A recent survey by the Income Tax (I-T) department has uncovered massive lapses in property registration records at Manesar tehsil, exposing a systemic failure that could have enabled large-scale tax evasion.

Property deals worth an estimated ₹28,000 crore were registered over the past five years without capturing the Permanent Account Number (PAN) of buyers and sellers — a mandatory requirement for transactions above ₹30 lakh.

The survey conducted by a 10-member team over 24 hours found that the registration software used at the tehsil failed to capture PAN details, despite existing norms requiring tehsil offices to share names, PAN, and Aadhaar numbers with the income tax department for all high-value property deals.

The problem isn’t confined to Manesar. The survey revealed that the protocol was not being followed in 93 tehsils across 22 districts. An I-T official explained that while PAN cards were collected during the registration process, they were not being entered into the system, reportedly because of software glitches.

The omission of PAN details raised red flags about the transparency and legality of these transactions.

Officials said without PAN data, authorities cannot track the flow of money and identify possible tax evasion.

“Even if 1% of people evade taxes, the amount would be huge, an I-T official said, spotlighting the scale of potential revenue loss.

Previous surveys at Wazirabad and Kadipur tehsils had revealed similar irregularities, suggesting a broader pattern of negligence or systemic failure in the registration process.

Officials said the I-T department had alerted revenue officials and urged them to update the software and ensure compliance  with documentation rules.