Andhra Pradesh govt. removes five categories of land from the prohibited 22-A list

The Andhra Pradesh Government has removed five categories of land from the prohibited properties’ list under Section 22-A of the Registration Act.

Terming it as a New Year gift, Anagani Satya Prasad, Minister for Revenue, Registration and Stamps, told the media at the Secretariat on Thursday that the government had taken this decision with the primary objective of safeguarding the rights of farmers and landowners, and providing long-pending relief to genuine titleholders.

Private patta lands had been completely removed from the 22-A list, the Minister said, adding that officials were instructed to take suo motu action to delete such lands whenever applications were received.

Lands allotted to serving and retired defence personnel, freedom fighters, and political victims had also been removed from the prohibited list, provided relevant documents were available, he said, adding that for defence personnel land allotments, recommendations made by the District Sainik Welfare Officer would be sufficient.

Similarly, any one of the nearly eight types of documents, including 10(1) registers, adangals, SFA records, old assignment registers, DR files, Record of Holdings, registration documents, 8-A registers or DKT pattas, would be adequate for deletion from the 22-A list. Revenue officials had been strictly instructed not to harass landowners by demanding additional documentation, the Minister said.

Mr. Satya Prasad said that in cases where only a portion of land in a survey number was disputed, authorities had been directed to subdivide the land, retain only the disputed portion in the prohibited list, and remove the remaining land.

The decisions on the remaining four categories of land, including conditional patta lands, service inam lands and certain categories of dotted lands, would be taken soon after discussions in the Group of Ministers (GoM). A final decision on pre-hold lands would be taken in two months, he said.

Year of reforms

Declaring the current year as the ‘Year of Land Reforms’, the Minister alleged large-scale irregularities during the previous YSRCP government, and said a comprehensive investigations was underway. “Those involved in land irregularities will face the consequences this year,” he warned.

“Protection of the rights of farmers and landowners is the foremost duty of this government,” the Minister said, calling the reforms a significant New Year gift to the people of Andhra Pradesh.