Government plans fee-based route to unlock 22-A properties

Telangana is working on a fee-based mechanism to clear properties from the 22-A prohibited list. The proposed charges could be around 15 per cent of government market value, with legal and administrative modalities still being examined before implementation

Hyderabad: If you are the owner of a property entered into the 22-A prohibited list, it will be cleared, but at a cost.

The Telangana government is working on a fee-based mechanism to resolve cases involving properties included in the 22-A prohibited list. However, the modalities, including the exact amount to be collected, will be finalised after examining the legal and administrative aspects of the proposed regularisation and registration schemes.

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For 22-A-affected property owners, the immediate issue is no longer just removal from the prohibited list, but also the charges proposed to be imposed by the State government despite there being no fault on their part.

Officials involved in the 22-A relief exercise said owners seeking removal of properties from the prohibited list would have to pay a prescribed charge. The exact amount is yet to be fixed, but around 15 per cent of the government market value is being considered, on the lines of Land and Building Regularisation Schemes.

The move comes against the backdrop of widespread complaints over properties being included in the prohibited list because entire survey numbers were not properly subdivided or mapped in government records, even after approved layouts were developed. The government is planning the subdivision of survey numbers to resolve genuine owners’ problems and establish a comprehensive system for HMDA, GHMC and DTCP-approved layouts. However, this comes at a cost, as indicated by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s announcement in the Assembly on Wednesday.

The government is seeking legal opinion before implementing the schemes to ensure that the procedures adopted do not lead to litigation in future. The fee structure is also expected to be finalised as part of this exercise.

Records problem, payment solution

The 22-A issue arose in several cases after officials allegedly uploaded survey numbers into the latest Bhu Bharati portal, where parent survey numbers were either not subdivided or properly reflected in land records. Consequently, private plots in approved layouts were included in the prohibited list, while roads and other portions transferred to local authorities through gift deeds were earmarked as government properties.

The government has maintained that such technical and record-updating problems need to be corrected and has asked owners to approach revenue authorities with supporting documents. Officials said the proposed fee-based mechanism would bring regularisation, registration and correction of land status under a common administrative framework.

The issue also extends to agricultural land, where owners could face charges if their properties are brought into the regularisation process because of survey or classification issues.