The Bihar government on Tuesday fixed Rs 100 as the charge for people to get their property registered after division of family’s immovable assets and also decided to ban the use of plastic carry bags in villages too.

The two key decisions were taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar at his secretariat, and were part of 21 agendas that were discussed and approved at it. They will go a long way in solving several issues pertaining to the state.

“A proposal brought by our department has been approved by the cabinet and people will have to pay just Rs 100 to get property registered after division of family assets. This will simplify the sale of property, make it transparent and hassle free,” said principal secretary, prohibition, excise and registration, Amir Subhani.

Subhani added that of the Rs 100 charged, registration fee and stamp duty will be Rs 50 each and will be applicable uniformly, irrespective of the size and value of property.

Previously the charges for registration of property after its division among the family members attracted 5 per cent of the value of property as total charges of which 2 per cent used to be registration fee and 3 per cent was stamp duty.

Such high charges dissuaded people from getting their share of property after its division, and led to tension, dispute, strife and even murder. It also led to lack of transparency in property transactions as it would almost never be registered in the name of the actual owner and would remained locked in the name of his ancestors.

Nitish had noticed that a majority of police cases and also complaints that reached him pertained to property dispute. He had got suggestion at one of his ‘Lok Samvad’ programme about bringing down the charges for registering family property after division to help reduce such disputes.

“This is a decision related to public welfare and will reduce tension, disputes, violence and cases in the society. We cannot estimate the benefits in monetary terms. We cannot also evaluate the losses to the state exchequer because much more people will come to register their share of family property in comparison to earlier times,” Subhani added.

The other major decision taken by the cabinet is to place a blanket ban plastic carry bags of all sizes and thickness in all village panchayats.

Cabinet secretariat principal secretary Sanjay Kumar said: “The ban will come into effect in 60 days after the notification of cabinet decision in the government gazette. The violators of the ban could be punished with a maximum imprisonment of five years and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh under section 23 of The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.”