How to get the land sketches for a plot in Nagaland
Nagaland has no state-wide cadastral map. What maps a plot has under customary tenure, what the revenue areas around Dimapur keep, and how to join sketches into one plan.
Most land in Nagaland is owned by clans, villages and individuals under Naga customary law, which Article 371A protects. That land was never put into a state-wide cadastral survey, so there is no village map series to download. What a plot has instead is sketches, and the revenue areas in and around Dimapur are the main exception.
First, which kind of land is it?
- Customary land
- Clan, community or individual land held under customary law. The Village Council vouches for who holds it, and the map is a sketch.
- Revenue land
- Land in areas such as Dimapur that came under revenue administration. It has plot numbers and pattas in the Deputy Commissioner's land records.
Collecting sketches for customary land
- Gather every sketch you already have: the one on the sale deed, the one with the land holding certificate, and any older survey.
- Ask the Village Council, and the Gaon Bura, whether a sketch of the plot or of the neighbouring plots is held, and how the khel and clan boundaries run.
- Where the land touches a road, a river or government land, ask the circle office or the Deputy Commissioner's office for the survey of that stretch.
- If nothing reliable exists, commission a surveyor, and ask for the neighbours' boundaries to be shown as well as yours.
Getting sheets for revenue land
For a patta plot, start from the patta: note the village and the plot number exactly as written. Ask the Deputy Commissioner's land records branch for the sheet the plot falls on, and for the adjoining sheet if the plot sits near an edge.
Joining the sketches
A family's or clan's land is often drawn in pieces: one sketch per sale, per heir, per decade. Put every piece on one canvas, scale them against a boundary you can measure, and line them up along the edges they share. The joined plan is what you take to the Village Council when a partition is agreed, or to a bank with the certificate.
🔗 Nagaland land records: documents, districts and circles →Frequently asked questions
Is there a Bhu-Naksha or online land map for Nagaland?+
No state-wide one. Most land is held under customary law and has no cadastral map. Maps are sketches held by the holder, the Village Council or a surveyor; in revenue areas around Dimapur the Deputy Commissioner's office keeps sheets by plot number.
Where do I get the map of a patta plot in Dimapur?+
From the Deputy Commissioner's land records branch for the district, quoting the village and plot number as the patta gives them. Ask for the adjoining sheet too if the plot is near an edge.
Can I join a clan's land from several sketches into one map?+
Yes. Put every sketch on one canvas, scale them against a shared measured boundary and align them. There is no limit on how many sketches go into one map.