The controversy over properties included in Telangana s Section 22A prohibited list has triggered a major political row in the state, with allegations that thousands of private properties were wrongly brought under restrictions, preventing owners from carrying The controversy over properties included in Telangana s Section 22A prohibited list has triggered a major political row in the state, with allegations that thousands of private properties were...
The controversy over properties included in Telangana’s Section 22A prohibited list has triggered a major political row in the state, with allegations that thousands of private properties were wrongly brought under restrictions, preventing owners from carrying out sale and registration transactions.
The issue has particularly affected several areas in and around Hyderabad, including parts of Medchal-Malkajgiri, Rangareddy, Sangareddy and Hyderabad districts. It has also led to criticism over the functioning of the Revenue and Registration departments.
Section 22A of the Registration Act, 1908, empowers the government to identify certain categories of properties whose registration should be prohibited. The objective is to prevent the illegal sale or transfer of government, assigned, disputed and other protected properties.
The prohibited category can include government poramboke lands, assigned lands, properties belonging to municipalities and government institutions, endowment and Wakf properties, surplus lands under the Urban Land Ceiling Act, forest lands, lands covered by the protective provisions of Regulation 1 of 1970 in tribal areas, and properties involved in court cases or disputes.
Once a survey number is included in the prohibited list, sub-registrars generally cannot register transactions involving that property.
The controversy arose over allegations that large survey numbers were uploaded to the prohibited database without adequate field-level verification, resulting in genuine private properties also being included in the list.
Reports cited in the ongoing debate put the total area under the prohibited list across Telangana at around 93 lakh acres, with a substantial number of disputed cases concentrated in the Greater Hyderabad region.
Several localities, including Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Kukatpally, Miyapur, Kondapur, Bachupally and Nizampet, have reportedly witnessed complaints from property owners facing difficulties in getting their properties registered.
The issue is particularly serious in a real estate market like Hyderabad, where restrictions on registration can prevent property owners from completing transactions even after booking registration slots and paying stamp duty.
The controversy has drawn criticism from opposition leaders, including former minister T. Harish Rao, who reportedly mocked the inclusion of the Chief Minister’s residence in the prohibited list.
The issue has also become part of the larger political debate over the previous Dharani land records system and the Congress government’s efforts to replace it with the Bhu Bharati system.
Critics have alleged that errors in the digitisation of land records under the previous system resulted in a large number of properties being wrongly classified, while the present government has been attempting to rectify such problems.
Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy has publicly apologised to those affected and indicated that a high-level committee would examine the issue.
The controversy has also reached the courts, with questions reportedly being raised over why the prohibited list was not made available online.
The issue has now emerged as a major administrative and political challenge for the Telangana government, particularly in the Hyderabad metropolitan region.
Property owners are demanding a time-bound mechanism to verify and remove wrongly listed properties instead of forcing them to make repeated visits to government offices.
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