What is PTCL land in Karnataka?

Land the Government granted to a person from a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, including land under land-reform and inam-abolition laws (PTCL Act s.3(1)(b)). It cannot be transferred, mortgage included, against the grant terms or without the Government’s previous permission (s.4).

Can an old PTCL transfer still be challenged?

Yes. The 2023 amendment says there is no limitation of time to invoke the Act, as if always so, and applies it to pending cases (s.5(1)(c)–(d)). Courts still decide each case on its facts, but a buyer should not rely on the age of a transfer.

Can a bank auction granted land?

A grantee’s mortgage to a bank is exempt from the Act (s.7). But if the borrower acquired the land by a transfer the Act makes void, there was no title to mortgage, and the sale passes nothing better (SARFAESI s.13(6)). Trace the grant before bidding.

What is the 22A prohibited list in Telangana?

A list under s.22A of the Registration Act, as it applies in Telangana, of properties whose documents cannot be registered: government, assigned, endowment, Wakf and surplus land, and notified attached property. Check it on the IGRS portal under “Prohibited Property”.

My property shows on the 22A list by mistake. What now?

The list has known errors and a grievance route exists on the IGRS portal. A listing on a clause that needs no notification may need a civil court to settle the title, as reported. Either way, resolve it before paying an EMD.

Is the lake buffer in Bengaluru 75 metres?

No. The Supreme Court set aside the NGT’s general 75 m direction (Mantri Techzone, 2019). The civic body has applied 30 m for lakes under the 2015 zoning regulations; proposals to change it have followed, so check the current figure.

Title and due diligence

Granted Land and Prohibited Lists: Karnataka’s PTCL Act and Telangana’s 22A

Auction Dunia · Law and portal facts checked as of 19 October 2026 · 9 min read

The short answer

Land the State granted to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families in Karnataka cannot be transferred, mortgage included, against the grant terms or without the Government’s permission; such a transfer is void, and the land can be restored to the grantee or heirs with no time limit (PTCL Act ss.4–5, as amended in 2023). In Telangana, a property on the s.22A prohibited list cannot be registered until it is removed. A bank sale passes only the borrower’s title, so both checks are run on the parent land before the EMD.

Key points

“Granted land” means land the Karnataka Government granted to a person from a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, including land given under land-reform, ceiling or inam-abolition laws (PTCL Act s.3(1)(b)).
A transfer in breach of the grant terms, or without the Government’s previous permission, is null and void, before or after 1979, including a sale ordered by a court or authority (s.4).
Since the 2023 amendment, the Act says there is no limitation of time to invoke it, with effect as if always there and in pending cases (s.5(1)(c)–(d)). An old transfer is not a safe transfer.
Telangana’s s.22A list bars registration of listed government, assigned, endowment, Wakf, surplus and attached properties. It has known errors: a hit needs resolution, and a miss is not clearance.
Acquisition notifications and lake or drain buffers sit outside both lists and are searched separately; a 75 m lake buffer is not the law in Bengaluru (Mantri Techzone, Supreme Court, 2019).

What granted land is, and why the rule exists

The Karnataka Government has long granted land to people without land of their own, and its grant rules carried a condition against selling it. When the legislature looked at grants to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families, it found that condition alone did not keep the land with the families it was meant for. The Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act, 1978 — the PTCL Act — was passed so that land, once granted, stays with the grantee and their heirs.

The Act defines granted land as land granted by the Government to a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, including land allotted under land-reform, land-ceiling or inam-abolition laws (s.3(1)(b)). It is a protective law. For a buyer, the point is not who held the land but what the law allows to be done with it.

The transfer bar, and what it means at an auction

1
“Transfer” is wide
It covers a sale, gift, exchange, lease and a mortgage with or without possession, and includes an agreement to do any of these.
PTCL Act s.3(1)(e)
2
A transfer in breach is void
Any transfer made before or after the Act in breach of the grant terms, or without the Government’s previous permission, is null and void, and conveys no right, title or interest.
s.4(1)–(2)
3
Court and authority sales are covered
The bar applies also to a sale in execution of a civil court’s decree or an order of any other authority.
s.4(3)
4
Registration is refused
A registering officer must not register a transfer of granted land on the list given to them, unless it complies with the Act or the grant.
s.6

The Act exempts a transfer in favour of the Government, a local authority or a bank (s.7), so a grantee’s own mortgage to a bank is not void on that ground. The risk at an auction usually sits one step earlier. If the borrower acquired the land, or the land under a layout or building, through a transfer the Act makes void, the borrower held no title to mortgage, and a SARFAESI sale passes only what the borrower had (SARFAESI Act s.13(6)). Whether a bank’s sale to a private buyer itself needs the Government’s permission is a question for an advocate on the facts.

Resumption, and why the age of a transfer does not help

Where the Assistant Commissioner finds a transfer void — on an application, on information, or on their own motion — they may take possession of the land and restore it to the original grantee or legal heir, or, where that is not practicable, it vests in the Government (s.5(1)). Anyone other than the grantee or heir in possession is presumed to have come in through a void transfer until they prove otherwise (s.5(3)).

Courts had read in a “reasonable time” limit for such applications (Nekkanti Rama Lakshmi v. State of Karnataka, Supreme Court, 2017). The Karnataka legislature answered in 2023: “notwithstanding anything contained in any law, there shall be no limitation of time to invoke the provisions of this Act”, deemed always to have been part of s.5 and applied to pending cases (PTCL (Amendment) Act, 2023, Karnataka Act 30 of 2023, s.5(1)(c)–(d)).

Courts still look at the facts of each case; in 2026 the Supreme Court set aside an annulment where those seeking restoration had themselves joined the original sale (Seethamma v. State of Karnataka, Supreme Court, 2026). That is a decision on particular facts, not a rule a buyer can price in. Read the statute: a transfer is not safe because it is old.

How a buyer spots granted land in the records

Trace the parent survey number. For a flat or a layout plot, the land below it is what was granted; the RTC (record of rights, tenancy and crops) and the mutation register on Bhoomi show how each holder acquired it.
Read the mutation entries for a grant: references to a darkhast grant or a saguvali chit (the grant certificate) mark the start of the chain.
Get the grant certificate or the taluk office’s grant register extract, and read its conditions on alienation.
Look for the Government’s permission order for every transfer after the grant, and for the DC conversion order for non-agricultural use (Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 s.95).
Note that SARFAESI does not apply to a security interest in agricultural land (s.31(i)); an auction schedule that still reads as farmland is itself a question.

Some entries need certified copies and an advocate’s reading; online RTC views are a starting point, not the record a title opinion relies on. Conversion procedure was changed by amendments in 2024–25, and inside some planning areas the conversion certificate now issues through the planning authority, as reported; whatever the route, the order for the parent land should exist.

Telangana: assigned land and the s.22A list

Telangana’s version of the Registration Act carries s.22A, which bars registration of documents relating to listed properties. As reported, the clauses cover land whose transfer a law prohibits (including assigned land under the Telangana Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977), government land, endowment and Wakf land, land declared surplus under ceiling laws, and property attached by a court or authority, which needs a gazette notification. The Telangana High Court upheld the section, noting that refusing registration is not the same as taking the property (Invecta Technologies v. Government of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana High Court, 2023).

The list matters at an auction because a listed property’s documents, including a sale certificate presented for registration, cannot be registered, and mutation and a later resale follow from registration. The IGRS portal publishes it under “Prohibited Property” and has a page to check a prohibition grievance. The list is also known to contain errors: in 2026 the State’s Revenue Minister acknowledged wrongful listings drawn from old copies, and review and removal steps were announced, as reported.

Reading a 22A result

A hit is not an automatic fail, and a miss is not clearance. A hit needs the reason, the clause and a removal route identified before the EMD; a miss is checked again close to registration. Agricultural land status is read on Bhu Bharati, which replaced Dharani from 14 April 2025.

Acquisition notifications and lake buffers

From the publication of a preliminary notification under the national acquisition law, no person may transact in the notified land, or create an encumbrance on it, until the proceedings conclude, unless the Collector exempts the owner in special circumstances recorded in writing (RFCTLARR Act, 2013 s.11(4) and its first proviso). Bengaluru has its own schemes: BDA notifications under the BDA Act, 1976 (ss.17 and 19) and KIADB notifications for industrial areas; in Hyderabad, HMDA’s. Search the gazette and each authority’s notification lists against the survey number.

Lake and storm-water drain (raja kaluve) buffers are a separate check. In 2019 the Supreme Court set aside the National Green Tribunal’s general direction of a 75 m lake buffer, except against the two developers before it (Mantri Techzone v. Forward Foundation, Supreme Court, 2019). Bengaluru’s civic body told the Tribunal it applies the 2015 zoning regulations: 30 m from lakes and 50, 25 or 15 m from primary, secondary or tertiary drains. Changes have been proposed since; check the current figure for the specific lake or drain. In Hyderabad, the full tank level and buffer of notified lakes are set by HMDA and enforced locally.

What the auction route cannot promise

A bank sale passes only the borrower’s title (s.13(6)); if a transfer in the chain is void under the PTCL Act, the auction cannot cure it.
The PTCL Act sets no time limit, so restoration proceedings can begin long after the purchase.
The 22A list changes and has known errors; a result on one date is not a result on the day of registration.
No portal searches every grant, notification or buffer by survey number; certified records and an advocate’s reading are still needed.

Questions buyers ask

Sources

Statutes, rules and judgments first. Checked as of 19 October 2026; the law and portal practice change, so confirm against the source before relying on a detail.

This guide explains the law and the process in general terms. It is not advice on any specific property; that belongs in a due diligence report on the property itself.

A specific property in mind?

Tell us what you are buying it for, and we will tell you what needs checking before you pay EMD.

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