The Andhra Pradesh government resolved a 120-year-old [1] land dispute in Vatticherukuru village by removing the area from a prohibited registration list.
This administrative action allows residents to engage in legal land transactions for the first time in over a century. Because the land was previously classified as prohibited, homeowners were unable to sell, mortgage, or legally transfer their properties.
The Andhra Pradesh Revenue Minister said the habitation area was removed from the prohibited list under Section 22A of the Registration Act, 1908 [1], [2]. This specific legal designation had blocked all land dealings within the village for generations.
The root of the conflict dates back to the 1906 Resettlement Survey Register [1]. In that document, the village was classified as a "village-front tank," which placed the land under Section 22A(1)(b) of the Registration Act [1]. This classification effectively froze the land's status, treating the residential area as a water body or government-protected resource rather than private habitation.
By correcting this classification, the state government has cleared the legal hurdles that prevented the village from developing its real estate market. The move restores standard property rights to the inhabitants of Vatticherukuru in the Guntur district [1], [2].
“The Andhra Pradesh government resolved a 120-year-old land dispute in Vatticherukuru village”
This resolution corrects a colonial-era clerical or survey error that had severe economic implications for a local community. By removing the land from the prohibited list under the Registration Act, the government is transitioning the area from a state-restricted zone to a private-ownership zone, which typically increases local land values and enables formal credit access through land-backed loans.
