**Table 5: State income from land registration (Rs. million, at current prices)**

||**199**|**4-95**|**199**|**5-96**|**199**|**6-97**|**199**|**7-98**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Head of**|**Target**|**Actual**|**Target**|**Actual**|**Target**|**Actual**|**Target**|**Actual**|
|**Account**|||||||||
|Stamp duties|_503.50_|401.80|763.80|500.60|687.50|566.30|855.10|488.30|
|Registration|118.40|8150|132.60|89.50|112.40|112.20|174.80|110.30|
|FeesI|||||||||
|Total|621.90|483.30|896.40|590.10|799.90|678.50|1029.90|<br>598.60|

Source: Inspector-General of Registration, Board of Revenue, Cuttack

# _4.1.2 Mutation_

Registration of deeds is followed by mutation, which is to register a change in the record-of-rights in land. Sale deeds carry no guarantee of validity, and therefore offer no conclusive evidence of rights in land. Once mutation has been effected, the government, through the tehsil office, provides the landowner with documentary evidence of rights in land, locally called a patta<sup>2 3</sup> , which amounts to evidence of land title. A legal interest in land is not created or transferred until mutation takes place. However, as we describe below, this process is both lengthy and costly, and many landowners do not bother to embark upon it, preferring instead to use their sale deed as evidence of their land rights, and to wait until the next survey and settlement operation during which they expect to be issued with _apatta_ after the land records have been updated.

Registration of transfer deeds of any property is intimated by the sub-registrar to the concerned tehsildar in a prescribed format (on Form No.3). This information is used by the tehsildar to effect the mutation in the ROR<sup>24</sup> . Mutation refers to the amendment of state records to reflect a change in ownership or other rights in land through sale/purchase, gift, inheritance or mortgage<sup>25</sup> .

Before making any change in the ROR, the Tehsildar<sup>26</sup> calls for objections to the transaction within a stipulated period. Any objections to the transaction are dealt with by the tehsil court. Sometimes, the matter may be referred to the next higher court of the Sub-Collector or above. Once the mutation is allowed, the Tehsildar issues a notification to update the RORs of the land transferor(s)! transferee(s). After mutation and correction of RORs, a 45-day appeal period is allowed for challenging the mutation. This is particularly relevant in the case of multiple brothers with potential claims on a parcel of land, one of whom may challenge the transaction. Finally, certified copies reflecting the latest status of land ownership are issued to the seller(s) and purchaser(s), the copy of the original record maintained at the Tehsil office is up-dated, and necessary corrections are made in the village map to reflect the most recent plot boundaries.

- _23 Patta_ locally means a card, and is probably derived from the English system which used loose cards prior to computerisation.

- 24 The Form includes information on village, _thana, khata_ number, plot number(s) and respective area(s), amount of rent, type of transfer (sale/gift/partition), name of the registration office, registration number, and the names and addresses of the vendor(s) and vendee(s).

- 25 Mutations arising from inheritance do not have to be registered and are initiated at the tehsil office (without submission of Form No. 3).

26 However, the tehsildar is not empowered to mutate cases during settlement operations. At such times, mutation is carried out by the Settlement Officer.

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