How to read a Ladakh Jamabandi and Fard
Khewat, Khasra, Kanal and Marla: what each part of a Ladakh Jamabandi tells you, what a Fard is, and why the Girdawari and the Intiqal matter before a purchase.
The Jamabandi is the record of rights for a village. In Ladakh it reads the way it does in Jammu and Kashmir, where the system came from. It is a table, and most confusion comes from mixing up its numbers.
The three numbers
- Khewat
- The ownership account: the number under which one owner, or a group of co-owners, holds land in the village.
- Khatauni
- The cultivation account within a Khewat: who actually cultivates, whether the owner or a tenant.
- Khasra
- The field: one parcel on the Shajra. One Khewat can include many Khasras, and one Khasra can be shared by several Khewats.
Area: Kanal and Marla
Area is given in Kanal and Marla, as in Jammu and Kashmir. One Kanal is 20 Marla. Convert before you compare with a deed, a valuation or a plan in acres or square feet, because a mismatch in units is the most common false alarm.
Ownership and classification
Read the owner column before anything else. Land recorded as Khalsa Sarkar belongs to the government and cannot be sold as a private holding, and grazing land and other common land are recorded under their own entries. The classification column says what kind of land the Khasra is, irrigated or not, cultivated or not.
Fard, Girdawari and Intiqal
A Fard is a certified copy of a Jamabandi entry, the copy a bank, a registration or a court will want. The Khasra Girdawari is the Patwari's record of what was sown and who was in possession at each harvest. The Intiqal is the mutation that records a transfer. Until an Intiqal is attested, the Jamabandi still names the previous owner, whatever the sale deed says, so check its status before relying on a Jamabandi for a purchase.
From the record to the map
The Jamabandi lists Khasra numbers and stops there. Which of them adjoin, and what the holding looks like as one shape, comes from the Shajra sheets they fall on. Joining those sheets is usually the last step before an Intiqal, a loan, a demarcation request or a court annexure.
🔗 Ladakh land and survey glossary →Frequently asked questions
How many Marla make a Kanal?+
Twenty. The Jamabandi gives area in Kanal and Marla, so convert before comparing it with a deed or plan in acres or square feet.
What is the difference between a Jamabandi and a Fard?+
The Jamabandi is the record of rights itself. A Fard is a certified copy of an entry in it, issued through the Patwari or the tehsil, and is what a bank, a registration or a court asks for.
Why does the Jamabandi still show the old owner after the land was transferred?+
Because the Intiqal, the mutation that records the transfer, has not been attested yet. Until it is, the record names the previous owner regardless of the registered deed.