Regularisation of Sada Bainamas faces hurdles as officials insist on affidavits

The State government’s ambitious scheme for regularisation of sada bainamas, land transactions on plain paper, appears to have hit a major road block.

As against more than 9.2 lakh applications received for regularisation of the lands, a bare minimum of them are supposed to have been regularised till date almost a year after the passage of the Telangana Bhu Bharati (Record of Rights) Act, 2024 by the State Legislature. Insistence on the affidavits from the persons who sold the lands through sada bainamas by the officials concerned is said to be one of the major impediments in the regularisation process. Mismatch of the names of those who sold the lands decades ago and the names in the enjoyment column at present leading to software related problems is said to be another reason behind the delays in the process.

Unlike the BRS government, the Congress government made specific mention of sada bainamas in the Act incorporating Section 6 containing the provision for regularisation and rules were framed accordingly. However, Revenue officials at the ground level are said to be insisting on affidavits from the earlier owners who transferred the lands through sada bainamas in spite of such a provision not being part of the Record of Rights Act.

The clause of obtaining the affidavit has been included in the rules framed for regularisation of sada bainamas. Moreover, absence of written guidelines to the officials concerned entrusted with the regularisation of transactions on plain paper is resulting in different interpretations of the provisions resulting in inordinate delays as well as giving scope for alleged discretion in conducting the exercise.

Land Laws expert M. Sunil Kumar who was roped in by the government to give recommendations relating to Bhu Bharati Act, said officials can instead focus on conducting local enquiries and take up regularisation of the lands. He told The Hindu about the process adopted in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh where the government has undertaken a resurvey of the lands and extended the last date for application of regularisation of sada bainamas till December 31, 2027.

In sharp contrast, there is no scope for receiving new applications in Telangana where the cut-off date for regularisation has been fixed as June 2, 2014 coinciding with the State Formation Day. There is no scope for receiving new applications even though sada bainamas regularisation was one of the major issues raised during the recent revenue sadassus.

He suggested that the government frame the rules afresh demarcating the roles of officials at different levels and addressing the minor irritants that are impeding regularisation of sada bainamas so that the process can be taken up effectively giving relief to land owners who had been deprived of the benefits of owning the lands.