The Telangana government has decided to permit registration of houses built on land converted for residential use but lacking mandatory non-agricultural land assessment (NALA) conversion, offering relief to property owners whose homes have remained blocked under the 22-A prohibited list.
Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy said a memo was issued on Saturday to address cases where registration had been stopped only because the NALA conversion process had not been completed, even though the land had been converted for residential use. Clear implementation guidelines have been issued to district collectors, he said.
The decision applies to residential patta lands that continue to appear as agricultural land in revenue records because the NALA process was not completed. Such properties have been included in the 22-A list, a classification that restricts registration and has prevented owners from selling their plots or completing transactions involving their houses.
Under the instructions, collectors must examine applications by checking revenue records, ownership rights and the ground situation. If the applications meet the applicable conditions, officials have been directed to collect the required NALA charges and other government fees before completing the registration process.
The Revenue Minister said the move was intended to provide a permanent solution to a long-standing problem that had affected property owners for decades. He said the decision would particularly help ordinary and middle-class families who had been unable to sell their properties or secure loans against them because of registration hurdles.
The policy places the district administration at the centre of the resolution process. Collectors have been asked to ensure that eligible applications are handled transparently and within a defined timeframe, reducing the need for applicants to make repeated visits to government offices. They have also been instructed to submit periodic reports on implementation progress.
The announcement follows a review by the minister with revenue officials on the implementation of recent orders related to 22-A properties. Srinivasa Reddy directed officials to monitor execution at the field level and verify each application before registration. The instructions require authorities to distinguish between land that was genuinely converted for residential use and records that continue to show an agricultural classification because the NALA formalities were left incomplete.
The decision does not amount to an automatic clearance of every property placed on the 22-A list. Applications will still be subject to verification of revenue records, ownership rights and the physical status of the land, followed by payment of applicable charges and fees. The immediate test will be whether district-level scrutiny produces consistent decisions and whether the reporting mechanism leads to time-bound disposal of eligible cases.
The government has not specified in the reported decision how many properties are covered by the order or set a statewide deadline for completing the pending registrations. District collectors are expected to monitor the process and submit periodic implementation reports.
