Govt resolves 120-year-old land dispute in Guntur village

Guntur: A century-old land registration issue affecting the entire Vatticherukuru village in Guntur district has finally been resolved following the intervention of the state govt. The issue, which had remained unresolved for more than 120 years, pertained to the inclusion of the entire Vatticherukuru village under the prohibited properties list under Section 22A of the Registration Act. The decision to remove the village from the prohibited list has brought major relief to nearly 515 families and around 5,000 residents of the mandal headquarters village in Guntur district.According to revenue minister Anagani Satya Prasad, the problem originated during the British era records. In the 1906 Resettlement Register (RSR), the British administration made an error by classifying Vatticherukuru village as a “village tank” instead of a habitation area. Based on this entry, the British authorities subsequently included the entire village under the prohibited list in 1908 through Section 22A(1)(b) of the Registration Act.As a result, villagers had been facing severe hardships for generations in carrying out property registrations, transfers and other land-related transactions. Despite the village functioning as a full-fledged habitation for decades, the prohibition continued without correction. Historical records established that Vatticherukuru has been in existence since 1134 AD. The village was officially constituted as a gram panchayat in 1931, and residents have been paying taxes ever since. However, the anomaly in revenue records remained unresolved for more than a century.Following repeated appeals from villagers after the coalition govt came to power, officials conducted a detailed inquiry into the issue. The investigation during the resurvey finally confirmed that the 1906 classification was a mistake and that there were no water bodies or tank structures in the area marked as prohibited land.Based on the findings, the revenue department issued orders to remove the 25.37 acres from the prohibited list under Section 22A. Chief secretary G Sai Prasad asked the CCLA to initiate measures for the change of classification of 25.37 acres from “Tank Poramboke“ as recorded in the RSR, 1906, to “Grama Kantam / Village Site Poramboke“. He also asked the CCLA to retain the remaining 83.01 acres as tank poramboke and carry out consequential corrections in all connected revenue records, including webland and related databases. He directed the officials to delete 25.37 acres from the prohibited properties list maintained under Section 22-A of the Registration Act, 1908.