Opinion: Section 22-A and Right to Property

Despite the High Court’s landmark judgement, landowners in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh continue to face harassment and denial of property rights due to the persistent misuse of Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908

By Professor Madabhushi Sridhar Acharyulu

There is one simple sub-section that has become a hotbed of corruption in both Telugu States—Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. They commit Contempt of Court every day, in each district or wherever there is a transaction involving the transfer of property.

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This has been happening since 2013. The government has disregarded the Constitution of India. The judiciary has emphasised that depriving a citizen of the right to alienate their private property through executive instructions violates the constitutional right to property guaranteed under Article 300-A.

Before Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy issued comprehensive, binding directions applicable across all districts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, there was a widespread practice of insisting on NOCs (No Objection Certificates), which forced common people to pay bribes. The directions categorically provided that registering officers shall not insist on NOCs from Revenue authorities as a precondition for accepting documents for registration.

In both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the legal and socio-economic suffering caused by the misuse of Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908, persists, despite the judgment. Section 22-A is said to have been intended as a statutory shield to protect public, religious, and government lands from fraudulent transfers, but it became a widespread tool of administrative harassment in both States.

Landowners with clear titles found themselves trapped in perpetual litigation due to arbitrary “prohibitors lists” issued by Revenue officials without statutory authority. Justice Nagarjuna Reddy of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, in Raavi Satish v. State of AP (2012), delivered a significant judgment aimed at curbing executive overreach and restoring property rights. The judgment examined the systemic issues, historical misuse, and the need for comprehensive directives.

Telangana (Dharani & Portal Reforms)
While Telangana introduced digital land records via the Dharani portal, issues surrounding the auto-blocking of survey numbers under Section 22-A, without prior statutory notification or hearing, continue to reflect administrative overreach.

Andhra Pradesh (Resurvey & De-notifications)
Andhra Pradesh has faced persistent challenges regarding “dots” in RSR (Re-Settlement Registers) records, prompting specific legislative enactments, such as the AP Dots Lands Act, to clear backlogs that originated from administrative failures.

Human & Socio-Economic Suffering of Landowners

• Paralysed Financial Liquidity, Emergencies: Property owners facing medical emergencies, weddings, or educational expenses were unable to sell or mortgage their own legally acquired lands. Even when holding valid Pattadar Passbooks and decades-old registered title deeds, Sub-Registrars refused to accept transaction documents simply because a local Tahsildar had listed the land as “Government Land” or “AWD” (Assessed Waste Dry).

• Extortion and Administrative Harassment: The court noted a systemic breakdown where citizens were forced into an endless loop between the Revenue Department (Tahsildars/Collectors) and the Registration Department (Sub-Registrars). Sub-Registrars illegally demanded NOCs—a requirement completely alien to the Registration Act—forcing citizens to spend years chasing bureaucrats for relief.

• Disproportionate Burden on Marginalised Communities

• Ex-servicemen & freedom fighters: They were denied the right to sell lands assigned to them, even after the mandatory 10-year lock-in period had long expired.
• Political sufferers: Heirs of freedom fighters and political sufferers were blocked from executing sales despite explicit State policies (GO Ms. No. 1745) permitting uninhibited transfer.
• Landless poor assignees: Assignees under pre-1954 (Andhra) and pre-1958 (Telangana) orders were treated as violators of the Assigned Lands Act (Act 9 of 1977), even though no non-alienation condition existed in their original pattas.

Bureaucratic Overreach

“Dots” in RSR columns: Century-old blank or dotted entries in RSR were treated as proof of State ownership. The impact is that legitimate owners with registered deeds dating back to the 1930s and 40s were stripped of their right to sell without any judicial trial.

Assessed Waste Dry: Private lands were classified as “AWD” without the filing of civil suits or recovery of physical possession. State officials blocked property registrations but took no legal steps to assert title or recover the land, creating a legal limbo.

Bypassing gazette notifications: Officers refused registrations based on informal prohibitory lists sent by Collectors rather than publishing formal Gazette notifications under Sec 22-A(2). Executive opinions were replacing statutory law, making informal departmental letters more powerful than public statutes.

Frequent defiance of judicial precedents: Sub-Registrars repeatedly raised the same grounds of rejection that High Court benches had previously declared illegal. Thus, litigants were forced to approach the High Court repeatedly for individual relief, clogging the judiciary.

High Court Burden

• Alarming case backlog: As noted in the judgment, of the approximately 35,000 writ petitions filed in the High Court in 2012 alone, 3,360 petitions (around 10%) were filed solely against Sub-Registrars refusing to register documents under Section 22-A.

• Denial of state revenue: The court observed that while attempting to block registrations on arbitrary grounds, the State government was actively denying itself substantial stamp duty and registration fee revenues, while achieving zero protection of actual public land.

• Disregard for Article 300-A: The judiciary emphasised that depriving a citizen of the right to alienate private property through executive instructions violates the constitutional right to property guaranteed under Article 300-A of the Constitution.

For millions of property owners across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the process of registering a sale deed or property transfer frequently turned into an administrative nightmare. Sub-Registrars routinely refused to receive or process registration documents, relying blindly on informal “prohibitory lists” prepared by revenue authorities such as Tahsildars and District Collectors.

Instead of safeguarding genuine government property, this practice created massive litigation. Innocent citizens, who had purchased lands under registered deeds decades prior, held valid Pattadar Passbooks, and paid taxes, were suddenly informed that their private property was deemed “Government Land” or “Assessed Waste”.

Evolution of Section 22-A

Why has this draconian revenue law come up? To understand the root cause of this harassment, one must trace the legislative evolution of Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908. The original Section 22-A (AP Act 4 of 1999) empowered the State government to declare, by notification, that the registration of any document was “opposed to public policy”.

Judicial Invalidation (Basant Nahata Case): In State of Rajasthan v. Basant Nahata (2005), the Supreme Court declared this unbridled power unconstitutional, observing that substantive legislative policy cannot be delegated to executive discretion or subordinate legislation. Following this, the AP High Court struck down the original Section 22-A in December 2005.

AP Act 19 of 2007: The Legislature re-introduced Section 22-A with specific categorisations under which registration could be prohibited:

• Section 22-A(1)(a): Transfers prohibited under State/Central statutes.
• Section 22-A(1)(b): Transfers of lands owned by State/Central governments executed by unauthorised persons.
• Section 22-A(1)(c): Transfers exceeding 10 years of Endowment/Wakf properties by unauthorised persons.
• Section 22-A(1)(d): Surplus lands declared under Urban/Agricultural Land Ceiling Acts.
• Section 22-A(1)(e): Properties in which State/Central governments have avowed or accrued interests.

Under Section 22-A(2), for properties falling under clause (e), the State government must publish a formal Gazette notification detailing the properties based on reasons furnished by District Collectors.

Despite clear statutory language, Revenue and Registration officials routinely bypassed the law, subjecting citizens to four primary grounds of harassment:

1. “Dots” in RSR: In many districts, historical Re-Settlement Registers (often dating back to 1909) contained blank columns or “dots” in the ownership section. Revenue officials arbitrarily classified all such survey numbers as government lands and instructed Sub-Registrars to block transactions. Justice Nagarjuna Reddy reiterated the established legal position: mere entries or dots in revenue records do not constitute conclusive proof of title, especially against decades of registered conveyances.

2. AWD Lands: Revenue authorities placed survey numbers classified as “Assessed Waste Dry” on prohibitory lists. The Court highlighted the absurdity of this stance: while Revenue authorities blocked property transfers, they took no legal steps to recover possession or assert title in civil court, merely using registration blockades to harass owners holding valid passbooks.

3. Misapplication of Non-Alienation Clauses on Assigned Lands: Under the AP Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977 (Act 9 of 1977), assigned lands cannot be transferred if assigned to landless poor with a non-alienation condition. However, Revenue officials indiscriminately blocked transactions without checking the following key legal exemptions:

• Cut-off dates: Prohibition conditions were introduced on 18-06-1954 (Andhra Area — GO Ms. No. 1142) and 25-07-1958 (Telangana Area — GO Ms. No. 1406). Assignments prior to these dates carried no statutory bar on transfer.
• Ex-servicemen & freedom fighters: Under GO Ms.No. 1117 (1993) and GO Ms.No. 1045 (2004), ex-servicemen and freedom fighters are legally entitled to sell assigned lands after 10 years.
• Political sufferers: Under GO Ms.No. 1745 (1959), political sufferers are permitted to sell assigned lands without any time restriction or condition.
• Market value assignments: Lands assigned on payment of market value do not fall under Act 9 of 1977 restrictions.

4. Extortion of NOCs: Sub-Registrars routinely refused to accept documents unless citizens produced a “No Objection Certificate” from Tahsildars or Collectors. The court held that insistence on NOCs is completely alien to the Registration Act. Revenue communications do not carry the binding force of a statutory Gazette notification.

Binding Judicial Directions (Raavi Satish Case)

To put an end to this unabated litigation, Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy issued comprehensive, binding directions applicable across all districts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh:

• Total ban on insisting on NOCs: Registering officers shall not insist on NOCs from Revenue authorities as a precondition for accepting documents.
• Invalidity of informal prohibitory lists: Registration cannot be refused merely because a property appears on an informal list citing RSR dots, AWD status, or assigned land claims.
• Mandatory Gazette Notification for Clause (e): In the absence of a formal Gazette notification published under Section 22-A(2), registration cannot be refused for RSR dots or AWD lands.
• Verification of Pre-1954 / Pre-1958 assignments: Lands assigned prior to 18-06-1954 (Andhra) or 25-07-1958 (Telangana) must be registered without objection.
• Rule of benefit of doubt: Where the exact date of assignment is unclear, the benefit of the doubt goes to the property owner. Sub-Registrars must request proof from Revenue authorities within a stipulated timeframe; if no proof of post-1954/1958 assignment is produced, registration must proceed.
• Ex-servicemen & freedom fighters (10-year Rule): Assignments to them must be registered freely once 10 years have elapsed from the date of assignment.
• Absolute freedom for political sufferers: Political sufferers or their legal heirs are entitled to sell assigned lands at any time without restriction.
• Written refusal orders under Section 71: Sub-Registrars cannot verbally refuse documents. They must receive the document and pass a reasoned written rejection order under Section 71, enabling the party to file an appeal under Section 72.

[Based on Case law: Raavi Satish & Others v. The State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Principal Secretary, Revenue Department & Others (W.P. No. 30526 of 2012 & Batch, High Court of AP, decided on 31-12-2012)]

 

(The author is former Central Information Commissioner)