Property registration ban stir up hornet's nest in Telangana

The Telangana government's recent move to go tough on unauthorised constructions and layouts by denying registrations to such properties is a welcome move, but the decision has stirred up a hornet's nest with scores of people who purchased properties with their hard-earned money, facing problems in registering their properties now.

On Wednesday, T Chiranjeevulu, Commissioner and Inspector General (Registration & Stamps), Telangana, issued a memo directing sub-registrars not to register plots, apartments, or structures without valid permissions in panchayats, municipalities or municipal corporations, including the GHMC. These instructions were issued based on the provisions of the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019 and Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 2018.

As a consequence, property registrations have more or less come to a standstill across the State from Thursday and thousands of people who purchased properties are now finding it difficult to register them. With the government machinery going easy for the past many years, thousands of unauthorised layouts mushroomed across the State. Open plots purchased in such layouts changed hands over the years. The problem is more acute in Hyderabad and its surrounding districts. In similar vein, unauthorised constructions also cropped up thanks to rapid urbanisation. "Curbing unauthorised constructions and layouts is a good move. We always welcome it. But implementing it with a retrospective effect is creating lots of problems as people who bought properties through genuine transactions are not in a position to register their properties now," C Prabhakara Rao, president, Telangana Builders' Federation (TBF), told The Hans India. Giving an example, he said that due to the latest decision, some people who bought properties with valid permissions were not in a position to get them registered."Post the Wednesday's move, officials of the Registration Department are not allowing the registration of all apartments in a building if a developer has built one illegal floor at the top. As a consequence, people who purchased apartments with valid permissions in the lower floors in the same building are suffering now," he explained.

Real estate players and experts are also of the view that the State government will lose revenues if it goes ahead with banning registrations of open plots in unauthorised layouts and also those that were not regularised under the layout regularisation scheme (LRS).

K Raja Reddy, president, Greater West City Builders Association (GWB), strongly feels that the State government will lose precious income during these difficult times if the registrations are stopped. "Instead of stopping the registration of open plots, the government should collect fees for layout regularisation and then allow the registration immediately," he said. It can take a declaration from the purchaser that he or she will lose the amount paid if there is any discrepancy in the details and documents furnished, he added.

Reddy, who executed several real estate projects in Gajularamaram and surrounding areas, suggested to the government to implement strict rules in future if it wants to contain the unauthorised layouts. "Troubling people who bought open plots long back and are going for resale now, is not a good idea," he said.