Congress Finds the 22-A Unlock Button, Eventually

Telangana’s Congress government has solved the 22-A land mess in the manner of a department that first locks the door, misplaces the key and then holds a press conference about access reform. The proposed removal of eligible private properties from the prohibited list could free around 1.41 lakh homes and plots. That is useful. Families who have spent years owning property in theory and not being allowed to transact in practice may finally receive the radical privilege of using their own documents.

Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy supplied the spreadsheet. The 22-A list contains 1,02,05,250 acres, including 96,36,777 acres of government agricultural land, 3,73,930 acres of private agricultural land, 1,94,543 acres of non-agricultural land and 5,12,792 acres of endowment land. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy supplied the political version: the private-property dispute covers 3,73,930 acres, blame the BRS-era Dharani system, and trust that a “permanent solution” will arrive somewhere between the next review meeting and the next election slogan.

The government is right that a prohibited list containing government, forest, wakf, endowment and other restricted land cannot be treated as one giant private-property grievance. It is also right that lawful owners should not become collateral damage because the Revenue Department has a very large spreadsheet. Both facts can survive in the same room, although the Assembly appears to regard this as an advanced constitutional principle. Congress’s preferred method is simpler: freeze the citizen’s registration, summon KCR, indict Dharani, and call the delay historical context.

Revanth Reddy has also alleged land irregularities worth around ₹1 lakh crore and ordered an inquiry involving land linked to former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s farmhouse. Those are allegations, not findings. But under the current operating system, every administrative question must become a retrospective trial of KCR. A blocked registration is Dharani. A confused record is the previous government. A citizen asking for a date is apparently part of the conspiracy.

Removing eligible properties is welcome. It is not a medal-winning achievement to eventually permit people to register land they were already entitled to own. The 22-A list was a lock on documents, not a seminar on governance. For 1.41 lakh properties, the government has found the exit. It is still looking for the entrance.