The Silver Lining

The Department of Stamps and Registration is the third highest revenue
generating department for Government of Karnataka under the Ministry of Revenue.
There are 27 District Registrar Offices and 204 Sub-Registrar Offices that
accomplish the registration of properties, firms, societies and marriages. It is
a department having limited staff of around 1000 employees spread across 202
offices in the State and spends less than 1.5% of what it earns on itself. The
department has direct interaction with millions of citizens every year; it is
one of the most public intensive departments. Paper work involved in the process
of registration of property was very high and therefore the time taken for the
registration process was nearly 45 days. With the increase in the volume of
work, the department's productivity and quality of work was going down.

From behind this dark cloud emerged a silver lining in the form of Karnataka
Valuation and e-Registration (Kaveri) project. The project was designed and
developed with objectives that involved taking care of the entire registration
process inclusive of necessary report generation and property valuation of
Karnataka realizing the concept of paperless office. The project was also aimed
at providing efficient and quality service to the general public at a nominal
cost, streamlining the procedures and speeding up the work thereby improving the
quality, and business process re-engineering coupled with computerization to
enhance the productivity and continuous increase in revenue collection.

The Kaveri applications suite is smart and intelligent with all the
flexibilities. It is a bilingual suite - English and Kannada. Kaveri includes
all the processes followed during the routine registration, viz. the property
valuation, stamp duty calculation and payment, party information, receipt
generation, witness information and capturing photograph and thumb images.
Instant valuations of immovable properties located within the state are done.
More than 35 diverse ranges of reports like Endorsement, Certificates, Daily
Register, Index, etc. are generated. The added feature of this module is that
reports can be generated in local language too. Kaveri is highly cost effective
in all respects. The expense incurred per transaction and the service charges to
the citizen have been so premeditated that the department and the vendors begin
revenue generation right from the implementation of the software.

The Tech Effects

Sustainability: Kaveri has long sustainability. Its robust features and
design help in the long running of the application. The software has taken into
consideration the conditions, working of the department and the rules and
process, which would enhance or transform in the years to come. The BOT concept
is an exclusive feature contributing to the functioning of the software.

Revenue generation is a key feature of the Kaveri Application Suite. The
service charges collected from the citizens will suffice the expenses incurred
by the vendors as well as generate revenue for the department. Approximately 40%
increase in revenue has been observed during the year 2004-2005 compared to
pre-computerization year 2002-2003.

Check on Corruption: The following features help check corruption:

• Automatic valuation of property: There is no discrepancy in
  valuating the property manually. No department official is involved in the
  valuation.
• Automatic calculation of Stamp Duty, Registration and other fees:
  Since the fees are automatically calculated through the software, there is
  no scope for extra recovery from the citizen.
• Vendor Management System: This System of the software calculates
  the exact payment to be made to the Vendors based on the services rendered
  and generates the report. This forms the basis for the payment to the
  Vendors. There is no manual intervention in the calculation of this amount.
• Automatic generation of Encumbrance Certificate: The Encumbrance
  Certificate is automatically generated through the system. Manual search
  could lead to vested interests.

Replicable: The software is replicable at other
geographical locations. The registration process remains the same. Changes in
the business logic are required to be done, for instance acts, types of
documents, stamp duty calculation, fee rules, etc. The domain expertise helps in
faster customization and tuning of the software to the requirements of the
client.

The hardware and their configuration remain the same. The
installation package can be generated and on the same configuration of hardware,
the software performs well, as in case of earlier installations. Since the whole
system is tried and tested, the complications and intricacies during the
installation are bare minimum and the performance of the software can be rest
assured of.

G P Sahu and M P Gupta Department of Management
Studies Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Types of Services Offered

Technology behind Kaveri

Application Software

• Back end: MS SQL Server 2000 (Client + Server)
• Front End: Visual Basic 6.0
• Language interface: ISM Office 2000 for Kannada language
• Install shield 6.0
• Data reports/Crystal reports 8.5
• Operating system: Windows 2000 (Server+Professional) All relevant service
  packs/upgrades
• All relevant device drivers

Website

• Back end: MS SQL Server 2000 (Server)
• Operating system: Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• Domain name http://www.karigr.org
• Web site development using Microsoft Technologies

Security issues handled

• Password protection for valid user (Provided by OS)
• Password protection for valid user (Provided by RDBMS)
• Envisaged Bio-metric logins (using Bio-metric devices)
• Password at application level
• Password at database level (through the software)
• Triggers at table level

Quality Standards followed

• IEEE Standards
• ISO 9001 :2000 Certified
• CAG:IT Audit norms compliant

Interoperability

• Kaveri is a completely object oriented software
• ActiveX Exe, ActiveX Dll and OCX form a major part of the Kaveri
  Application Suite. Each component interacts and performs dependent as well
  as independent tasks

Scalability

Kaveri being based on object-oriented concepts and COM technologies, it is
highly flexible for further enhancement