Telangana State Govt. Ban
Registrations of farmlands & plots which are smaller than 2,000 sq. m. & registration of land in
unapproved layouts was banned by the Telangana state government in 2021, but despite the ban,
registration of these unapproved lands continues unchecked well into 2022. Developers are
promising government-backed incentives like Rythu Bandhu benefit scheme, individual pattadar
passbooks & other such schemes to buyers who register their land in their unapproved layouts.
The conniving nature of property developers & tahsildars who register agricultural properties,
registrations of properties through the Dharani land portal for even just 1 Gunta of land means
that issuing of pattadar passbooks has become the norm to lure investors & buyers to purchase
land in these unapproved layouts. Recently, few documents have surfaced that reveal how a
tahsildar of Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district registered 121 sq. yds. plot in an unauthorized layout of
50-acres of developed land.
The developer of the project in Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district has been receiving great interest
from buyers as he is advertising that all buyers would be eligible for Rythu Bandhu scheme
benefits & pattadar passbooks. At present, registrations of farmlands do not require submission
of layout copy, which is leading to developers selling plots located within illegal layouts
disguised as farmlands. Real-estate experts who are in the know of how these offers work said
“land owners pay registration charges for 20 guntas, they will be eligible for 16 guntas leaving
the balance four guntas for common facilities since they are sure the illegal layout will get the
approval or regularised.”
The state government of Telangana first decided to stop registrations of open plots in September
- The state govt. later eased up on restrictions to allow registrations of plots which were
already transacted at least once even if there were no approved layouts. The state govt. later
announced regularisation of plots in unapproved/illegal layouts and more than 25 lakh people
had applied to get their plots regularised. Instead, the process of getting properties in
unapproved/illegal layouts got stuck due to multiple court cases against it. Developers are now
using different ways to get the plots in unauthorized layouts registered via sale deeds & showing
it as undivided share of land (UDS).
The state government has already issued several notices for awareness about not purchasing
UDS property. Sale of UDS land without prior registration of the project with TS-RERA could
attract penalties of up to 10% of the total project cost under Section 59 of RERA Act, 2016. The
Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019 & Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 2018 also safeguard
against registration of unapproved plots, sub-divisions, structures & buildings.