Terms Associated with Maintenance of Land Ownership Records 1. Khatauni

Terms Associated with Maintenance of Land Ownership Records
1. Khatauni
Khatauni is the register of all persons cultivating or otherwise occupying land in a village as prescribed according to Delhi Land Revenue Rules. It is prepared in Form P-VI. It is a document prepared as part of record-of-right in every estate. It contains entries regarding ownership, cultivation and various rights in land. It is revised every 4 years when it is prepared by Patwari and attested by the Revenue officer. This duration is called Fasli-year.
Khasra: (Record of Cultivation) It is a register of harvest inspections (parhtaal). The Lekhpaal conducts the field harvest inspections in the month of October, February & April, wherein he records facts regarding crop grown, soil classification, cultivable capacity of the cultivators. The first six monthly inspection starting from Ist October is called as "Khariff" parhtaal while the second commencing from Ist February is called "Rabi" parhtaal. In the month of april the "Zaid" parhtaal is done.

2. Jamabandi
It is a document prepared as part of record-of-right of all persons owning land in a village according to Punjab Land Record Manual. It contains entries regarding ownership, cultivation and various rights in land. It is revised every 4 years when it is prepared by Patwari and attested by Revenue officer. The changes of rights in land coming to the notice are reflected in the Jamabandi according to a set procedure after verification by Revenue Officer.
Khatauni/Jamabandi are kept in the custody of halqua patwari. They are re-written after every four years incorporating all the mutations (ie. charge of ownership) that has taken place during the four year period. Khatauni/Jamabardi is the most important document as far as ownership of agricultural land is concerned and one must ensure when he buys a piece of land that his / her name is incorporated in Khatauni/Jamabandi by way of mutation. There is a seperate Khatauni/Jamabandi for each village.

3. 'Chak Bandi' of Land Holdings
It means amalgamation & redistribution of all or any of the land in a revenue estate or sub-division of an estate, so as to reduce the number of plots in the holding.
4. Khasra Girdhawari : (Record of Cultivation)
It is a register of harvest inspections. The patwari conducts the field harvest inspections in the month of October, February & April, wherein he records facts regarding crop grown, soil classification, cultivable capacity of the cultivators. The first six monthly inspection starting from 1st October is called as Khariff Girdhawari while the second commencing from Ist February is called Rabi Girdhawari. In the month of April the "Zaid" Girdhawari is done.

The entries made by the Halqa Patwari are verified by the field Kanungo Kharsa Girdawari entries are made in form P-1V in case of Delhi Land Revenue Act 1954 and in form no.11 in case of Punjab Land Revenue Act 1887.
Some terms used in Girdhawari are:-
- Khasra number: a number assigned to a block of land.
- Murabba: a land block of 25 acres (100,000 m2).
- Patti: a composition of Khasra numbers.
- Intkaal: a notice required after registering a piece of land in ones name. One has to inform the Tehsil to update their records.
- Wakf board: a government institution in religious and community land.
- Haq shufa: preemption right- blood relative or tiller can claim right to repurchase property at sale price within one year should it be sold to an outsider.
- Muzaira: a cultivator who does not own land.
- Vasiyat: a will
- Khatouni: revenue record
- Ntkaal: it used to be the responsibility of buyer but now with computerization this process has become automatic in India.

Several other terms are used. Some of them are listed here: Theka, Khevat, Kilabandi, Registry, Fard, Mushtarka, Chhijraa, Degree, Decree, Takseem, Halfia Bayaan, Mutation.

Functions
Revenue Administration-Its function
1. Custodian of Land Records
2. Custodian of State, Kahcharai and Shamilat Lands
3. Maintenance of various documents and their regular updations
4. Implementation of various laws, policies and acts
5. Survey and Settlement

Land Records Maintenance
Maintenance, preservation and updations of land record are done in accordance with Revenue Acts of the Jammu and Kashmir State. These acts are guiding factor for making new records at the time of new Settlement. In the present structure, Revenue Department maintains the following necessary and major type of documents;
• Record of Rights (RoR)
• Jamabandi
• Girdawari
• Mutation Register (Intikal)

The brief introduction to these documents is given below;
Record of Rights
The records prepared at the time of settlement operations in an estate or village is called Record of Rights.(Misalhaquat).It contains the details of persons who are land holders, tenants or assignees of Land revenue, rates, cesses or other payments due from such persons. It also contains genealogical tree (Shajranasb), map of estate, village etc. This is the most important record so far as the evidential value is concerned.
Jamabandi
It is the amended edition of the Record of Rights and actually that part of ROR which gives the list of land holders and tenancy holders with details of fields, rents paid by each tenant and land revenue paid by each land holder. It is prepared after every four years and is called annual record or Jamabandi Chaharsala.
Girdawari
Known as harvest inspection is conducted twice in a year for Kharief and Rabi crops. It is carried out by the Patwaris after spot inspection of each field for recording the condition of the standing crop including kharaba.
Mutation Register
It is printed register with Patwari, separately maintained for each village consisting of normally 100 leaves. Each leaf has a foil and counterfoil and is duly numbered. The title page depicts the name of village, Tehsil, District and date of issue etc. The foil is known as “Parat –Sarkar” and counterfoil as “Parat-Patwar”. The parat-Patwar has to be entered by the Patwari as per the existing entries of the Jamabandi and Parat- Sarkar are made as per the orders passed by the Revenue officers on mutations. There are as many as twenty five categories of mutations and before writing up of Jamabandi of any village or mauza, all changes which have taken place in record since the previous Jamabandi, are updated through the orders passed on mutation.