Sri Vijaya Puram, April 7: Member of Parliament for Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Shri Bishnu Pada Ray, has written to the Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor seeking immediate rationalisation of the present Sub-Registrar arrangement in the Islands so that registration services become more accessible, decentralised and citizen-friendly.
In his communication, the MP has pointed out that the present registration system is overly centralised and is largely dependent on officers who are already holding multiple executive and revenue responsibilities. He has stated that such an arrangement is not suitable for a geographically dispersed island territory like Andaman & Nicobar Islands, where public access, distance and administrative convenience are important considerations.
Shri Bishnu Pada Ray has particularly highlighted the situation in South Andaman, where one centralised arrangement is serving a large and diverse area comprising Sri Vijaya Puram, Ferrargunj and Little Andaman. He has observed that this causes avoidable inconvenience to the public, increases travel burden, leads to delays and places excessive workload on a single office.
The MP has proposed a two-fold reform. First, the number of Sub-Registrar jurisdictions should be increased so that tehsil-wise registration access is made available in all areas having revenue land and regular registration demand. In South Andaman, he has specifically sought creation of two additional Sub-Registrar jurisdictions so that Sri Vijaya Puram, Ferrargunj and Little Andaman each have separate local registration access.
Second, he has suggested that routine Sub-Registrar work may be assigned on an additional-charge basis to suitable local officers such as Tehsildars, Block Development Officers, Assistant Directors or equivalent officers, instead of continuing to burden senior IAS and DANICS officers with routine registration work. According to the MP, senior officers should be freed for supervisory, district-level and higher administrative functions, while routine public-facing services should be brought closer to the people.
In support of his proposal, Shri Bishnu Pada Ray has referred to comparable administrative arrangements in jurisdictions such as Delhi, Goa, Chandigarh and Puducherry, where registration services are more decentralised and institutionally structured at the local level.
He has further stated that the proposed reform can be implemented under the existing provisions of the Registration Act, 1908, without necessarily creating a heavy standalone establishment in the first instance. The Administration, he has suggested, can review the present registration sub-district structure, notify additional jurisdictions where necessary, and assign charge to suitable local officers under proper statutory and administrative supervision.
The MP has urged the Andaman & Nicobar Administration to take up the matter on priority, noting that it directly concerns public convenience, accessibility of a basic statutory service, and more rational deployment of administrative manpower in the Islands.