Hyderabad: About 3.21 lakh ‘plain paper’ property transactions that were registered since last year under Telangana government's ‘sada bainama’ scheme and under GO 59 land regularisation scheme have come under the government scanner in the wake of land scams being reported from sub-registrar offices across the state.

The government received several complaints that sub-registrars misused the schemes and helped land- grabbers to acquire lands belonging to government departments, schools, public parks, roads etc.

The highest property transactions that were done on plain paper and were registered under the scheme was in Khammam (82,100) followed by 37,500 in Warangal and 34,620 in Suryapet. Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao announced the scheme in May 2016 to legalise lands purchased through sada bainama (plain paper) transactions. The state formation day, June 2, 2014, was taken as the cut-off date for this, which means all the property transactions that were done on plain paper prior to June 2, 2014 should be registered in the names of owners.

There are a large number of cases in all districts where people have purchased land using plain paper documents (sada bainama) rather than on stamp paper, as required by law, to formalise transactions.

Though such lands have been under their possession for decades, they are not registered since the transactions took place on plain paper.

A survey conducted by the revenue department revealed that the average extent of land under sada bainama transactions in each district was between 30,000 to 1 lakh acres.

The CM directed collectors to register these lands for free up to five acres. In Telangana, land transactions still continue to be held on plain paper in rural areas. This is because poor people are unable to afford registration charges or due to lack of awareness. Some transactions date back to 20 or 30 years. When such lands are coming up for registration now, various problems are cropping up regarding their ownership.

However, land grabbers exploited the scheme and tried to grab government lands by creating fake plain paper registration documents and got it legalised by luring revenue and sub-registrar officials with big bribes.

Complaints have poured in from Ranga Reddy, Medak, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Karimangar, Nizamabad, Warangal districts, where land value is higher due to rapid urbanisation.

Deputy CM and revenue minister Mohd Mahmood Ali said, "Inspection teams are screening each and every plain paper document that was registered under the scheme. If any irregularities are detected, the officials concerned will be suspended and a departmental inquiry will be initiated. The government is serious about misuse of a good scheme aimed to help the poor."

The CID and ACB teams which are already conducting raids on sub-registrar offices following the Miyapuer land scam are gathering the data of plain paper registrations for inquiry.