How to read a Haryana Jamabandi, and what a Fard actually is
What each column of a Haryana record of rights tells you, how Kanal and Marla convert, and why a registered sale deed and an updated Fard are two different things.
A Fard is a copy of the Jamabandi for a particular holding, and it is the document people actually carry to a bank or a registration. Fard and Nakal mean the same thing in ordinary use. It is worth being clear at the outset that it is a copy of the record, not a title: it tells you what the revenue record says, and the record can be behind the facts.
Owner, cultivator, and the numbers between them
The Jamabandi records the owner and the cultivator separately, and they are not always the same person. Against them sit the Killa and Khasra numbers held, with the area of each. Killa is the consolidated square; Khasra is the older general term for a field number, and both remain in use, especially where land was never consolidated or sits inside the abadi.
Reading the area
Area is written in Kanal and Marla, with twenty Marla to a Kanal and eight Kanal to an acre. This matters more than it sounds: land is bought and sold in acres and in square yards, and quoted in neither on the record. An area taken off a Fard and compared straight to a listing is the sort of mistake that survives all the way to a valuation.
Encumbrances and what else is noted
Loans charged against the land, and other entries affecting it, are noted on the Jamabandi. They are part of what the Fard is being read for, and they are the reason a buyer reads past the ownership line rather than stopping at it.
Intkaal: the gap between the deed and the record
Intkaal is mutation, the entry that records a transfer by sale, inheritance or partition against the holding. Until it is sanctioned the Jamabandi still shows the previous owner, whatever a registered sale deed says. A completed sale and an updated Fard are two separate events, and the interval between them is where a large share of disputes begin. Checking mutation status is the practical first step in verifying that a seller can sell.
What the Girdawari adds
The Girdawari is the Patwari's seasonal crop inspection against each Killa: what was sown, and whether the land was irrigated. It is separate from the ownership entry, and a question about how the land has actually been used, or a crop-loss claim, is answered from it rather than from the Jamabandi.
From the record to the map
The Jamabandi lists Killa numbers and stops there. Which of them touch each other, and what the holding looks like as one shape, comes from the Musavi sheets for the Murabbas those Killas fall in. Joining those sheets into one drawing is usually the last step before a valuation or a site visit.
🔗 Haryana land and survey glossary →Frequently asked questions
Is a Fard the same as a Jamabandi?+
A Fard is a copy of the Jamabandi for a particular holding. Fard and Nakal are used interchangeably. The Jamabandi is the village record; the Fard is the extract from it that a holder carries.
Does a Fard prove ownership?+
No. It is a copy of the record of rights, which says what the revenue record shows. Title comes from the deeds and the chain behind them, and the record can lag the facts where a mutation has not been sanctioned.
How do I convert Kanal and Marla to an acre?+
Twenty Marla make a Kanal, and eight Kanal make an acre. Because listings are quoted in acres or square yards and the record is not, this conversion is worth doing explicitly rather than by eye.