Articles

Jamabandi, the backbone of land records: Significance and digitization challenges

4 March 2025

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By: Mohammad Amin Mir

In the vast and intricate landscape of India’s land governance, Jamabandi emerges is an important pillar, anchoring the legal sanctity of property ownership. This document, deeply rooted in the subcontinent’s agrarian and administrative framework, serves as a definitive record to land rights, cultivation details, and taxation history. While historically revered for its meticulous record-keeping, contemporary digitization efforts have cast a shadow over its reliability, marred by bureaucratic lethargy and systemic inefficiencies.

Deciphering Jamabandi: The Legal Manifesto of Land Ownership

At its core, Jamabandi is a land revenue record, commonly referred to as the Record of Rights (RoR), encapsulating exhaustive details of proprietorship, tenancy, soil classification, and encumbrances. It functions as an archival repository, chronicling the lineage of ownership over decades, if not centuries. The document is indispensable not only for property transactions but also for securing agricultural subsidies, obtaining loans, and asserting legal claims over disputed land parcels.

In several states such as Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, and Rajasthan, digital portals have been introduced to facilitate public access to Jamabandi records. However, the transition from handwritten ledgers to digital databases has been fraught with errors, rendering the sanctity of these records questionable.

Jamabandi in Jammu & Kashmir: Now Marred by Neglect

Jammu & Kashmir, a region historically known for its robust land revenue documentation, once prided itself on Jamabandis that were written with meticulous adherence to prescribed timeframes and verification protocols. The first systematic land settlement, undertaken nearly a century ago, established an unassailable precedent of record maintenance. These Jamabandis, compiled in four-year cycles (Charsala Daur), were scrutinized rigorously under the aegis of the Financial Commissioner Revenue. Consequently, Jamabandis from the 1960s are still regarded as error-free, a standard seldom met in recent years.

The advent of digitization, instead of fortifying this legacy, has introduced an era of unchecked errors and bureaucratic apathy. Alarmingly, nearly 70% of newly digitized Jamabandis lack proper verification. The hierarchical responsibility matrix—where Girdawar Qanungos bear 100% accountability, Naib Tehsildars 50%, Tehsildars 25%, and the attesting authority (Assistant Commissioner Revenue) another 25%—has failed spectacularly in ensuring quality control. Instead, the burden of rectification is unjustly thrust solely upon Patwaris, while higher officials merely endorse records without substantive scrutiny.

Glaring Errors and Their Consequences

A perfunctory examination of digital Jamabandis on the “Aap Ki Zameen, Aap Ki Nigrani” portal unearths a litany of discrepancies:

Village Sunjawan, Tehsil Bohu, Jammu (2020-21 Jamabandi):

Khewat No. 1586, Khata No. 3860—Land ownership marked as Shamilat Deh (common land), tenancy column states Sharayi Aam (public passage), but soil classification and area details are conspicuously absent.

Similarly, Khata No. 3861 omits land area entirely, replacing the soil classification column with survey numbers—an egregious clerical oversight that renders ownership verification impossible.

Village Kanal, Jammu:

Khewat No. 3, Khata No. 12—Land classified as Sarkar (government-owned), tenancy column marked as Shikargah (hunting ground), yet neither survey numbers nor soil types are recorded, rendering the entry legally ambiguous.

Village Sidhra, Jammu:

Khewat No. 302, Khata No. 1752—Tenancy details list Seeta Devi Baaya Gh Nabi Bhat Mushtere for 10 marlas of land under Survey No. 74 min. However, Mutation No. 685 cited in the record pertains to Survey No. 312/97, a blatant mismatch that undermines the document’s credibility.

Village Panzat Wanpora, Tehsil Qazigund, Anantnag:

The case of Sultan Mir’s inheritance exposes another serious lapse. Despite his mutation being duly attested in favor of four sons, only two are reflected in the tenancy column of the digitized Jamabandi. The remaining heirs, excluded by clerical oversight, find themselves entangled in a bureaucratic quagmire, forced to oscillate between tehsil offices in a futile quest for rectification.

Need for Reform

A staggering 50% of individuals visiting tehsil offices seek rectification of Jamabandi errors, yet their grievances are met with procedural indifference. Middle-tier revenue officers routinely deflect responsibility, redirecting applicants to Regional Director offices, which, in turn, dismiss the concerns on the pretext that only concerned Tehsildars can authorize corrections. This cyclical buck-passing has institutionalized inefficiency, rendering the rectification process an exercise in futility.

The Financial Commissioner Revenue has stipulated that newly written Jamabandis must undergo rigorous verification, be publicly read before Zamindars (landowners), and only then be digitized. Yet, this directive is flouted with impunity, as middle-rung officers exhibit a conspicuous lack of diligence. Their apathy has engendered a crisis wherein historical accuracy is being eroded, and fraudulent claims are finding legal loopholes due to flawed documentation.

Conclusion: A Call for Systemic Overhaul

The decay in Jamabandi record-keeping is not merely a clerical oversight but a systemic failure that threatens the very foundation of land ownership in Jammu and Kashmir. Without immediate intervention—marked by stringent verification mechanisms, accountability at higher administrative levels, and a genuine commitment to rectification—this crisis will deepen, leading to protracted land disputes and legal ambiguities.

If revenue officials, particularly those at the middle level, muster the resolve to uphold directives with integrity, an error-free land record system is still within reach. The need of the hour is not just digitization but an ironclad commitment to accuracy, transparency, and accountability—lest Jamabandi, once the bastion of land security, becomes a relic of decay.