Andhra Pradesh Streamlines Land Rules, Eases Removal from Prohibited List
The Andhra Pradesh government has announced significant reforms to Section 22A of the land laws, introducing simplified procedures aimed at protecting landowners' rights and enhancing transparency. The changes are designed to prevent the arbitrary inclusion of private properties in the restricted category, a move that officials say will benefit thousands of farmers and landowners.
Addressing the media at the Secretariat on Wednesday, Revenue, Registration and Stamps Minister Anagani Satya Prasad stated that the overhaul would provide permanent relief to those whose properties were caught in the 22A list due to irregularities during the previous administration. All earlier circulars on the subject have been withdrawn, and manual entries that enabled manipulation of land records will be eliminated. The Webland 2.0 system will become the sole database for agricultural land records, while the Inspector General of Registration and Stamps will maintain a centralised database of prohibited properties.
Several categories of land will be removed from the 22A list, including assignments made before June 18, 1954, legally auctioned temple and Waqf lands subject to Supreme Court orders, village service inam lands, conditional patta lands, and old unapproved layouts. Gramakantam lands will not be included, and lands purchased through APSFC auctions will be deleted wherever applicable.
A key change is that the burden of proving that a property belongs to the government now rests with the government rather than the citizen. Authorities must issue prior show-cause notices before including any land in the prohibited list, provide 30 days for objections and 14 additional days for legal arguments, and pass reasoned orders. Appeals can be filed before the Joint Collector and subsequently before the State government.
Addressing concerns about privatisation of sub-registrar offices, Minister Satya Prasad clarified that the public-private partnership model is limited to infrastructure and customer facilities, with all statutory registration powers remaining with government officials. He assured that document writers' livelihoods would be protected and accused the previous government of attempting to hand over registration services to an unidentified private company.
Stamps and Registrations Inspector General B.R. Ambedkar was also present at the press conference.
