Pahani, Khata, Mutation, Tippani: A Visual Guide to Karnataka Land Records

Quick Answer: Before signing a sale agreement for any plot in Karnataka, four documents decide whether your title is clean: the Pahani (RTC), the Khata, the Mutation Register (MR), and the Tippani. The Pahani is the Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops issued by the Revenue Department and accessed through the^[1], which now records over 20 million properties (Bhoomi Monitoring Cell, Government of Karnataka, 2026). The Khata is the municipal property account issued by the local body, with A Khata and B Khata classifications carrying sharply different legal consequences after the^[2]. The Mutation Register records every ownership change on a survey number under^[3]. The Tippani is the survey department's official sketch showing the parcel's measurements and boundaries, defined in the Karnataka Land Revenue Rules as "the sketch of a number not drawn to scale but showing the measurements" (^[4]). Skip any one of these checks and your due diligence is incomplete.

TL;DR

• Pahani / RTC is the primary ownership record for agricultural land. Verify it through the^[5].

• Khata is the local body's property tax account. A Khata is fully legal; B Khata is not. Use the^[6] for BBMP areas or^[7] for Gram Panchayat areas.

• Mutation Register records the legal transfer of a survey number after sale, inheritance, partition, or gift, governed by Sections 128 and 129 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964.

• Tippani is the official survey sketch showing boundaries, viewable on the^[8].

• Encumbrance Certificate covering 30 years pulled from the^[9] is a non-negotiable companion check.

• Dishaank app overlays survey boundaries onto live GPS for on-site verification, developed by the Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre.

Karnataka land records at a glance

What is a Pahani document in Karnataka and how do you read one

A Pahani, also called the RTC (Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops), is the foundational record for agricultural land in Karnataka, maintained under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964. It is accessed through the Bhoomi portal, launched by the Government of Karnataka in 2000 under the National Land Records Modernisation Programme. The portal now records over 20 million properties across the state.

A standard RTC contains 13 columns. When verifying a plot, four entries matter most (^[10]):

• Survey number, Surnoc, and Hissa number at the top. Unique identifiers for the parcel and any sub-divisions. Without these, no other check is possible.

• Column 9: Ownership. Owner's name, share extent, and Khata number. The primary entry establishing legal rights.

• Column 10: Mutation details. Year and reason for the last ownership change, whether sale, inheritance, partition, or gift.

• Column 11: Encumbrances. Bank loans, mortgages, government dues, and pending court cases on the parcel.

To pull a Pahani, use the Bhoomi View RTC and MR service and enter District, Taluk, Hobli, Village, and Survey Number. The free online view is for information only and is not digitally signed. For legal, banking, or court use, download the digitally signed i-RTC through the^[11] at approximately ₹25 per copy. Banks, courts, and government agencies accept the i-RTC as legally valid proof (^[12]).

Always pull both the current-year RTC and one covering the last 10 years. Year-over-year drift in the ownership column is a faster indicator of a contested title than any single snapshot.

What is the difference between A Khata and B Khata in Bengaluru

The Khata is the municipal property account issued by the local body, not the Revenue Department. The^[13] introduced the modern Khata system in 2007. It splits properties into two registers with sharply different legal consequences.

A Khata is issued to properties that fully comply with municipal laws, building bylaws, and zoning regulations. It includes a Khata Certificate (confirming legal registration for taxation) and a Khata Extract (containing property details). An A Khata holder can apply for trade licences, building plan approvals, and home loans from nationalised banks (^[14]).

B Khata is a separate register the BBMP uses to collect tax from properties with legal or planning gaps: construction on revenue land, missing Completion Certificates, or building bylaw violations. In December 2014, the Karnataka High Court ruled that paying tax under the B Khata does not confer legal ownership status. B Khata holders cannot use the document to access nationalised bank loans or building plan approvals.

For BBMP-area properties, the Khata is now issued through the e-Aasthi portal, which assigns a unique ePID to every A Khata property. For Gram Panchayat areas outside BBMP limits, the equivalent records are Form 9 (Khata) and Form 11 (Mutation), accessible through the e-Swathu portal. Confirm which local body has jurisdiction before searching, because the same plot will not appear on both systems.

How mutation works under Sections 128 and 129 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act

Mutation is the legal process that moves a survey number from the seller's name into the buyer's name in revenue records. Until mutation is certified, the seller still appears as the legal owner on the RTC, regardless of whether a sale deed has been registered.

Under Section 128 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, anyone acquiring rights in land must report the acquisition to the prescribed officer within three months. The officer enters the report in the Register of Mutations under Section 129, posts a copy at the village chavadi for public notice, and issues written intimation to all interested parties. If an objection is raised, it goes into a Register of Disputed Cases and is adjudicated before mutation is certified.

Once data flows from a registered sale deed through Kaveri 2.0 into Bhoomi, certification typically takes 45 to 90 days when uncontested (^[15]). Track status through "View Mutation Status" on the Bhoomi portal by entering the survey number, district, taluk, hobli, and village.

For partial transfers where one survey number is split, the^[16] made it obligatory to attach a sketch prepared by a Licensed Surveyor. This is the 11E sketch, and Sub-Registrar Offices verify it before any registration involving partition, gift, or boundary-sensitive transfers.

What is a Tippani and why boundary documents outweigh the RTC in disputes

The Tippani is the survey department's official sketch of a survey number, drawn during the original cadastral survey. The Karnataka Land Revenue Rules define it precisely as "the sketch of a number not drawn to scale but showing the measurements" (Karnataka Land Revenue Terms reference).

It matters because the RTC is a textual document. It tells you who owns the parcel and how much land it covers, but not where the boundaries fall. In a boundary dispute, the Tippani, Akarband, and Pakka Book carry higher evidentiary weight in court than the RTC (^[17]). Karnataka's survey document set includes:

• Tippani / Tippan: Original field sketch with linear measurements, angles, and offsets for the survey number. Prime reference for boundary definition.

• Akarband: Settlement register recording survey-wise area, classification, and assessment. The master document for legal area entries.

• Pakka Book: Finalised register consolidating measurements after survey checking and approval.

• Atlas: Compiled village or hobli map sheets showing every surveyed plot in context.

• Hissa Tippani: Sketch for a survey number bifurcated into sub-survey numbers, listing each owner against the relevant mutation entry.

All five are viewable through the Karnataka Land Records Image Retrieval System on the Bhoomi portal. For on-site verification, use the Dishaank app developed by the Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre (KSRSAC), which overlays survey boundaries onto your live GPS location.

Seven red flags that should stop a Karnataka plot purchase

1. Owner name on the RTC does not match the seller's identity documents. Until mutation is current, the seller cannot legally transfer the land.

2. Column 11 of the RTC shows an active loan or mortgage. The encumbrance must be cleared and the entry updated before purchase.

3. No Tippan available for the survey number. Boundary disputes without a sketch are nearly impossible to resolve in your favour.

4. B Khata classification on a BBMP property marketed as fully legal. The 2014 Karnataka High Court ruling makes this material.

5. Agricultural land sold for residential use without a Section 95(2) Conversion Order from the Deputy Commissioner.

6. EC gaps shorter than 30 years. Pre-2004 records in particular need physical verification at the Sub-Registrar's office.

7. Dishaank boundary does not match the seller's physical demarcation. The single most common indicator of an encroachment dispute.

How to verify a Karnataka plot in six steps

1. Pull the current-year and 10-year-old RTC from the Bhoomi portal. Match ownership consistency and confirm Column 11 shows no active encumbrances.

2. Pull the Mutation Register entry for the same survey number. The most recent mutation must match the seller's claim of acquisition.

3. Verify the Khata through e-Aasthi for BBMP areas or e-Swathu for Gram Panchayat areas. Confirm it is an A Khata where the property type requires it.

4. Pull a 30-year Encumbrance Certificate through the Kaveri 2.0 portal for unregistered transactions, court orders, or undisclosed mortgages.

5. Order the Tippan and Akarband from the survey documents service. Match the sketch to on-site demarcation and use Dishaank to confirm the GPS overlay.

6. For agricultural land marketed for non-agricultural use, verify the Conversion Order under Section 95(2) of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, signed by the Deputy Commissioner.

For higher-value plots, especially along the corridors around Bengaluru where institutional development is accelerating on NH44, the Bangalore-Vijayawada Expressway, and the KIA corridor, developers like Agrocorp Landbase complete this full document trail in-house before offering parcels to buyers. The underlying documents are identical whether the buyer purchases direct or through a developer. The difference is whether the verification sits on the buyer or on the institution.

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