Telangana land owner on ground, not in official records

Not only that, this affidavit requirement has emerged as the biggest hurdle for thousands of small and medium farmers in Telangana. In many cases, sellers have died, their heirs have emigrated, or are unwilling to cooperate unless a “favor” is given. The sharp rise in land prices over the last decade has only made this task more difficult.

The result is a cruel paradox: farmers who have cultivated the land for decades and whose names appear in the official “pleasure columns” are still denied ownership.

A small farmer from Rampalli village in Peddapalli district, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that despite submitting Sada Bainama and other documentary evidence, Revenue Department officials continue to demand affidavit from the seller or his legal heirs. “The land dealer left the village in the late 1980s due to drought-like conditions in the erstwhile Naxal-hit area. I tried to trace his family but in vain. If he is not traceable, where do I go,” he asks.

Kanneganti Ravi, farmer leader of Telangana Rythu Swarajya Vedika, calls the affidavit rule unreasonable. “Sada Bainama transactions took place several decades ago based on mutual trust. The continuous possession and cultivation of such lands by farmers is sufficient proof of ownership. Ground investigation, enjoyment survey and surveys with neighboring farmers should be sufficient,” he insists. The problem cuts across regions. Delays in filing affidavits have become routine in Old Karimnagar, Khammam, Nizamabad, Adilabad and Medak districts.

“Around 7,800 applications have been received for regularization of Sada Bainamas in Konijerla mandal of Khammam district,” Tahsildar Aruna said, adding that about 6,500 applications have already been processed and the implementation is nearing completion.

While officials talk about progress, many farmers say the ground-level facts tell a different story. A farmer from Munjampally village in Jagtial district said that despite his repeated requests for inspection of his 20-gunta land, the authorities are yet to come. “They give various reasons, including that they are busy. Several others in the village have also managed to get their land in order by offering favors,” he claims.

The situation is even worse in villages combined with urban structures. K. Balaraju (65), a Dalit farmer from Mogilicherla near Warangal, now under the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation, says he cannot regularize the 1.27 acres of land he bought from his aunt 20 years ago. “The authorities say there is no provision to legalize Sada Bainama as the village is now part of the municipal corporation. We also cannot do official registration due to high fees,” he objects.

M. Adinarayana Reddy from Warangal district, who bought two acres of land in Dwarakapet in 1956, says he faced a similar hurdle after the village was annexed to Narsampet municipality.

Many farmers allege corruption and discretionary enforcement by authorities, further complicating the already opaque process. The land they have lived on for decades remains officially inaccessible, held hostage by paperwork, affidavits, and a recalcitrant system.

historical background

The practice of Sada Bainama, which has its roots in the Nizam era, became widespread in rural Telangana, allowing farmers who were often illiterate or cash-strapped to buy and sell small parcels of land without official registration. Although it was cheap, it was fraught with risks: Buyers could not obtain legal title, leaving them vulnerable to disputes, evictions, and exclusion from government welfare schemes.

Although it was earlier recognized under the Telangana Land Rights and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 1971, inconsistencies in record keeping led to disputes, which became even more prominent after the formation of Telangana in 2014.

In 2016, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (later Telangana Rashtra Samithi) government initiated the first phase of regulation under the Registration of Rights (RoR) Act. Out of more than 12.64 lakh applications, 6.18 lakh farmers were issued pattadar passbooks after scrutiny and small holders were exempted from fees. However, many claims were rejected due to problems with verification.

A second phase followed in 2020 with Government Order No. 112, in which more than nine lakh applications were received at MeeSeva centres.

The amendments to the RoR Act and the Public Interest Litigation that challenged the process led the Supreme Court to issue a temporary stay of execution, freezing the cases for approximately five years. The uncertainty fueled rural discontent and became a major election issue in 2023, prompting the Congress to promise a solution and later replace the Dharani Act with the Bhu Bharati Act.

Supreme Court approval, new move

The impasse ended on August 6 last year, when the Division Bench of the Supreme Court dismissed the PIL and set aside the interim stay, stating that the Telangana Bhu Bharati (Land Rights Registration) Act, 2025 provides for regulation of Sada Bainamas under Article 6.

Revenue and Housing Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy described the decision as “historic” and said it would benefit thousands of farmers. Officials and experts, including Telangana Deputy Collectors Association, said this would reduce disputes and secure permanent land rights.

On September 10, the Revenue issued a notification directing the authorities to process pending applications under Section 6(1) of the Act. Applicants were required to prove that they had continuously owned land for at least 12 years, with transactions occurring before 2 June 2014. The scheme is applicable only to small and marginal farmers in rural areas, excluding urban and commercial land, to prevent misuse.

Revenue Divisional Officers will act as investigators to verify claims and confirm registration. Successful applicants will be issued new pattadar passbooks, which will allow for the exchange of official registration and land records.

In the absence of legal titles, farmers were unable to use their land as collateral to access institutional credit and often struggled to cover basic farming expenses. The regulation is expected to facilitate access to loans, inputs and welfare schemes such as Rythu Bharosa.

The role of authorities and the ongoing process

Explaining the investigation process, the Tahsildar said that a Revenue Inspector along with the Grama Palana Officer conducted field inspections to verify whether the applicant owned the land and was cultivating the land. Notifications are published and displayed at the Gram Panchayat office; Statements of neighboring land owners are recorded during inspections to ensure property ownership and use. “We also verify other records such as manual entry Pahani “to establish that the applicant purchased the land from the pattadar, who was the original owner,” he says.

However, the Tahsildar said that it is mandatory to submit an affidavit from the seller or his legal heir. He adds that applications are ignored if the affidavit is not produced due to legal issues, and points out that many cases are further complicated by incorrect names of vendors or survey numbers in decades-old Sada Bainama documents. “Disposal of these cases has become challenging,” he admits.

While the collectors conduct investigations and submit reports, the Divisional Revenue Officer has the final authority to approve the disposition.

Legal framework for regulation

Pattadar passbooks, which provide legal recognition of land ownership, are vital for farmers to access institutional credit and social assistance programmes. However, a significant section of growers in Telangana remain titleless despite decades of uninterrupted ownership; this is largely due to land transactions done through Sada Bainamas – done on plain paper or through unregistered documents.

Unlike registered sale deeds, which are protected under the Telangana Land Rights and Pattadar Passbooks Act (1971), Sada Bainamas have no legal validity under successive land laws. As a result, more than nine thousand farmers continue to own land without title deeds.

The BRS government had earlier set June 2, 2014 as the deadline for regulatory rollover, triggering more than 9.2 lakh applications. However, the process stalled, causing distress to the applicants. After taking office in December 2023, the Congress government tried to revive the process by including provisions for regulation of Sada Bainamas under Section 6 of the Telangana Bhu Bharati (Registration of Land Rights) Act, 2025.

Despite the new law, progress on the ground has been slow. Officials reportedly insisted on affidavits citing rules under the Act, with discrepancies between names in the former Sada Bainamas and existing entries in the entertainment column leading to software and verification delays. The affidavit requirement, imposed through rules framed under the Act rather than the Act itself, has emerged as a major bottleneck in recent months, resulting in negligible regulation.

Land laws expert and NALSAR assistant professor M. Sunil Kumar, who was actively involved in drafting the Bhu Bharati Act, says the absence of clear, written operational guidelines has led to differing interpretations by field officials, led to delays and left room for alleged discretion in implementation.

Experts have called on the government to prioritize local investigations to establish ownership and cultivation, rather than relying excessively on declarations, and to reform rules by clearly defining the roles of officials at various levels. They also point out that the lack of comprehensive land surveys in Telangana is a structural impediment. Neighboring Andhra Pradesh’s decision to order a re-investigation and extend the regulations of Sada Bainamas till December 31, 2027 is cited as an example that Telangana can follow.

There are also calls to include provisions similar to Sections 5-A and 5-B of the 1971 Act in the Bhu Bharati Act, empowering Tahsildars to regularize Sada Bainama lands, issue Form 13-B certificates, make such lands at par with registered lands, and enable the issuance of patta and pattadar passbooks, thereby granting full property rights to farmers.

Meanwhile, Telangana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Commission chairman M. Kodanda Reddy, who played a key role in enacting the Act, said a presentation has been made to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy regarding the affidavit hurdle and a high-level meeting will be held to find a way forward.

“We have suggested that the Gram Sabha be held to ascertain the facts regarding the sale of land through Sada Bainamas,” he says.

Another expert suggests that notices could be issued to both sellers and buyers, thus facilitating verification by allowing affidavits to be made publicly available.

If implemented, such measures are expected to not only curb regulation but also reduce land disputes that have long plagued Telangana, offering farmers security of tenure, smoother inheritance and legally protected ownership.