Tk 2,000–4,000 extra per deed; two association leaders lose licences after ACC probe

A 2022 report in Ajker Patrika gives a picture of the deed writers at the Badarganj sub-registry office in Rangpur. In January 2019, two men were elected president and general secretary of the association by the votes of 103 deed writers. Soon afterwards, it was alleged, they began collecting money in the association's name and influencing buyers and sellers to show land prices lower and change the land's classification. After an Anti-Corruption Commission investigation found the allegations proven, the Department of Registration cancelled the two men's certificates on 14 June 2020. Even so, they did not give up their posts or their place on the office veranda; they were alleged to be executing deeds using other people's certificates. About 300 deeds are done at the office on two days a week. On each deed, Tk 1,200 in the sub-registrar's name and Tk 2,000 to 4,000 in the association's name was being collected from the person receiving the land — the deed writers themselves collected this money while writing the deeds. One deed writer said Tk 2,000 had been collected from each of them on the pretext of renewing their certificates. The accused general secretary told the reporter, ‘It's true the certificate was cancelled, but I am trying to get it back.’ The district registrar said the matter would be looked into.