Revanth’s 22-A Cure: One More Committee

The Revanth Reddy government has discovered the permanent solution to Telangana’s 22-A land crisis: announce that the crisis will now be studied by people with files. Nearly 98 lakh acres sit on the prohibited list, according to the Chief Minister’s Assembly figures — including 42.61 lakh acres of forest land, 29.35 lakh acres of government land and 24.63 lakh acres of assigned land. The private-patta portion, he said, has fallen from 7.91 lakh acres in 2020 to 3.73 lakh acres in 2026. Somewhere between those numbers and the registration office, ordinary landowners are still being told that their property is theirs, subject to the government’s mood and software.

Revanth Reddy’s answer is a high-powered committee covering 12 categories of disputes, followed by new policies, new regularisation mechanisms and fresh procedures. In administration, this is known as moving the cupboard while leaving the locked file inside. There is no clear deadline by which affected owners can register, sell or use their land. The government has provided reassurance, which is the bureaucratic equivalent of providing an umbrella after the monsoon.

The contrast becomes sharper when the file concerns K Chandrashekhar Rao. The Chief Minister announced a 30-day inquiry into the former Chief Minister’s family properties and referred to allegations involving 440 acres. A political rival gets a clock. Thousands of citizens get a committee. It is a revealing division of administrative urgency: the government can count days when it wants a headline, but can count only categories when people want their land released.

The government’s own account of Praja Palana promises to resolve people’s problems and protect their rights. Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, meanwhile, has had to answer questions over an erroneous list uploaded on 3 December 2025. The explanation, as reported, involved officials being short of time. The affected owners may now take comfort from knowing that the state’s land records were prepared under a tighter deadline than the state’s solution to the resulting disaster.

This is not reform. It is administrative possession with a press note attached. Revanth Reddy is energetic when the file points towards KCR and leisurely when it points towards the citizen standing outside the registration office. The Congress government has not solved the 22-A mess; it has converted the mess into a programme, appointed a committee and called the delay Praja Palana.