On Old City outskirts, landowners don’t have papers

Owners tried to save money by not registering plots, find difficulty in getting land regularised

Plot owners on the outskirts of the Old City are unable to apply for regularisation of their plots under the ‘Telangana Layout Regularisation Scheme as most of them do not possess sale deeds. Those who enjoy possession based on notary documents are not able to fill online applications.

The state government introduced the scheme for plots existing in non-approved layouts. It was stipulated that owners of such plots and developers of unauthorised layouts have to submit an online application before October 15.

This is meant for plots which are transferred under the registered sale deed. There is no provision for applying for a plot which was purchased but registered sale deed was not made so far. A few people who tried to avail this opportunity are not able to submit online applications as they have no valid purchase documents.

Many are not aware of which survey number their plot bears.

In areas around the Old City, there are hundreds of unauthorised layout bits and people purchased them on notarised documents.

They are now worried about their fate as they have no legal document, which proves their ownership. Many citizens have built houses on their land without obtaining permits from the civic body. Such people have to regularise their land and construction.

For instance, thousands of people are enjoying possession of a piece of land without having registered sale deed in Bandlaguda, Shaheennagar, Hafiz Baba Nagar, Amannagar, Wadi-e-Mustafa, Jalpally, Wadie-Saleheen, Osmannagar, Sadatnagar, Errakunta, Yerrakunta, Ghousenagar, Mohammed Nagar, Quba Colony and Jaber Colony.

Considering this situation, MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi urged the government to give some relaxation to such people who had purchased the plots in unauthorised layouts and government lands oblivious of the facts and were cheated into it.

Mohammed Naseer Giyas, a vernacular journalist, said more than 80 per cent plots in the outskirts around Old City have been sold on notary documents. To save money, people did not register their lands with the department, while many poor and illiterate people envisage that the notary document is enough to prove that they are clear title holders.

He said the government should provide an opportunity to those people who do not have a registered sale deed. If the government did not grant relaxation, thousands of poor people would lose their right over the land they possessed.