Registration offices to be rationalised; 25 model registration hubs to come up, Minister tells Assembly

Tamil Nadu Commercial Taxes and Registration Minister D. Logesh Tamilselvan on Monday announced in the Legislative Assembly that the Registration Department will rationalise its offices to ensure better and faster services to the public and distribute the workload of sub-registrars, with only one sub-registrar’s office proposed to function within a revenue division.The department will also establish 25 model registration hubs to provide various registration-related services under one roof. The first phase will cover Vellore, Central Chennai, South Chennai, Chengalpattu and Coimbatore (North).Mr. Tamilselvan announced additional buildings, equipment and other facilities will be provided to 25 sub-registrar offices handling a high volume of registrations, at a cost of ₹54 lakh under the Revenue Expenditure head and ₹34 lakh under the Capital Expenditure head.From September 15, 2026, registration of loan-related documents executed at banks and non-banking financial institutions will be brought under a Presence-less Registration system, allowing registration without physical appearance at the Sub-Registrar’s office.From October 15, 2026, the presence-less registration system will also be introduced for certain transactions, including settlement, release, partition, revocation of settlement and family arrangement deeds.The “Engirundhum Pathivu” (Registration from Anywhere) system will be extended to 100 Sub-Registrar offices across the State to make registration services more accessible and reduce the need for people to travel to a particular registration office, the Minister said.Single-window grievance facility, faceless tax administration proposedMr. Tamilselvan said a single-window online facility would be created to address traders’ grievances relating to tax procedures and their implementation under the GST Act and earlier tax laws.A separate tax assessment circle will also be created in every Commercial Taxes Division to administer traders covered under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, Central Sales Tax Act and other earlier tax laws.In another measure, petrol and diesel retail outlets/bunks that have paid VAT at the first-sale stage in the State and are registered under the GST Act will be exempted from obtaining registration under the Tamil Nadu VAT Act.The monetary jurisdiction of the single-member Bench of the Tamil Nadu Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal will be enhanced from ₹1 lakh to ₹1 crore to facilitate speedy disposal of second appeals under earlier tax laws, the Minister said.He also announced the creation of a State-level Economic Intelligence Wing to analyse data received at the State level, monitor officials’ performance and share intelligence-based practices. Published - September 07, 2026 06:27 pm IST