Property owners in Hyderabad’s Mahendra Hills are seeking individual verification of plots in Survey No. 74 after the survey number was included in the prohibited-properties list under Section 22-A of the Registration Act. The move has created uncertainty around sales, registrations and mortgages, particularly for residents who say their properties have been occupied and documented for decades.
Section 22-A permits authorities to restrict registration of specified categories of land. While the provision is intended to prevent transactions involving disputed or protected properties, residents argue that applying restrictions across an entire survey number can affect privately held plots that may have different legal histories. The immediate demand from residents is for plot-level scrutiny rather than a blanket classification. They want authorities to establish which specific parcels are subject to government or cantonment claims and which can legally be transacted. The issue is complicated by a long-running legal history surrounding different portions of Survey No. 74 in the Mahendra Hills and East Marredpally areas. Court records have documented competing claims involving survey references, layouts and the status of land within the broader area.
One dispute concerns Survey No. 74/9, where records of proceedings before the Telangana High Court include claims relating to a housing layout approved by the Secunderabad Cantonment Board in 1981. The layout reportedly comprised 180 plots and had already seen residential construction. Another case involved a resident of Plot No. 264 in Survey No. 74/6 of Balamrai Cooperative Housing Society. Registration was challenged after the authority cited the survey number’s inclusion in the prohibited-properties records associated with the cantonment area. For homeowners, the uncertainty has a direct financial dimension. A restriction on registration can make it difficult to sell a property, obtain financing against it or transfer ownership, even where an owner believes the underlying title is valid. Such uncertainty can also affect property values and discourage legitimate transactions.
The matter comes as Telangana reviews its wider Section 22-A records. State authorities have acknowledged that errors can exist in prohibited-property databases and have called for closer examination of individual entries. For a growing city, accurate land records are essential infrastructure. Clear digital and physical records can reduce litigation, protect legitimate ownership and give lenders and buyers greater confidence in property transactions. At the same time, genuine government land claims need to remain protected through legally defensible boundaries. A plot-by-plot verification process could therefore help separate disputed government land from established private holdings while preserving the purpose of Section 22-A. For Mahendra Hills residents, the next important step will be an authoritative determination of individual property status rather than continued uncertainty attached to an entire survey number.
