Record of rights, mutation and patta book, and realisation of land revenue

1. The record of rights: section 127

A record of rights is prepared for every village and includes:

• the names of holders, occupants, owners, mortgagees, landlords, tenants and assignees of rent or revenue;
• the nature and extent of their interests and any conditions or liabilities attached;
• the rent or revenue payable by or to them; and
• other prescribed particulars.

Completion is notified in the Gazette. In Karnataka the record is kept digitally under the Bhoomi project. Karnataka Act 14 of 2026 inserted section 127(4), allowing Tahsildars in Kodagu to correct entries transferred under a 2000 circular from the Jamabandi register to columns 9 and 12 of the RTC, after inquiry and subject to appeal (the commencement date was not stated in the official consolidated text at the time of writing).

2. Reporting and mutation: sections 128 and 129

• Duty to report (section 128(1)). Any person acquiring a right by succession, survivorship, inheritance, partition, purchase, mortgage, gift, lease or otherwise must report it to the prescribed village officer within three months, and gets a written acknowledgment. A person acquiring by a registered document is exempt, because the registering authority itself reports the acquisition (section 128(4)). A partition report needs a sketch by a licensed surveyor.
• Late reports attract small penalties (section 128(3)).
• Register of Mutations (section 129). Every report is entered in the Register of Mutations; a copy is posted in the chavadi and written intimation is given to all persons interested. Objections go into the Register of Disputed Cases and are inquired into by the prescribed officer, who has the powers of a revenue officer in a formal or summary inquiry. Entries are tested and certified, and only certified entries are carried into the record of rights.

3. Patta book: section 129A

Every holder of agricultural land, including a tenant primarily liable for land revenue, is supplied with a patta book containing a copy of his record of rights, the land revenue and other dues paid, and details of cultivation and crops as shown in village records. It is prepared, issued and maintained under rules, which may prescribe fees. Under section 133, an entry in the patta book carries the same presumption as the record of rights.

4. Evidentiary value: sections 130 to 135

• Section 130: persons whose interests are recorded must furnish information and documents within thirty days on requisition.
• Section 132: every plaint or application about land must annex a certified copy of the relevant RTC or mutation entry; after decree the court informs the Deputy Commissioner, who corrects the entry.
• Section 133: presumption. An entry in the record of rights and a certified entry in the Register of Mutations or patta book is presumed true until the contrary is proved or a new entry is lawfully substituted.
• Section 135: bar of suits. No suit lies against the Government or its officers for an entry to be made, omitted or amended. But a person aggrieved as to a right of which he is in possession may sue any person denying his title for a declaration, and the record is then corrected to conform.

The presumption is rebuttable and fiscal in character. In Suraj Bhan v. Financial Commissioner, 2007 INSC 424, (2007) 6 SCC 186, the Supreme Court reiterated that an entry in revenue records does not confer title; mutation serves fiscal purposes (who pays the land revenue), and title must be decided by a competent civil court.

5. Appeal and revision: section 136

• Chapter V (appeal and revision) applies to orders under Chapter XI (section 136(1)).
• A person affected by an order on a disputed mutation (section 129(4)) or a certified entry (section 129(6)) may appeal within sixty days of communication of the order or knowledge of the entry to the prescribed officer (the Assistant Commissioner), whose decision is final (section 136(2)).
• The Deputy Commissioner may, on his own motion or on application, call for and examine records under sections 127 and 129 and pass orders, after hearing the party adversely affected (section 136(3)).

6. Problem: khata in the wrong name

Gurappa bought 2 acres 24 guntas in Sy. No. 17/5 from Lakshmidevi by a registered sale deed. He died without getting the khata changed. After Lakshmidevi’s death her daughter Manavi got a pavathi (inheritance) khata entered in her own name. Gurappa’s son Chalapathi now applies for khata in his name; the Tahsildar refuses because the RTC stands in Manavi’s name. Advise Chalapathi. (April 2023)

Issue. Whether Chalapathi can get the record corrected, and by what route.

Law. A buyer under a registered deed is exempt from reporting, and the registering authority must report the transfer (section 128). Mutation entries are presumed true only until the contrary is proved (section 133) and do not confer title (Suraj Bhan). An entry may be challenged in appeal within sixty days of knowledge (section 136(2)) or in revision before the Deputy Commissioner (section 136(3)); a declaratory suit lies against the person denying title (section 135).

Application. Lakshmidevi ceased to own the land when she sold it to Gurappa. Manavi inherited nothing in Sy. No. 17/5, so the pavathi entry rests on an extinct title. Chalapathi takes the land by inheritance from Gurappa and is entitled to report that under section 128. He should produce the registered sale deed and Gurappa’s death certificate and file an appeal to the Assistant Commissioner against the certified entry in Manavi’s favour, within sixty days of learning of it, or seek revision by the Deputy Commissioner. Section 129(2) required written intimation to everyone appearing to be interested; if the entry was certified without notice to Gurappa’s heirs, that is a further ground.

Conclusion. Chalapathi can get the khata corrected through section 136. If Manavi disputes the sale itself, the question is one of title for the civil court, and Chalapathi should sue her for a declaration under the proviso to section 135; the RTC will then be corrected under section 132(3). The same reasoning answers the similar April 2023 problem where a buyer’s son seeks khata after the vendor’s son has already got a pavathi khata.

7. Realisation of land revenue: sections 157 to 192

• Liability (section 157). The occupant (or, for alienated land, the superior holder) is primarily liable; joint occupants are jointly and severally liable. On default, the revenue may be recovered from any person in possession, but from a tenant only up to the current year’s demand, with credit against the person primarily liable.
• Priority (section 158). The State’s claim has precedence over every other debt, mortgage, decree or attachment, and current-year revenue is recoverable first from the crop.
• Due date and default (sections 159 and 160). Revenue falls due on the first day of the revenue year and is payable in prescribed instalments. An unpaid instalment becomes an arrear and the person liable a defaulter; a certified statement of account is conclusive, subject to payment under protest and a separate challenge.
• Processes (section 161), after a notice of demand (section 162): (a) forfeiture of the occupancy (section 163, after proclamation and fifteen days, and not where arrears do not exceed ten thousand rupees); (b) distraint and sale of movables, excluding property exempt under the CPC and articles of religious use (section 164); (c) attachment and sale of immovables (sections 165 to 168); and (d) attachment and management of a defaulting alienated village (sections 183 to 187).
• Sale (sections 168 to 181). Proclamation; sale by public auction; officers concerned may not bid; deposit by the purchaser and resale on default. The defaulter or anyone interested may apply within ninety days to the Deputy Commissioner to set the sale aside for material irregularity, mistake or fraud causing loss, or by depositing the arrears, costs and five per cent of the price for the purchaser (section 176). On confirmation the Tahsildar puts the purchaser in possession, enters his name in the land records and grants a certificate of purchase, which is a valid transfer (section 179).
• Section 182: liability of certified purchaser. A purchaser who has received a certificate of purchase is not liable for land revenue for any period before the date of the sale.
• Precautionary measures (sections 188 and 189) against crops of a likely defaulter; other public demands (section 190) recoverable in the same way; and recovery across districts (section 192).

8. Problem: the auction purchaser and old arrears

Ramappa bought 5 acres of Smt. Renuka’s land at a public auction held by the Tahsildar in 2022 for ₹20 lakh. The sale was confirmed and a certificate of purchase issued. Renuka had not paid land revenue for 2021. Is Ramappa liable for it? (August 2024)

Issue. Whether a certified purchaser at a revenue sale is liable for arrears that accrued before the sale.

Law. Section 157 makes the occupant primarily liable. Section 158 gives the State’s claim priority over the land. But section 182 provides that a purchaser to whom a certificate of purchase has been granted is not liable for land revenue for any period prior to the date of sale. Section 181 applies the sale proceeds first to the arrears and costs.

Application. Ramappa holds a certificate under section 179, which operates as a valid transfer. The 2021 revenue is for a period before the 2022 sale. The State’s remedy for it was against Renuka, and it is satisfied out of the auction proceeds before any surplus is paid to her.

Conclusion. Ramappa is not liable for the 2021 land revenue. He is liable only from the date of sale. Had he bought privately from Renuka, the land would have passed subject to the paramount charge under section 87, and the answer would be different.

How this is examined

“Explain the process of realisation of land revenue” (January 2026) uses section 7. “Record of rights” (August 2024, April 2023, November 2021) and “patta book” (August 2024, 100-mark paper) are short notes: sections 1 to 5. The khata and auction problems above were set in April 2023 and August 2024.