TG HC Lifts Stay on Sadabainama Land
Relief for farmers as Telangana High Court lifts stay on Sadabainama regularisation process
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday lifted interim orders barring the regularisation of sada bainama (unregistered) transactions for nearly five years, paving the way for the state government to resume the process and adding to the festival cheer for those who had purchased agricultural land based only on agreements on plain paper.
A division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin vacated the stay the court had imposed in November 2020 on the implementation of GO 112, which sought to regularise land transactions through unregistered documents. The bench observed that the petition challenging the order had become infructuous in the wake of the repeal of the ROR Act, 1971 and introduction of the Bhu Bharati Act, by the government.
In 2020, a PIL was filed by Shinde Devidas of Nirmal district, questioning the validity of GO 112. The petitioner also requested the court to declare the sada bainama regularisations, if any were made as per the GO by tahsildars, as illegal and arbitrary. The contention of the petitioner was that ROR Act 1971 was repealed and the Dharani Act came into force in 2020. But the new law was not enabling tahsildars or any revenue authorities to regularise unregistered sale transactions. At the time, the court had directed that regularisation could not be undertaken without clear provision under the Land Act.
Subsequently, the Congress government enacted the Bhu Bharati Act, which under Section 6 permits regularisation of land where possession had been established for 12 years prior to 2014.
During the hearing, Advocate-General A. Sudershan Reddy informed the court that the government had received nearly 9.24 lakh applications for regularization within the stipulated deadline. He argued that the earlier interim orders had become a hurdle for small and middle-class farmers.
Senior counsel J. Prabhakar , appearing for the petitioner, sought to amend the PIL to challenge provisions of the Bhu Bharati Act as well. The bench refused, noting that allowing such an amendment would only prolong the matter.
The court made it clear that if the petitioner had a fresh grievance under the new Act, it must be raised through a separate petition. The court also observed that the PIL itself became infructuous, as the Dharani Act was replaced by the Bhu Bharati Act.
With the lifting of the stay, the government is now free to proceed with the long-pending process of regularising plain title land holdings. Officials said this is expected to provide relief to thousands of families who have been in possession of such land parcels for years.