A technical fault in the Punjab Land Records Authority’s e-stamping system has disrupted online transactions across Rawalpindi district, extending to Taxila, Wah Cantonment and multiple tehsil offices, leaving citizens and stamp vendors unable to receive the one time passwords required for registration and verification of stamp duty challans. Users of the online system reported that repeated attempts to obtain OTPs on their registered mobile numbers have failed, leaving applications and related property transaction procedures incomplete across the affected areas.
The malfunction has disrupted daily operations for stamp vendors, property dealers and ordinary citizens attempting to complete routine transactions, with affected users reporting losses of both time and money as a direct result of the failed OTP verifications. The OTP based verification mechanism itself was introduced by PLRA to enhance the security and authenticity of stamp duty challan generation, ensuring that challans are issued only through mobile numbers verified as belonging to the individual completing the transaction. While the system was designed to strengthen fraud prevention in property transactions, its dependence on successful OTP delivery means that any technical disruption to that verification layer effectively halts the broader transaction process for anyone relying on the platform.
Affected citizens have called on the Punjab Land Records Authority to resolve the technical fault immediately and restore uninterrupted access to the online system, arguing that the failure of a routine verification code, despite the presence of what is otherwise described as a modern digital platform, reflects poorly on the delivery of government services. Similar concerns around the OTP verification mechanism have surfaced previously among real estate stakeholders, developers and overseas Pakistanis, some of whom have faced difficulties in the past when mobile numbers were not registered under their own name or when SIM based verification created barriers for those relying on foreign contact numbers, prompting PLRA to introduce an email based alternative for overseas users.
Citizens in Rawalpindi have urged the authorities to take immediate notice of the current disruption and ensure the e-stamping system is made fully operational without further delay, given its central role in processing property related documentation across the district. The recurring nature of technical and operational issues tied to the OTP verification requirement points to a broader pattern in which digitization efforts aimed at improving transparency and reducing fraud in Punjab’s property sector have, at various points, created friction for the very citizens and stakeholders the system was designed to serve, underscoring the ongoing challenge of balancing security upgrades with consistent service reliability in the province’s digital governance infrastructure.
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