately Rs9,90,00,000 has been paid under the table.
Bribes are being collected to ‘frank’ government papers with regard to property registration and even marriage registrations. ‘Franking’ refers to stamping a mark to denote that the money has been paid. A complainant from Pune wrote to us narrating his experience with a registration officer who refused to provide him with a franking verification stamp on his registration agreement. He eventually paid Rs500 to a lawyer working at the department to frank the documents with a verification stamp.
While we did receive multiple complaints of people who succumbed to the officer’s demands, one particular respondent from Bangalore narrates how he resisted paying a bribe of Rs400. He reportedly approached the sub registrar directly, without taking the help of a middle man and finished the entire process smoothly.
By Juwairia Mehkri