Monday, October 3, 2016

How to read Revenue Records

Jamabandi, also known by terms like Farhad, Parcha etc., is the most important Revenue Records document. General perception is that reading Jamabandi is a very difficult and can be done by Revenue Officials only.

But that is not the case. It is very important to know what is Jamabandi & how to read it, especially for people in property business or buying or selling properties as an investor. It is also important for people who are in the profession of property loans, whether as a sanctioning or processing authority or consultant. It not only boosts their confidence but also saves them from property related frauds or litigation.

Now talking about Jamabandi, it records number of things. In addition to showing current ownership & possession, it also gives knowledge about type of land, its sources of irrigation if under cultivation, number & type of structures built on it, its location, details of owner/s to name some.

In general a Jamabandi has twelve columns and each represents unique information. Information in some columns is very important and in some not so important. On the top of Jamabandi, information like Hadbast, boundary of village in which property is, Its year, generally it is made after every four years, name of village, tehsil & district are mentioned.

Column 1
This column of Jamabandi is ‘Khewat Number’. It is the number of people currently owning that land. It is written in Black ink. This number can change in next Jamabandi, if land gets new owners during the period. Sometimes a number in Red ink is mentioned in this column and is Khewat Number in last Jamabandi. This is mentioned for reference only.

Column 2
This has Khatauni Number or Number Khatauni. This provides number of persons in possession of land or number cultivators of land. Their description is mentioned in column 5. So the number of people in possession of land or cultivators whose description is mentioned in column 5 of Jamabandi is equal to Khatauni Number as mentioned in column 2.

Column 3
Patti, Numberdar or Taraf are mentioned. This column provides information about physical location of land. In some villages people of particular cast live in a particular area called Patti, so name of Patti gets name as per their cast. Sometime location is identified from the name of Namberdar.   

Column 4
It has details of owners of land. It mentions Name of Owner/s, His/her Father & Grandfather Name. Name of Grandfather is mentioned to ensure details don’t get mixed up with any other person in village. So number of owners is mentioned in Column 1 and their details in Column 4. If owner is adopted one then term ‘Matvana’ is used. If land is in name of Panchayat/trust/wakf board/shamlat, common land of village, then their name is mentioned in this column. In cases where land was sold/gifted/transferred in last Jamabandi, same is also mentioned in this column. If transaction is done in current Jamabandi then it’s entry is made in Column 12 called Remarks Column. If this happens then description in Column 12 is final and Column 4 carries no weight.


Column 5
As mentioned above, details of people in possession or cultivators of land in mentioned. If owners, as mentioned in previous column, and people in possession or cultivators of land are same then term ‘Khudkast’( kast means cultivation) va Makjoba Malkan’ is mentioned. If both are not the cases then term ‘Gair Marusi’ means ‘Temporary Unauthorized Possession of Land’ as ‘Kache Mujahire’ is mentioned. If there is permanent unauthorized possession then it is called ‘ Gair Dakhildaar’.

Column 6
Things like Naam Chah etc. are mentioned. These are not very important.

Column 7
It has Khasra Number. This is a very important column of jambandi. Khasra Number is the account number of property in revenue records. This generally remains same in all Jamabandis. If say Khasra No. 1 is divided in two parts it will become Khasra Number 1/1 & 1/2. If say Khasra Number 1/1 again gets divided in two parts then it will become 1/1/1 & 1/1/2 and so on.

If land measurement is in Kanal & Marla system then first Murrabha/ Mushkeel/ Rectangle number is mentioned in Red Ink, underlined by two parallel lines and then Khasra Numbers are mentioned in Black Ink. If it is Bigha & Biswa system then only Khasra Number is written in Black ink. Totla number of Khasras are mentioned in the end as Kittas. Means if there were 20 Khasras in one Khewat then in the end it will be 20 Kittas.

Column 8
In this total area of each Khasra is mentioned. Mostly the maximum area of one Khasra is 8 Kanals or 1 Acre.  But when land is un-cultivated, hill or desert then area of one Khasra may exceed one acre. Type of land is also mentioned below the area of Khasra.

If the land is not under cultivation or there is some building constructed over it then it is called ‘Gair Mumkin’. When irrigated by well/s it is called ’Chai’, when by a canal then ‘Nehri’ or ‘Abbi’. When it is dependent on rain for irrigation then ‘Barani’ is written. In some Jamabandis direction of land is also written like when facing east then ‘Charda’ and ‘Neevan’ for west facing. ‘Pahar’ for north facing & ‘Dariya’ for south facing.

It should be noted here that total area of a Kitta should be equal to areas of Khataunis in it and areas of Khataunis should be equal to areas of Khasras in it. Khasra area can’t change as total land remains same.

Column 9, 10 & 11
Details of Lagan etc. are mentioned but these are not very important from a transaction purpose.

Column 12
This is the most important column of a Jamabandi. It is the remarks column as mentioned above also. Any change in ownership of land in mentioned in this column. Entry in this column tells the ownership of land. Entries in this column are made in Red inks. Every entry has a specific reference number called ‘Intkaal Number’ or ‘Rapat Number. All transactions pertaining to land like sale, purchase, gifting etc. are mentioned in this column. In the next Jamabandi these entries are transferred to Khewat or Khatauni column.

The common practice for entry in this column is in the following sequence. ‘Baruae Rapat’ or ‘Intkaal Number’( reference number), date, transferor name, Bahak or Bae(sold)/ Rehan(pledged)/Aadrehan(without possession)/ Hiba(Gifted)/ Vasihat(will) etc, Khasra Number, Kul(Total) Kitta & it’s area, Banam( in the name of) which can be buyer or Bank etc., Rakam( amount), Kar Diya Hai( Have done it). These are followed by signatures of Patwari or Revenue Officer.

At the end is an undertaking by Patwari/ Revenue Officer as ‘ Tasdik Kiya Jata hai Ke Nakal Mutabik Asal hai’ means it is a certified true copy. Sometimes fees paid by applicant for this copy are also mentioned. These days computer generated attested copies are being given at many places.

But still Patwari record is considered to be more authentic & updated. It is recommended that when purchasing a land, one should get its entry updated in Patwari records. After entry keep a copy of same for your records.

As a general practice once sale Deed is registered in Registrar office, it’s entry is made in Intkaal register and a copy of same is issued. Then its entry is made in Rojnamcha(Daily Diary) of Patwari after this he makes entry in Jamabandi. Until the entry is made in Jamabandi chances of double sale/mortgage to different banks/charge over same property or occurrence any other fraud on property can be there.

Hence entry of Mutation(Intkaal) in Jamabandi of Patwari is very important. In case of double sale of a property, person having first entry has first right. When sold land is from multiple Khasras then details of Mutation are mentioned in Khewat, which has maximum area of sold land and in rest of Khewats only the reference number is mentioned in rest of Khewats. So it is advisable to check complete details of that Mutation Number. Ignoring this may have severe consequences and can even drag property to dispute.

So these are some basics of Jamabandi.  Terminology may vary from state to state. But this terminology is more or less common in northern states of country like Punjab, Haryana, North Rajasthan, Jammu & parts of Himachal Pradesh. 

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