Section 22-A Prohibited Property List in Telangana: What It Means and How to Get Removed

A single entry in a prohibited properties list can freeze a property completely — no registration, no transaction, no loan against it — while telling you nothing about whether your title is good. In Telangana this has become one of the most common property problems, and most of the confusion comes from one fact: there are two different lists, maintained by two different departments, and the remedy depends on which one is blocking you.

What a Section 22-A entry actually means

Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908 as applied in Telangana is the provision under which the Sub-Registrar refuses to register documents relating to listed properties. The Registration and Stamps department maintains that list.

Separately, the revenue side maintains a Prohibited Properties List on the Bhu Bharati portal, where a listed survey number is blocked from transactions on the portal.

The critical point, and the one people miss: a prohibited-list entry is a restriction, not a finding about your title. It records that the authorities have flagged the survey number. It does not decide who owns the land, and being listed does not mean your documents are bad.

Two lists, two departments — work out which is blocking you

Before doing anything else, establish where the block actually sits, because filing on the wrong side wastes months:

Removal from the revenue list does not automatically end a registration-side bar, and vice versa. If both apply, both must be addressed.

Why properties get listed

Common reasons a survey number is flagged include:

• Assigned land — land assigned by Government to a beneficiary, where transfers are restricted by law;
• Government land, including land carried under a notional khata such as irrigation-project land, roads or house-site land;
• Endowment, wakf or institutional land;
• Land under acquisition or subject to a proceeding;
• Errors — a survey number wrongly included, or a whole survey number listed when only part of it is affected.

That last category is why the source of the entry matters so much. An entry made in error is removed on a different basis from one made correctly.

How to check

The Bhu Bharati portal provides a Prohibited Property search for the revenue-side list — you search rather than download, as the portal offers a search facility and not a mandal-wise PDF. For the registration side, the position is confirmed with the Registration and Stamps department or at the Sub-Registrar’s office.

Save the search result showing the entry, with the date. It is the starting document for everything that follows.

The removal route

Revenue side — Bhu Bharati

Removal is sought through “Grievance relating to inclusion in Prohibited Properties List” in the Citizen login under ROR Corrections. The application asks for your pattadar passbook number or land details, Aadhaar, the survey number to be ticked, the reason, and supporting documents, and is followed by eKYC at MeeSeva. The grievance is then forwarded to the department, and can be tracked with its number in Application Status. The official flow for this module shows no payment step.

Under the 2025 Rules, exclusion from CARD prohibited-list lands sits with the District Collector (Schedule A, item 7). The portal publishes no disposal timeline for this grievance, so we state none — anyone quoting you a fixed number of days is guessing.

Registration side

Where a Sub-Registrar has refused registration citing 22-A, ask in writing for the entry and the order or proceeding under which the property was listed, addressed to the Sub-Registrar or District Registrar. Keep the refusal endorsement — it is evidence of the refusal and its stated ground.

Where a court order already exists

If a court has already decided the land is yours, a separate route applies on the revenue side for a passbook based on a court case, which is decided at District Collector level. A decree in your favour is a strong document and should be produced rather than held back.

When the administrative route fails: your legal remedies

This is where most people stop, and where they should not. If the grievance sits without a decision, or is rejected without the basis of the listing ever being produced, administrative options are not the end of the road.

Get the source order first

Almost every successful challenge starts with the same document: the order, proceeding or communication under which the survey number was included. Ask for it in writing and, if it is not furnished, through a request for information addressed to the office holding it. The reason this matters is simple — if no order can be produced, a listing has no visible foundation, and that fact does most of the work in any later proceeding.

Statutory appeal

Decisions under the record-of-rights framework carry appeal rights with defined time limits, and the tier depends on which authority decided. Because the applicable tier and period depend on the authority and the nature of the order, confirm your route on the specific order you have received rather than assuming — appeals are lost on limitation more often than on merits.

Writ petition before the High Court

A writ petition under Article 226 is available where a public authority has acted without jurisdiction, arbitrarily, in breach of natural justice, or without any material to support its action. In prohibited-list matters the grounds that arise most often are:

• No notice and no hearing before the property was listed, where the listing affects rights;
• No material — the authority cannot produce the order or basis for the entry;
• Excess — an entire survey number listed when only a portion is affected, or land listed that plainly falls outside the category relied upon;
• Inaction — a grievance kept pending indefinitely without decision, where the authority has a duty to decide.

Read our guide on when a writ petition lies and when it does not before assuming this route fits. It is not a general appeal against an unwelcome entry, and where the dispute turns on contested facts about title, a civil remedy is the correct forum.

Civil remedies

Where the real dispute is about title or possession between competing claimants rather than about the legality of an administrative act, a civil suit for declaration and possession is the route, with interim protection sought where the property is at risk of being dealt with meanwhile.

If you are buying a property

Check the prohibited list before paying anything beyond a token advance. It takes minutes and it is the cheapest protection available in a property transaction.

• Search the survey number on the Bhu Bharati Prohibited Property search;
• Ask the Sub-Registrar’s office whether the property stands listed for registration purposes;
• Ask the seller in writing whether any notice, listing, proceeding or refusal concerns the land, and keep the reply;
• Run the FTL and buffer zone check as well — a property can be clear of the prohibited list and still be restricted as lake or buffer land;
• Read the encumbrance certificate alongside, remembering that an EC shows registered transactions and will not show a prohibited-list entry.

A seller who is evasive about the listing position is telling you something. Get it in writing.

What a prohibited-list entry does not do

• It does not determine title. It is a restriction on dealing, not a finding of ownership.
• It does not cancel your documents. A registered sale deed remains what it is.
• It does not update itself after removal. Where an entry is removed, the record and the passbook position must be checked and, where necessary, a fresh passbook applied for — removal and record-updation are separate steps.

Related guides and tools

• Writ petitions in the Telangana High Court
• Free FTL and buffer zone check
• Property document verification checklist
• Encumbrance certificate: what it shows and misses
• HYDRAA notices and demolitions

This guide is general legal information published for public awareness by Musab Hashmi & Associates, Advocates, Hyderabad. It is not legal advice, does not create an advocate–client relationship, and expresses no opinion on any particular property or proceeding. Portal modules, departmental procedures and the applicable rules change — verify the current position before acting.