Ponguleti counters of BRS and BJP at 22-A with records, video evidence

Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy countered the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s (BRS) allegations regarding the inclusion of land in the 22-A list of prohibited properties by submitting official records, registration details and video clips to the Telangana Legislative Assembly.

Opening a brief discussion on Section 22-A of the Registrations Act, Mr Ponguleti said the 22-A issue was not a recent development and that several disputed properties had been on the banned list for years.

“We inherited the 22-A list from BRS, which is now surprisingly flashy,” he said. The Minister also said that the total extent of land under Schedule 22-A has reduced from 1,02,52,690 acres when the Congress government assumed office on December 7, 2023, to 1,02,05,250 acres as on August 31, 2026, a reduction of 47,440 acres.

He said the system was in place since 2007 in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and continued under the BRS government. The minister attributed the errors in the online publication of the 22-A data on December 3, 2025 to irregularities inherited from earlier land records and said the government had rectified the errors as directed by the Supreme Court.

“If the BRS, which was in power for 10 years, had solved the problem that existed since the days of the undivided state, this problem would not have arisen today,” he said, accusing BRS leaders of leveling allegations against the current government because of the system they themselves continued.

Rejecting the opposition’s claim that the issue of 22-A had led to a decline in registration revenue, Mr. Ponguleti said the state had seen an increase of ₹1,359 crore in the first five months of the current financial year.

Revenue from registrations rose from ₹6,216 crore between April and August 2025 to ₹7,575 crore during the corresponding period in 2026, he said.

The minister also alleged that the previous BRS government facilitated irregularities in the handling of land records through the Dharani portal. He cited several cases, including alleged changes in the classification of allotted, bhoodan and government lands in Siddipet, Medak and Rangareddy districts.

He named BRS MLA Harish Rao’s father, Palla Rajeshwar Reddy and Gangula Kamalakar among others as illegal beneficiaries. He cited the alleged removal of 4.32 acres from List 22-A in Velikatta village, Kondapak mandal, in August 2023, in favor of the family of Mr. Harish Rao’s maternal uncle, Madhavaram Hanumantha Rao.

The minister also mentioned the alleged irregularities regarding 372.32 acres of Inam land in Sikindlapur, Medak district and said the matter was taken up before the Narsapur RDO after the earlier orders were cancelled.

He further referred to alleged transactions related to bhoodan land in Vattinagulapalli, disputed land in Shankar Hills, allotted land in Munaganoor and defense related land in Thumkunta. In the Shankar Hills case, he argued that prohibited lands were removed from the records and transactions facilitated during the previous regime.

The minister said the registrations in the disputed countries were blocked after the Congress government assumed office.

Errors in the data corrected, says the minister

Mr Ponguleti said the Supreme Court ordered the government to organize List 22-A into categories A, B, C, D and E, after which the dates on December 3, 2025, were placed in the public domain.

He said the government has acknowledged the errors in the inherited land records and acted on complaints received after the online data update. A call center set up to deal with complaints. The assembly was later adjourned to Wednesday.

Published – 12 Sep 2026 21:32 IST