“We have been receiving a lot of complaints on frauds in land deals as some properties are sold three times by various claimants,” Shailesh Kumar Sharma, settlement commissioner, said on Sunday.

“Non-agricultural land has the property card as the authorised land record while agricultural land still goes by the 7×12 extract,” he said, pointing out that some people have been taking advantage of the dual authorised land record system and cheating the public.

Sharma said the Settlement and Land Records Department has moved a proposal before the state government to scrap the system of extracts in urban areas through an amendment to Rule 126 of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code. “Once the change is made, only a property card would be the authorised land record for deals,” he said.

“Agricultural land in all the cities would also have a property card from now,” he said, stressing that the decision would help secure the rights of the owner in cities where there is a lot of agricultural land still under urban jurisdiction.

“Once the amendment is made, the stamp and registration office would be directed to register only those deals in the city that are based on property card,” Sharma said.

The settlement and land record department will make all property cards available on the Internet in three months. “The property cards of 13 cities, including Mumbai and Pune, can already be accessed on the Interenet and the rest would be made available soon,” he said.

“The initiative has been a success as the website mahabhulek.mumbai.nic.in registers at least 2,000 hits a day.”

The land record department has also undertaken a pilot project in the district under National Land Resource Management Programme. Around 20 lakh land records, including digitised maps, will be scanned and electronically saved within four months, Sharma said.