AP State Govt. Now Allowing Plot Registration in Unapproved Layouts
The state govt. of Andhra Pradesh (AP) has decided to allow registration of plots located in
unauthorized layouts to increase revenue generation from property registrations in the state. The
state govt. of AP changed the guidelines it had issued to stop all registrations of plots in
unapproved/unauthorized layouts laid after January 2020 to now allow property registrations of
plots in unauthorized layouts. The registrations for plots purchased in unauthorized layouts were
put on hold for nearly 5 months without any progress or update. Now, the AP govt. has decided
to allow registration of unauthorized layouts by relaxing the conditions to get the layouts
regularised.
AP’s town & country planning department was asked to issue the revised guidelines to grant
approvals for the layouts. The registration department of the state will also issue separate
instructions once the town & country planning department has issued revised guidelines for
registration of plots in unauthorized layouts. Earlier, when the Commissioner of the registrations
department directed registrars & sub-registrars to not take up registrations of plots in layouts laid
post January 2020, there was a huge controversy as builders were opposed to the move.
More than 19,000 layouts have been identified as unauthorized layouts which do not meet the
guidelines set by the town & country planning department. The directive had specified the cut-
off date for stopping registrations but field officials have stopped registrations of all plots in
unauthorized layouts irrespective of cut-off. The state govt. of AP had to issue a clarification to
direct that only registration of plots in the newly laid layouts without proper permissions will be
put on hold. The state govt. has now allowed registration of plots even in these unauthorized
layouts after assessing the situation.
The Andhra Pradesh state govt.’s registration department had collected more than ₹7,300 crores
from property registrations during the last fiscal year 2021-22 but the state govt. is targeting a
collection exceeding ₹10,000 crores for the current fiscal FY23. The revenue of the state from
property registrations increased by 35% during the last fiscal in spite of hurdles aced by the real-
estate industry due to Covid-19 pandemic related disruptions.
Now, the state govt.’s decision to allow registration of plots in illegal layouts will allow
registrations in more than 19,000 unauthorized layouts by granting them with approvals with
revised norms & fees. The regularization fees to be paid by the developers of these unauthorized
layouts will be an added income for the revenue department apart from the revenue generated
from registrations. Revenue Minister of AP, Dharmana Prasad Rao has said “Taking the appeals
of the public to allow the sale of the plots through registrations in view of their personal needs
into consideration, we are contemplating to regularize such layouts and allow them for
registrations.”
