Officer bypassed mandatory e-Swathu process, misused Court decree route

Mysore/Mysuru: The State Government has suspended Mysuru West Sub-Registrar N. Srikanth for allegedly violating Government circulars and departmental directives, and misusing a sub-article of a Court decree in an attempt to register documents for 24 residential sites at Kergalli. The suspension order was issued by the Inspector General of Registration, who is the Competent Disciplinary Authority.

A departmental inquiry has been initiated. Officials noted that allowing Srikanth to continue in his post could lead to destruction or manipulation of evidence. His lien (a public servant’s legal right to hold a post) has been transferred to central office until further orders. The order also states that Srikanth cannot leave his place of central posting without prior departmental approval during suspension period.

Former MLC’s land row

The issue dates back to December 2025, when former BJP MLC Siddaraju rushed to the Mysuru West Sub-Registrar’s office, alleging that his residential sites were being illegally registered in others’ names.

The sites form part of Chamundi Sooru Nagar, a private layout developed by Siddaraju at Kergalli.

Siddaraju accused Srikanth and staff of tampering with documents related to 24 sites and preparing registrations in the names of outsiders. It was alleged that documents were uploaded to secure registration slots without the knowledge of Siddaraju, the rightful owner. A case was registered at Vijayanagar Police Station and Siddaraju also wrote to the State Government seeking strict action.

Departmental probe findings

During the inquiry, officials from the District Registrar’s Office found that while uploading documents, the option “Article: Sale” was selected, but under “Sub-Article,” entries were made to reflect Civil Court judgments or final orders.

The probe revealed that this provision was misused to register 24 site documents without drawing data from the e-Swathu software system.

Government circulars mandate that property transfers must be supported by certified records, including a valid khata, tax receipts, and Forms 1 and 12 issued by the Gram Panchayat.

To enforce this, the Kaveri software has been integrated with the e-Swathu database for Gram Panchayat properties, making it mandatory to retrieve ownership details from the system before registration.

Procedure bypassed

However, based on investigation reports and registration records, the inquiry confirmed that Srikanth bypassed the system and registered documents without verifying ownership details through e-Swathu.

The Kaveri software includes a provision under ‘Sub-Article: Decree/Order’ to enable registration of sale deeds executed by Courts or Court-appointed commissioners. Selecting this option allows modification of ownership details.

For standard property transactions, however, the correct procedure requires selecting ‘Article: Sale’ and ‘Sub-Article: Sale/Transfer of Immovable Property’ (covering sites, buildings or apartments) and retrieving ownership data from the designated portal.

Illegal registrations

In this case, the prescribed process was bypassed. Instead of selecting the appropriate sub-article for sale deeds, the Court order sub-article was used and documents were submitted through the Sub-Registrar’s login without pulling data from the relevant portals.

Officials emphasised that Sub-Registrars are duty-bound to verify whether a document is a genuine sale deed or a Court order/ Court commissioner’s deed and to ensure compliance with Government circulars by cross-checking ownership details through mandated software systems.

If ownership details are unavailable, documents must be returned to the citizen’s login.

However, in this case, 24 site documents were registered illegally without accessing the e-Swathu portal and without obtaining Form 9 and 11A/11B from the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) khata records. The inquiry report concluded that Srikanth violated Government circulars (Nos. 3 and 4) and departmental directives, misusing the ‘Court Decree/Order’ sub-article to carry out the registrations.

The issue has drawn sharp reactions, with real estate observers and political leaders terming it one of Mysuru’s biggest scandals since the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) 50:50 site allotment controversy.

Former MLC Siddaraju, BJP district spokesperson Mohan, and K. Vasanth Kumar flagged the issue with the department in detail. Krishnaraja MLA T.S. Srivatsa also petitioned Revenue Minister Krishna Byregowda, seeking strict measures to curb corruption in the department.