Revenue and Land Records Knowledge
Who maintains what
The revenue hierarchy runs Financial Commissioner (Revenue) → Divisional Commissioner → Deputy Commissioner, who is the District Collector → Tehsildar or Naib Tehsildar → Kanungo (Girdawar) → Patwari. A patwar circle is a group of villages; several patwar circles make a kanungo circle; the tehsil is the registry unit. The legal frame is the Punjab Land Revenue Act 1887, the Punjab Tenancy Act 1887, the Punjab Land Reforms Act 1972 and the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act 1961.
Core records
- Shajra Nasab - pedigree of owners.
- Shajra Kishtwar or Aks Shajra - map of field numbers.
- Khasra Girdawari - crop inspection register, recorded twice a year for Kharif and Rabi.
- Jamabandi - record of rights, revised periodically (normally every five years); the Khatauni lists cultivators.
- Intkal - mutation register recording transfer by sale, inheritance (warasat), gift (hiba), exchange or decree.
- Roznamcha Waqiati - the Patwari's daily diary.
- Wajib-ul-Arz - village customs and rights; Shamilat Deh - common village land.
Worked example
A jamabandi entry reads 'Khasra 12/1, area 2-8-0'. Read the area as 2 kanal 8 marla, because Punjab revenue area is written in kanal–marla. With 1 kanal = 20 marla and 1 acre = 8 kanal, 2 kanal 8 marla = 48 marla = 0.3 acre. The '12/1' is a tatima, a sub-division of old khasra 12.
Traps
- Treating bigha as fixed; its size varies locally, so keep revenue answers in kanal–marla.
- Confusing Khewat (owner's account) with Khata (cultivator's account).
- Assuming a mutation creates ownership - it only records a transfer already made.
- Mixing Girdawari (crop) with Jamabandi (rights).