Ahead of sweeping changes in revenue admin, Telangana suspends all land registrations

Hyderabad: In a significant move towards enacting a new Revenue Act, the Telangana state government Monday ordered a ‘holiday’ for all land registrations across the state. It also directed village revenue officers to hand over land records to tahsildars.

Ahead of the new Revenue Bill, an order issued by chief secretary Somesh Kumar on Monday said all but a few registration-related activities will be suspended from September 8 until further instructions.

The government is poised to introduce the revenue bill in the ongoing Assembly session to replace the existing one.

"Accordingly, as per the powers vested under Rule 5 of the Telangana Registration Rules under the Registration Act 1908, holidays are declared with effect from September 8 until further orders for all registrar and sub-registrar offices in the state in respect of all registration services under the Registration Act, 1908," the order said.

However, registration of will deeds, administration of marriages and franking services will continue as usual.

The government of chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is aiming to bring in a new revenue model in the state, the key feature of which is instant transfer of ownership. While tehsildars will be made in charge of registration of agricultural lands, sub-registrars will handle non-agricultural lands. The Dharani website becomes crucial and entries already made in it will be given sanctity.

The sudden move to stop registrations shocked people across the state. A few people staged protests near sub-registrar offices in Nizamabad district while closure of land transactions went off peacefully in the old Adilabad district. At some places village revenue officers expressed anger against the decision to remove them.