The short version
Title — the legal right to own and deal with land — comes from a lawful chain of transfers (registered sale deeds, gift deeds, partitions, decrees, inheritance and so on). Revenue records — in Haryana, the Jamabandi and mutation entries maintained under the Punjab Land-Revenue Act, 1887 — record who holds and cultivates land for revenue purposes. Courts have repeatedly said that revenue entries do not by themselves create or extinguish title (Jitendra Singh, 2021). In practice you need both, and they must agree.
Why it matters
Buyers, lenders and authorities rely on revenue entries every day. If the record and the title chain disagree — a different name, a different share, a mutation that never happened — you inherit the problem.
What to collect
- The chain of title documents going back as far as your advocate advises, with registration particulars.
- The current Jamabandi and earlier ones covering the period of the chain.
- Mutation orders recording each change.
- The cadastral map (village map) extract for the khasra numbers.
- Any court orders, partitions or family settlements affecting the land.
Questions to ask
- Does every transfer in the chain appear as a mutation, and does each mutation trace to a document?
- Do names, fathers' names, shares and khasra numbers match across documents?
- Are there entries of mortgage, lease, stay or dispute in the record?
- Are any owners minors, deceased or abroad, and how will they sign?
Who decides
Your advocate gives the title opinion. The revenue officer sanctions mutations. Civil courts decide title disputes.
Next step
Ask for the documents above at the first conversation. See also Jamabandi, mutation and land identifiers and our service, Revenue records, mutation & registration.