Revenue officers under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 and their procedure

1. The territorial frame: sections 3 to 6

The State Government is the chief controlling authority in all matters of land and land revenue administration (section 3). The State is divided into regions, each region into districts, each district into taluks, each taluk into circles and each circle into villages (section 4). The Government may alter, amalgamate, create, abolish or rename these units by notification, after publishing the proposal and considering objections except where it thinks this unnecessary (sections 4(4), 4(4A), 5 and 6).

2. The officers: sections 7 to 20

• Additional Chief Secretary / Principal Secretary / Secretary (section 7). The Chief Revenue Officer of the State, with superintendence and control over all subordinate officers (substituted by Act 38 of 2024).
• Revenue Commissioner (section 7A). Appointed by notification, subordinate to the Secretary, with superintendence and control over all subordinate officers across the State (inserted by Act 38 of 2024, w.e.f. 16 August 2024). Since the 2025 amendments he also holds the revisional power over orders under section 67.
• Regional Commissioner (section 7B). One for each region; the Chief Revenue Officer of the region.
• Deputy Commissioner (section 8). One for each district, subordinate to the Revenue Commissioner and the Regional Commissioner. He exercises all powers conferred by this Act and other laws, may exercise the powers of an Assistant Commissioner, and keeps the prescribed registers and records (subject to the Karnataka State Public Records Act, 2010).
• Special Deputy Commissioner (section 9). Appointed for a district for a specific purpose and period.
• Assistant Commissioners (section 10). As many as needed in a district; one may be placed in charge of one or more taluks forming a revenue sub-division.
• Tahsildar (section 11). One for each taluk, the chief officer entrusted with land revenue administration of the taluk, subordinate to the Assistant Commissioner in charge (or the Deputy Commissioner). His powers are those conferred by law or delegated by the Deputy Commissioner. A Special Tahsildar may be appointed (section 12). A Tahsildar may depute subordinates for ministerial duties, subject to his revision (section 13).
• Revenue Inspector (section 15) for each circle, and Village Accountant (section 16) for a village or group of villages, both appointed by the Deputy Commissioner. The Village Accountant keeps the prescribed village registers and prepares notices, reports, mahazars and depositions (section 17).
• Survey Officers (section 18), from the Director of Survey, Settlement and Land Records down to Assistant Settlement Officers, and licensed surveyors (section 18A).

Section 14 provides for officers to discharge duties during temporary vacancies. Sections 22 and 23 let the Deputy Commissioner demand and recover public money, papers and property held by a revenue officer or other person.

3. Revenue officers as revenue courts: sections 24 and 25

A revenue officer not below the rank of Tahsildar, when exercising power under this or any other Act to inquire into or decide any question between the State and a person or between parties, is a Revenue Court (section 24). Section 25 saves the inherent power of a revenue court to make orders necessary for the ends of justice or to prevent abuse of its process. A proviso inserted by Karnataka Act 28 of 2025 (w.e.f. 7 April 2025) allows the inherent power to review to be exercised, suo motu or on application, within six months of the order, on discovery of new and important matter, an error apparent on the record, want of jurisdiction, misapplication of a legal provision or an analogous ground not amounting to an error on merits.

4. Procedure: sections 26 to 39

• Place (section 26). An officer hears cases within his local limits unless his superior directs otherwise for recorded reasons.
• Transfer (section 27). The Tribunal may transfer cases between Regional Commissioners; the Regional Commissioner may transfer between officers in the region.
• Evidence and summons (sections 28 to 32). An officer not below a Tahsildar may take evidence on oath and summon parties, witnesses and documents; summons are served in the prescribed way; attendance may be compelled and witnesses examined on commission.
• Formal inquiry (section 33). Evidence is taken down in full in writing in Kannada, English or a prescribed language and signed; the decision contains a full statement of grounds.
• Summary inquiry (section 34). The officer records in his own hand a summary of the evidence, a minute of the proceedings, the decision and the reasons. He may always choose the formal procedure instead.
• Judicial proceedings (section 35). Formal and summary inquiries are judicial proceedings for the purposes of sections 229, 257 and 267 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (false evidence, corrupt decisions, insult to a public servant in judicial proceedings), and the officer is deemed a civil court for the inquiry.
• Public hearing after notice (section 36). Hearings are in public with notice to the parties; orders are pronounced in open court. A case may proceed or be dismissed in a party’s absence, and an order so passed may be set aside on an application within thirty days showing sufficient cause.
• Other inquiries (section 37) follow the rules and, subject to them, the officer’s discretion.
• Entry on land (section 38) for measurement, boundaries, soil classification and assessment, with seven days’ notice before entering a dwelling or its enclosed court.
• Eviction (section 39). Notice to vacate within a reasonable time; removal by an officer if not obeyed; and steps against resistance.

5. Exclusive jurisdiction of revenue courts: sections 60 to 66

Section 61(1): a revenue court has jurisdiction to decide any matter which it is empowered by the Act to decide, and no civil court shall exercise jurisdiction over it. Section 61(2) lists matters expressly taken from civil courts, including:

• claims against the Government relating to property appertaining to any office or service;
• objections to the amount, incidence, mode or principle of assessment of land revenue, or to the validity of a survey or settlement notification;
• claims arising out of proceedings for realisation of land revenue;
• claims to set aside revenue sales for irregularity or mistake, except fraud;
• claims against the Government to be entered in, or to have entries omitted or amended in, survey, settlement or land records;
• partition of estates and allotment of revenue on partition;
• claims to hold land revenue-free, or concerning occupation of Government waste land; and
• claims regarding boundaries fixed under the Act.

Section 62 saves three kinds of suit: against the Government to contest revenue paid under protest or recovered in excess; between private parties to establish a private right, even if affected by a land-record entry; and between private parties for possession of land. Section 63 requires a plaintiff suing the Government to exhaust his statutory appeals first. Section 64 allows the Tribunal to refer a question of law to the High Court, and section 65 allows a civil court in doubt about its jurisdiction to refer that question to the High Court.

How this is examined

“Revenue officers under the KLR Act” is a short note in almost every paper (January 2026, June 2025, August 2024, November 2022): list the officers from the Secretary to the Village Accountant with one line on each, starting with the 2024 changes. “Explain the procedure to be followed by revenue officers to settle revenue disputes” (August 2024) uses sections 3 and 4 above. “Explain the exclusive jurisdiction of revenue courts” (August 2024) uses section 5.