Ponguleti questions Harish over registration of assigned lands

Hyderabad: Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy on Wednesday strongly criticised former Minister and BRS leader T Harish Rao over the registration of assigned lands, questioning how lands belonging to his father-in-law were registered.

Speaking informally to the media in the Assembly lobby, Ponguleti responded to Harish Rao’s allegation that the previous Congress government had issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for his father-in-law’s lands. He said assigned lands could not legally be permitted for registration and maintained that such action would be wrong irrespective of which government was in power.

Ponguleti also alleged that BRS MLA Palla Rajeshwar Reddy had got Bhoodan land registered using a fake NOC. He further alleged that prohibited land had been registered in the case of former Minister Gangula Kamalakar despite status quo orders of the High Court and Supreme Court. “Registration of government land is wrong, irrespective of which government does it”, Ponguleti remarked.

On the 22-A prohibited lands list, the Minister said only around four lakh acres were patta lands, while the remaining land belonged to the government. He said 47,440 acres had already been removed from the 22-A list after the Congress government came to power.

Ponguleti said the government would soon disclose details of alleged land irregularities during the previous government’s tenure and indicated that key decisions on the 22-A issue would be taken shortly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Hans India