The inclusion of thousands of private properties under Section 22A of the Registration Act, 1908, prohibiting transactions of these properties, has kicked up a major political controversy in Telangana, with the opposition accusing the Congress government of turning the provision to harass common people.The prohibited category can include government waste lands, assigned lands, properties belonging to municipalities and more. (Pixaby\representative image)The state government, however, has defended the restrictions, saying they are essential to protect public land and prevent fraudulent registrations. At the same time, it has assured to rectify mistakes, if any, in the registration of genuine land transactions.Also read | T’gana govt mulls land pooling for infra worksAccording to a senior revenue department official, Section 22A of the Registration Act, 1908, empowers the government to identify certain categories of properties whose registration should be prohibited. “The objective is to prevent the illegal sale or alienation of government, assigned, disputed and other protected properties,” he said.Which properties fall under the prohibited list?The prohibited category can include government waste lands, assigned lands, properties belonging to municipalities and government institutions, endowment and Waqf properties, surplus lands under the Urban Land Ceiling Act, forest lands, lands covered by the protective provisions of Regulation 1 of 1970 in tribal areas, and properties under court orders or disputes.Also read | Hyderabad real estate: Raidurg plot sold for ₹1,386 crore at record ₹264 crore per acre“Once a survey number is included in the prohibited list, sub-registrars generally cannot register transactions involving that property,” he said.Private property owners report registration problemsPeople familiar with the matter said while undertaking changes in the land registration portal – Dharani in the previous regime, which has now been replaced by Bhu Bharati, thousands of genuine private properties, including decades-old residential layouts, apartments and lands that had previously received clearances from government agencies, were brought under Section 22-A without adequate verification,For the last one month, the state revenue department has been receiving complaints from property owners that the restrictions are preventing them from selling or registering their properties and, in some cases, leaving them to discover the problem only after paying registration charges and completing much of the transaction process.“The issue has particularly affected several areas in and around Hyderabad, including parts of Medchal-Malkajgiri, Rangareddy, Sangareddy and Hyderabad districts. Several localities, including Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Kukatpally, Miyapur, Kondapur, Bachupally and Nizampet, have reportedly witnessed complaints from property owners facing difficulties with registration,” the official quoted above said.The opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has taken up a state-wide agitation against this inclusion of thousands of acres of land under the prohibited list. Senior BRS leader and former finance minister T Harish Rao demanded a judicial probe by a sitting judge into the issue besides demanding a white paper on the issue.Speaking to reporters on Tuesday at Shapur Nagar, where the locals have complained against inclusion of their properties under Section 22-A, Harish Rao said the government had erred by including private, registered and patta lands in the prohibited list.The revenue minister hit back at the BRS, saying the primary objective of Section 22-A was to prevent government land from being diverted for private and real-estate interests.“The government had recently protected 522 acres of government land, including 122 acres in two revenue villages in Narsapur of Medak district and more than 400 acres elsewhere,” he said, speaking to reporters in the secretariat on Monday. The minister alleged that large tracts of government land had been diverted for private purposes during the previous regime.Keerthana also clarified that in the site identified at Parandur two water canals were present and they were directly linked with the Adyar River and the Chembarambakkam Lake in Chennai.