Birth certificates to e-Khata: SIR leaves routine services crawling

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While some residents say they are unable to obtain birth certificates required for school admissions, others say delays in obtaining documents have affected passport-related work

Published - July 13, 2026 09:18 pm IST - Bengaluru

People waiting in a queue at the Bengaluru One Office at R.T. Nagar in Bengaluru on Monday. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN

“After seeing me here (at the Sub-Registrar’s office in Hebbal) for the third time, the official told me not to come to the office and instead apply through the Kaveri Service portal,” said Venkatesh Gowda from R.T. Nagar.

However, he said he had already tried applying online but kept encountering errors, with the portal displaying messages that the page had moved. “The website is not working either. I took leave from work to get an agricultural land document registered, but they are saying all work will be taken up after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR),” he said.

Mr. Gowda is among several residents who told The Hindu that routine government services have slowed significantly over the past few weeks.

From birth and death certificates to e-khata and property registrations, government services have come to a crawl as thousands of officials have been deployed for the SIR work. Apart from emergency services such as the Police and Health Departments, officials have been roped in from almost every government department.

When The Hindu visited several Sub-Registrar offices, including Hebbal and Malleswaram, citizens said they had made repeated visits without getting their work done.

While some residents said they had been unable to obtain birth certificates required for school admissions despite visiting offices, emailing officials and applying online, others said delays in obtaining documents had affected passport-related work.

Many said document processing had been delayed by weeks and that they were repeatedly asked to “come next week”. A few said officials had asked them not to return until August.

At the Malleswaram Sub-Registrar’s office, 688 non-agricultural (NA) applications — relating to land used for residential, commercial or industrial purposes — were pending between July 9 and 13. An official admitted that while such applications usually take less than a day, and on an average about six hours to process, the department has been unable to keep up because of staff shortage.

At the Byatarayanapura Sub-Registrar’s office, the number of pending NA applications during the same period was even higher, at 1,470.

Even e-Khata services have been affected as the Revenue Department officials who process applications and verify property records have been deployed for the SIR duties, resulting in delays in issuing e-Khatas and clearing pending applications.

Revenue Officers are serving as Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), Assistant Revenue Officers as Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AROs), while Revenue Assessors, Revenue Inspectors and Tax Collectors are functioning as supervisors of Booth Level Officers (BLOs).

Even at the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), the weekly ‘Nanna e-khata, Nanna Hakku’ (My e-Khata, My Right) campaign was recently cancelled as staff have been deployed for the SIR duties. At the gram panchayat level too, the e-Khata process has largely come to a halt.

Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Eshwar Khandre said that apart from staff deployment for the SIR, technical glitches in the e-Swathu portal had also contributed to the delays.

“There were some server issues with the portal. I have directed officials to resolve them at the earliest. Directions will be issued to ensure that no application remains pending by the end of the month. No excuses will be accepted,” he said.

Published - July 13, 2026 09:18 pm IST

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