When the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government launched the Dharani land records portal on October 29, 2020, it was projected as a revolutionary reform in Telangana's land administration. The then chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao described the portal as a game-changing initiative that would eliminate corruption, end the role of middlemen and bring unprecedented transparency to land transactions. Designed as a single digital platform for agricultural land registrations, mutations and maintenance of land records, Dharani was showcased as a model of digital governance.
KCR repeatedly asserted that Dharani was a scientific, transparent and tamper-proof system that could not be manipulated. He maintained that the portal would protect genuine landowners, prevent land grabbing and drastically reduce litigation by minimising human intervention in land administration. Even when opposition parties criticised the system and demanded its scrapping, KCR defended Dharani as one of his government's landmark achievements, arguing that dismantling it would revive the corruption and discretion associated with the old revenue administration.
Nearly six years later, those claims are under unprecedented scrutiny. Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has ordered a comprehensive probe into alleged irregularities in the Dharani portal by constituting a special enquiry team (SET). Announcing the decision on July 17, revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy said the investigation would cover every suspicious transaction from October 29, 2020, when Dharani became operational, through July 17, 2026, including transactions processed after the transition to the Congress-introduced Bhu Bharati portal. He said the objective was to establish the truth behind years of allegations surrounding both platforms and determine whether any irregularities had occurred.
According to the minister, the SET's mandate extends far beyond examining individual land transactions. It will scrutinise land registrations, mutations, ownership changes, alterations to land classifications, transfers involving agricultural, assigned and government lands, modifications to the prohibited land list, digital audit trails, login credentials and approvals granted by officials. Significantly, the inquiry will also examine the conception and development of the Dharani project itself—from the floating of tenders and award of contracts to the role of the agencies involved in designing and maintaining the portal, including IL&FS Technologies and the National Informatics Centre. The government wants to determine whether weaknesses in the system's architecture enabled unauthorised changes to land records.
Srinivasa Reddy said the Cabinet decided to order the investigation after a forensic audit conducted by the Kerala Security Audit and Assurance Centre (KSAAC), a Kerala government agency, reportedly identified more than 10,000 suspicious transactions. He disclosed that the audit was initially conducted in Siddipet and Medak districts following demands raised in the Assembly and was later expanded after investigators noticed alleged irregularities. The findings, he said, warranted a full-fledged inquiry into both the transactions and the technology underpinning the portal. The audit findings gained greater significance as several major land controversies surfaced across Telangana, raising fresh questions about the integrity of transactions carried out through the Dharani portal.
The government's decision comes after a series of high-profile land controversies reignited concerns over the integrity of Telangana's digital land records. One of the most prominent cases involved the alleged encroachment of 74 acres of lake land in Abdullapurmet, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, estimated at around ₹370 crore. Acting on allegations that the land had been illegally occupied and its records manipulated, the Telangana High Court directed the CB-CID to investigate the matter and examine the possible involvement of public officials.
Another major controversy centred on Survey No. 44 in Miyapur, where HYDRAA reclaimed nearly 15 acres of government land valued at around ₹3,000 crore. Authorities alleged that government land had gradually been transferred to private entities through questionable transactions over several years, leading to prolonged litigation and renewed scrutiny of historical land records.
Officials have also pointed to several other categories of alleged irregularities that are expected to form part of the SET's investigation. These include allegations that assigned lands—which are legally restricted from sale—were transferred to private individuals; that government lands were shown as private property after changes in digital records; that ownership details were altered without the knowledge of genuine landholders; and that mutations were processed despite pending disputes, complaints from farmers and landowners also alleged that survey numbers disappeared from the portal, inheritance mutations were rejected without explanation, and errors in land records could not be corrected through an effective grievance redressal mechanism. These cases, together with thousands of complaints received from landowners, transformed Dharani from a flagship governance reform into one of Telangana's most contentious political issues.
The controversy surrounding Dharani had emerged as one of the defining political issues in Telangana well before the 2023 Assembly elections. During the election campaign, Congress leader A. Revanth Reddy alleged that the Dharani portal had facilitated large-scale irregularities, including the manipulation of land records and the illegal transfer of government and assigned lands under the BRS government. He promised that, if voted to power, the Congress would investigate the alleged irregularities and overhaul the land administration system.
After assuming office, Revanth Reddy introduced the Bhu Bharati portal and initiated a forensic audit of Dharani, which eventually culminated in the constitution of the SET. The Congress has argued that while digitisation itself is not in question, the implementation of Dharani may have enabled the manipulation of land records and contributed to thousands of disputes affecting farmers and property owners across the state.
For the BRS, the investigation carries considerable political significance. Dharani was one of the party's flagship governance initiatives and was frequently showcased as evidence of Telangana's success in digital administration. The allegations remain unproven until the probe is completed. However, the probe marks a dramatic reversal for a portal once projected as tamper-proof, placing one of the BRS government's signature reforms under its most searching examination yet.
