Hyderabad: Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy said eligible Section 22A land properties would be removed from the prohibited properties list through a fast-track process.
Addressing a media conference at the Secretariat on Monday, the Minister accused opposition parties of spreading false claims over Section 22A. He said such claims had created fear among the public.
Ponguleti said he had reviewed the issue for four weeks. Properties regularised earlier or granted rights through different government orders had been rectified, he said.
Registrations were also being allowed for properties in the POB when owners produced relevant order copies, he added. According to the Minister, only 12 or 13 out of every 300 slots had been stopped. He said those cases involved Bhoodan, Endowments or Wakf lands.
Section 22A land complaints reviewed through helpline
Ponguleti released figures for complaints received through the toll-free number. He said two calls came on August 18, followed by 168 on August 19. The helpline received 200 calls on August 20, 369 on August 21 and 309 on August 22. He put the total at 1,162 calls.
Of these, 612 concerned agricultural properties and 542 related to non-agricultural properties. After removing overlapping calls, officials recorded 980 complaints. The final count included 547 agricultural and 433 non-agricultural complaints.
Rangareddy district accounted for 258 calls, while Medchal district recorded 249. Sangareddy accounted for 82 calls, while 41 came from Kamareddy district. The Minister said officials forwarded all complaints to the respective district collectors. They were directed to examine and resolve the cases.
Probe proposed into 806-acre registrations
Ponguleti said the government would act according to court directions concerning CS 7 and CS 14 lands. However, he also raised allegations involving 806 acres registered through five documents. He said an FIR had been registered in connection with the matter at the time.
According to him, the previous government had not accepted that those documents were wrong. The Minister said the present government was ready to order an inquiry into the registration of the 806 acres.
He also referred to an S-Class Mercedes-Benz car allegedly received as a gift by the head of a newspaper. Ponguleti questioned how the car, registered in a landlord’s name, had reached the media executive.
He claimed that a detailed inquiry into the issue could reveal further links. Ponguleti also said 1,170 documents had subsequently been executed in connection with these lands.
The Minister said registrations involving CS 7 and CS 14 lands were being permitted. However, they carried a condition that they would remain subject to the Supreme Court’s final judgment. He said attempts to repeat earlier practices were regrettable.
Section 22A land policy planned for ULC cases
Ponguleti also addressed unresolved Urban Land Ceiling cases. He said some lands in survey numbers 773, 775, 776 and 786 at Nadargul in Rangareddy district had not received ULC clearance.
Similarly, some properties in survey numbers 68/1, 70/1 and 71 in Malkajgiri of Medchal district lacked ULC clearance. Officials had therefore entered those properties in the POB, he said.
The government would soon formulate a policy for such ULC lands. Ponguleti said the policy would determine how authorities should handle those cases. He also responded to criticism that a plot belonging to the Chief Minister had been included under Section 22A.
The Minister said authorities had initially placed 1,288 acres in Survey No. 403 in the POB. However, only two plots within that area had not been regularised. Officials had now rectified the entry, he said.
Bogus documents trigger criminal cases
Ponguleti warned against attempts to remove government properties from Section 22A by submitting forged documents. He cited a document purportedly issued through a Medchal Collector’s memo dated June 22, 2026. Another person had produced a purported ULC document dated June 2, 2026, he said.
Officials examined the documents and found them to be bogus, according to the Minister. FIRs were subsequently registered against those involved.
Ponguleti warned that the government would not tolerate attempts to grab public land through forged documents. He also cited alleged violations at Annaram in Gummadidala mandal of Sangareddy district.
Survey No. 172 was government land, while Survey No. 173 was private property, he said. However, permissions were obtained for Survey No. 173 while construction took place in Survey No. 172. Authorities therefore placed such properties under Section 22A.
The Minister said officials had identified several similar cases in Rangareddy, Sangareddy and Medchal districts. Those properties were also included under Section 22A.
Section 22A land extent unchanged since 2023: Minister
Ponguleti challenged the opposition to suggest how the government should handle such cases. He said the extent of land recorded in the POB remained the same as on December 7, 2023. Therefore, claims that lakhs of additional acres had been placed on the prohibited list were false, he said.
Such allegations were unnecessarily creating fear among citizens, the Minister added. Ponguleti said the government had no intention of placing properties belonging to poor people under Section 22A. He said the government would answer the public rather than respond to every critic.
The Revenue Department had already conducted reviews in Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts. Officials also discussed measures to accelerate the survey project in those districts. Ponguleti said land surveys could help resolve issues such as Sada Bainama transactions.
The government planned to provide maps for every property using geo-coordinates. In addition, it had begun the process of assigning a unique Bhudhaar number to every land parcel.