Karimnagar MLA Gangula Kamlakar addresses the gathering,
Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party, led by former minister Gangula Kamlakar, held a protest against Section 22A and land registration on Thursday, September 3.
The protest was part of a series of demonstrations by the pink party over the alleged injustice against the public by the Congress government as it completed 1,000 days in office.
BRS leaders, land-affected people, farmers and residents staged a road blockade at the crossroads demanding the 6,000 acres of land in Rekurthi, Seetharampur, Kothapalli and Chintakunta be removed from the prohibited list under Section 22A of the Registration Act.
Kamalakar said the government was misusing the Act. “For 115 years, people faced no difficulties. After the Congress government came to power, patta lands were included in the prohibited list, leaving them unable to sell their own lands. This is exploitation,” he addressed the gathering
He warned that the BRS would raise the issue in the Assembly Session beginning from September 7.
Registration is where a sale is officially recorded at the sub-registrar’s office. Without it, a buyer cannot get the property in their name.
Section 22A allows the government to keep a list of properties that cannot be registered. If your land is on that list, the officer must refuse. Your ownership papers, however old and however genuine, make no difference at that counter.
The point of the rule is sensible. It exists to stop people from selling land that was never theirs. This includes government land, temple and Waqf land or plots given free to poor families.
The rule came from undivided Andhra Pradesh. A 1999 version gave the government very wide powers and was struck down in 2005 as too open-ended. A 2007 law brought it back with fixed categories. For one of them, which is land the government claims an interest in, it must first publish a formal public notice (called a gazette notification) naming the properties.
That publication step is at the heart of the present row. The rule itself is not in doubt, as a Telangana High Court bench upheld it in 2023.
He also spoke about the water shortage faced by the farming community and recalled when K Chandrashekar Rao was the chief minister, water flowed through the barren lands, transforming them into fertile agricultural land. “Water was supplied through the Kaleshwaram project, ensuring no farmer faced hardships,” he said.
“The current government has spread false propaganda about the collapse of the Kaleshwaram project. Water is deliberately withheld for political reasons as provision through Kaleshwaram would have given credit to KCR,” he said.
On urea shortage, the former food and civil supplies minister alleged, “During the decade-long rule of BRS, farmers could easily call an auto driver and have a bag of urea delivered to their homes. Now, they need to book via an app (Fertiliser Mobile Application). Several farmers are not literate enough to understand this. This makes the process cumbersome.”
He demanded that the government provide Rythu Bima and Rythu Bandhu benefits and extend all necessary support to farmers.
Kamalakar also announced that BRS working president KT Rama Rao would visit on Friday to support students and demand the implementation of fee reimbursement. He called upon thousands of students to turn up and extend their support.
This post was last modified on September 3, 2026 4:36 pm