* Contractual operators shut down server as officials at Sub-Registrar Offices try to rope in private persons to do the work
* If contractual employees do not return to work on Tuesday, DIG
(Registration) to send a report to higher-ups recommending cancellation
of the contract of company to which work has been outsourced
By Kartik Lokhande
Several
individuals, builders, lawyers, and property owners -- who visited
various Sub-Registrar Offices in the city to get their documents
registered -- were left in lurch on Monday as the computer operators
with a private contractor company went on strike over payment issues.
Inspectorate
General of Registration (IGR) has appointed a private contractor
company and has outsourced to it the task of computer processing of
registry of documents. According to sources, this company has appointed a
sub-contractor to do the task through computer operators appointed on
contractual basis. However, said sources, there is a dispute between the
contractor company and sub-contractor firm over payment issues
pertaining to these computer operators. As the issue was pending for a
long time, the operators went on strike on Monday.
“The strike of
computer operators affected registry of documents to a large extent.
When the Government officials roped in other private operators to see
that work of registry does not get affected, the contractual operators
shut down the server, bringing all the computer-based operations in all
Sub-Registrar Offices to a grinding halt,” said a builder, who had visit
one of the nine Sub-Registrar Offices in Nagpur city on Monday.
“It
caused everyone a great inconvenience,” said a lawyer, who had visited
Civil Lines office of Sub-Registrar Office for registry of documents.
Another builder, preferring to be anonymous, said that the act of
contractual computer operators -- of shutting down the server --
amounted to creating hurdles in execution of Government work. “This must
be treated as an offence, and the Government authorities must act tough
against them,” he said.
Asked about the issue, S N Dutonde, Deputy
Inspector General (Registration), Nagpur, told ‘The Hitavada’ that the
department had given a contract to Vakrangee Limited for five years. On
Monday, he said, the contractual computer operators with the said firm
went on strike and did not come to work. He denied that the contractual
operators had shut down the server. “As the operators were on strike, we
asked our officials to do registry of documents manually, with
instructions to get those documents uploaded on computers once the
operators returned on job,” he added.
If the contractual computer
operators do not return to work on Tuesday, Dutonde said that he would
inform the higher-ups at IGR and recommend strong action like cancelling
the contract of the said contractor company. “Tomorrow, even if the
operators do not return to work, manual registries will be done at all
our offices, and care will be taken that no inconvenience is caused to
people,” said Dutonde.
Nagpur city has nine Sub-Registrar Offices.
There are 12 Sub-Registrar Offices in Nagpur (Rural) district. Each of
these offices has two operators of Vakrangee Limited.
As per the
Vakrangee Limited’s website, the firm ‘assists’ the Government in
computerising the State offices of Inspector General of Registration and
Stamps (IGRS), and Data Centre in Maharashtra. The department is
engaged in registration of documents and recovery of stamp duty, as per
the Indian Stamps Act. “As part of the project, we support the
Government in registration of marriages, societies, firms, and
non-trading companies. The project is aimed towards simplification of
the registration process, market value identification and appropriation,
delivering time-bound services, ensuring centralised record keeping and
increasing the Department's overall efficiency,” adds a statement on
the company’s website.
The company’s scope of activities includes --
site preparation for IGRS State offices and Data Centre, development of
web-based software application, operation of Nagpur Sub-Registrar
Offices on BOT basis, establishing WAN and LAN to collect IGRS offices,
operation and maintenance of complete solution, training and help-desk
management.
(Filed on March 2, 2015)
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