• I Paid A Bribe
• 14 years ago
• 274 views

The registration office with the highest turnover of bribe money

• Stamps and Registration
• Leave and License Agreement
• Paid INR 5,000

I recently moved to Mumbai from abroad, and decided to rent(leave and licence as per Maharashtra rules) an apartment in a new construction, full facility building.

There were brokers involved on both sides and the landlord is a wealthy Once the agreements was signed, it needed to be registered at the registrar's office. My broker suggested that we may a bribe of Rs. 5000 - each party would pitch 50% of the amount, for smooth registration.
I refused to pay this amount on matters of principle. Our broker warned that unwillingness to pay this would create day long unpleasantries at the registrar's office. They usually keep people hanging around in the summer heat for the whole day, and often ask people to come again the next day.
I still refudes. However, the landlord agreed to pick up the full tab of Rs. 5000 to reduce headache for everyone concerned.
I did visit the registrar's office to finish off formalities. On the heels of the bribe, we were whisked through the paper work and were out of the office in an hour.
The bribe was also collected very openly, in the view of all the other people who had come to register the documents. Ou broker later told us that this registrar's office registers all sales and rental agreements from South Mumbai to Bandra-Kurla, the area with the most expensive real estate in all of India, perhaps Asia. The office sees about Rs. 1 lakh in bribes every day and while you pay it to only one person, everyone has a cut in it.
For a job with that particular office, the officers pay bribes to ministers to the order of Rs.2 crore - this is done knowing that a job here will secure a high level of income.