India, Aug. 18 -- Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay-led government on Monday made online and presence-less registration compulsory for the first sale of plots and flats in the state in a move aimed to improve transparency and reduce the need for physical visits to sub-registrar offices.

The initiative was launched by the chief minister at the secretariat in Chennai. It is the first step in the registration department's shift to an advanced system, known as STAR 3.0, according to a press release.

Under the new system, documents related to the first sale of plots in layouts and apartments will have to be registered only through the online process in Tamil Nadu.

Notably, the first sale of a plot refers to the first time a newly dev...