the goan I network
PANAJI
State Registrar and Head of Notary Service, Ashutosh Apte, has said that Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Overseas Citizen of India (OCIs) have to mandatorily submit a claim to FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) Committee while selling an immovable property in Goa and seek committee’s approval for the same.
Apte was the guest at an interaction called ‘Goan Varta-Laap’, which was jointly organised by Goan-Varta and The Goan Everyday.
Apte said, “In Goa, a FEMA committee was constituted in 2013 and state registrar is the member secretary of this committee. Whenever PIOs or OCIs are entering into any transaction of an immovable property, they have to come to this committee. Whether a PIO or an OCI is a vendor or a purchaser, he or she has to come to this committee while selling an immovable property. PIOs/OCIs have to submit a claim to us. We examine it and we issue no objection certificate (NOC) based on guidelines.”
Goans, in significant number, migrate abroad and become OCIs or PIOs. Apte said, “Very often, we have seen that people are not aware of this requirement of coming to FEMA Committee. They say that they were Goans and were living in Goa until a few years ago. But, as per rules, if you are a PIO or a CIO, you have to come to FEMA Committee for the said approval.” “Till 2016, the FEMA Committee met regularly. Then, for a year’s duration, no meeting happened. When I was posted, I said we have to do streamlining. When OCIs or PIOs come to us for such approvals, they have already booked a return ticket and have only 2-3 days to do the paper work. We are streamlining this process. In the last 7-8 months, we have cleared 300-400 cases pertaining to the sale of immovable properties of OCIs and PIOs,” Apte continued.
Apte further informed that state registrar’s office has already contributed Rs 151 crore in the current financial year (2017-18) compared to Rs 134 crore in the previous year (2016-17) to state exchequer despite reduction in stamp duty and registration fees in the previous budget.
The importance of state registrar’s office can be understood from the fact that it has information about births, deaths and marriages. Also, all sorts of conveyance of titles, whether gift deed or sale deed, have to be registered with sub registrar’s office.
