High-level panel formed to resolve 22A land issues in Telangana
Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy told the Assembly on Friday that a high-level committee has been formed to fast-track all 22A land matters, with GO RT 564 issued. CCLA DS Lokesh Kumar will chair it, with Law Secretary Papi Reddy and Stamps and Registration IG Rajiv Gandhi Hanumanthu as members. He said a memo was issued Friday to regularise 9,700 plots in LB Nagar under GO 118, with the process starting Saturday.
Source
Namasthe Telangana · read the original report ↗
Desk check · compared with the source
What the desk checked (5)
- A high-level committee has been set up to fast-track all 22A land issues, with GO RT No. 564 issued — Attributed to Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy in the Assembly; GO number appears in source
- CCLA DS Lokesh Kumar is committee chairman, with Law Secretary Papi Reddy and Stamps and Registration IG Rajiv Gandhi Hanumanthu as members — Names as given by the minister in the source; not independently verifiable here
- A memo was issued Friday for regularisation of 9,700 plots in LB Nagar constituency under GO 118, with the process starting Saturday — Figure and dates appear in source, attributed to the minister
- GO-76 was issued during late CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy's tenure for house-site regularisation in the Singareni area — Stated by the minister; historical reference not verified by the desk
- A decision on removing HMDA, DTCP and GHMC-approved layouts from 22A will be taken in one or two days — Forward-looking statement attributed to the minister; outcome pending
Analysts’ view opinion
This is land-record politics done in the assembly, which is where it lands hardest. By tying the 22A high-level committee and the LB Nagar regularisation memo directly to promises Revanth Reddy made — as CM in the House and earlier as Malkajgiri MP — the Congress government is converting a long-pending bureaucratic grievance into a visible delivery story for urban and peri-urban voters. The deliberate invocation of a Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy-era GO for Singareni areas also signals a Congress lineage argument, positioning the party as the one that has historically legalised people's homes.
- Land regularisation touches lakhs of anxious homeowners, so credit for clearing 22A entanglements is among the most electorally durable currency a revenue minister can spend.
- Routing it through a GO and an officer-led committee — CCLA chairing, with law and registration officials — lets the government claim procedural seriousness while keeping the political credit with the CM and the minister.
- The LB Nagar focus is pointed: it is a densely settled urban belt in the Malkajgiri region the CM once represented, and honouring an old MP-era promise is a low-cost, high-visibility signal.
- Distributing delivery across leaders — Ponguleti in the House, Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka convening Singareni MLAs — spreads ownership within the ruling party rather than concentrating it.
- The opposition's likely counter is timing and follow-through rather than intent: whether files actually move, and how many plots are genuinely freed from 22A, not just announced.
What to watch — Watch the promised one-to-two-day decision on removing HMDA, DTCP and GHMC-approved layouts from 22A, and whether Saturday's LB Nagar rollout and the Singareni meeting produce actual regularisations on the ground.
The story records announcements, a GO number and a committee's composition — it does not establish any timeline for the committee's findings, how many 22A cases exist statewide, or any opposition response.
Deep dive
Research brief · 8 facts · 6 dates · exam-readyThe brief
Context
Section 22A of the Registration Act, 1908 (as applied in Telangana) lists categories of land whose registration is prohibited — typically government, endowment, assigned and protected lands. Thousands of plot owners in Telangana have found their properties blocked from registration because they were placed under the 22A list, and colonies built decades ago remain unregularised. Following an announcement by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy in the Assembly, Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy told the House on Friday (September 18) that a high-level committee has been constituted to resolve all 22A issues on a fast-track basis, backed by GO RT 564. He simultaneously announced regularisation steps for plots in the LB Nagar constituency and in the Singareni area.
Key facts
- Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy announced in the Telangana Assembly on Friday (September 18) the formation of a high-level committee to fast-track all 22A land matters.
- GO RT No. 564 has been issued for the constitution of the committee.
- CCLA DS Lokesh Kumar will chair the committee; Law Secretary Papi Reddy and Stamps and Registration IG Rajiv Gandhi Hanumanthu are members.
- A memo was issued on Friday for regularisation of 9,700 plots in the LB Nagar constituency under GO 118.
- The regularisation process in LB Nagar was to begin on Saturday and will be a continuous process, the Minister said.
- GO-76, issued during the tenure of late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, governs regularisation of house sites in the Singareni area.
- A meeting of Singareni-area MLAs chaired by Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka was to be held Saturday to start that regularisation process.
- A decision on removing from the 22A list areas that are in revenue records and have layouts approved by HMDA, DTCP and GHMC will be taken in one or two days.
Timeline
- During Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's tenure as Chief MinisterGO-76 issued for regularisation of house sites in the Singareni area.
- When Revanth Reddy was Malkajgiri MPHe promised to resolve regularisation problems in several colonies of the LB Nagar constituency.
- Earlier (date not stated in the source)CM Revanth Reddy made an announcement in the Assembly on 22A issues.
- Friday, September 18Minister announces high-level committee and GO RT 564 in the Assembly; memo issued for 9,700 plots in LB Nagar under GO 118.
- SaturdayLB Nagar regularisation process to begin; Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka to meet Singareni-area MLAs to launch regularisation there.
- Within one or two daysDecision promised on removing HMDA/DTCP/GHMC-approved layout areas from the 22A list.
Who has a stake
- Plot and house owners in LB Nagar constituency — 9,700 plots set for regularisation under GO 118, enabling legal title and registration for homes occupied for decades.
- Revenue Department / Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy — Responsible for delivering fast-track resolution of 22A disputes and implementing GO RT 564.
- CCLA DS Lokesh Kumar (committee chairman) — Leads the high-level committee deciding which lands stay in or come out of the 22A list.
- Chief Minister Revanth Reddy — Political commitment made in the Assembly and as former Malkajgiri MP to resolve regularisation issues.
- Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka and Singareni-area MLAs — To launch regularisation of house sites in the Singareni region under GO-76.
- HMDA, DTCP and GHMC — Their layout approvals are the basis for exempting certain areas from the 22A prohibited list.
- Stamps and Registration Department — Registration of properties currently blocked under 22A depends on the committee's decisions; its IG is a member.
Why it matters
Inclusion in the 22A prohibited property list freezes registration and sale, leaving lakhs of urban plot owners without secure title even after decades of occupation. A committee of the CCLA, Law Secretary and Stamps and Registration IG gives the clean-up administrative and legal weight, while GO 118 and GO-76 regularisations directly convert occupancy into recognised ownership. For Telangana's government it is both a land-administration reform and the fulfilment of an electoral promise in constituencies like LB Nagar.
UPSC angle
Prelims pointers
- Section 22A relates to the list of prohibited properties barred from registration; in Telangana it is the basis of the '22A' land dispute.
- GO RT No. 564 (Telangana) constitutes the high-level committee on 22A land issues.
- Committee: CCLA DS Lokesh Kumar (chair), Law Secretary Papi Reddy, Stamps and Registration IG Rajiv Gandhi Hanumanthu.
- GO 118 is being used to regularise 9,700 plots in LB Nagar constituency.
- GO-76, issued under CM Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, covers regularisation of house sites in the Singareni area.
- CCLA = Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, the apex revenue authority in the state.
Mains framing
Telangana's 22A controversy illustrates how land classification tools designed to protect government, assigned and endowment lands can, when applied without verification, paralyse legitimate ownership: plots in layouts approved by HMDA, DTCP or GHMC and reflected in revenue records have been blocked from registration, denying owners the ability to sell, mortgage or transfer property. The government's response has two strands — an institutional one, through the high-level committee under GO RT 564 chaired by the CCLA with the Law Secretary and Stamps and Registration IG, to fast-track removal of wrongly listed lands, and a scheme-based one, using GO 118 for 9,700 plots in LB Nagar and GO-76 for Singareni-area house sites. The key implications are improved tenure security, revival of registration revenue, and reduced litigation; the risks are that regularisation drives may dilute safeguards over genuinely protected public land, and that political promises drive case selection. A durable way forward lies in transparent, record-based scrutiny of each 22A entry, clear public disclosure of additions and deletions, time-bound grievance redress at the local level as the Minister advised, and treating regularisation as a continuous, rule-bound process rather than a one-time concession.
Key terms
- 22A
- The prohibited property list under which specified lands cannot be registered; the core issue the new Telangana committee will resolve.
- GO RT 564
- Telangana government order issued to constitute the high-level committee on 22A land matters.
- GO 118
- Order under which 9,700 plots in the LB Nagar constituency are being regularised.
- GO-76
- Order issued during CM Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's tenure for regularisation of house sites in the Singareni area.
- CCLA
- Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, the state's top revenue official, chairing the 22A committee.
- HMDA / DTCP / GHMC
- Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, Directorate of Town and Country Planning and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation — layout-approving bodies cited for 22A exemption.
Practice questions
- Examine how the inclusion of private layouts in the 22A prohibited property list affects tenure security, and assess the adequacy of Telangana's committee-based remedy under GO RT 564.
- Discuss the role of regularisation orders such as GO 118 and GO-76 in urban land governance. What safeguards are needed so that regularisation does not encroach on protected public land?
- Land records reform is central to reducing litigation in India. Analyse with reference to the roles of the CCLA, the Stamps and Registration Department and layout-approving authorities.
Grounded only in the source report — figures and dates are the source's, not inferred.