Tamil Nadu Land Records Online: What You Can Download and What Still Needs an Office Visit

If you have ever tried to pull your own land documents in Tamil Nadu, you have probably hit the same wall most people do: some records download in two minutes, and others send you on a trip to a government office that you didn't plan for.

The notice below — photographed at a Tamil Nadu revenue office — actually spells this out better than most websites do. It sorts land documents into three groups: the ones you can download online, the ones held only at the Taluk (Vattatchiyar / வட்டாட்சியர்) office, and the ones held only at the District Collector (Maavatta Aatchiyar / மாவட்ட ஆட்சியர்) office.

1. Documents you can download online

The notice points to one portal for downloads: tnlandsurvey.tn.gov.in — the Commissionerate of Survey and Settlement, Government of Tamil Nadu. Through it you can download:

• கிராம வரைபடங்கள் (Village maps) — the overall map of a revenue village.
• புலப்படம் (Puluppadam / FMB) — the field measurement sketch for a survey number.
• அ-பதிவேடு (A-Register) — the survey register showing extent, classification and ownership history.
• சிட்டா (Chitta) — the revenue record of who holds the land and its classification.

There is also a second, separate portal worth knowing about: eservices.tn.gov.in — the "Anytime, Anywhere" e-Services of Land Records. That one is for viewing and verifying Patta / Chitta, the A-Register extract, the FMB sketch and the TSLR extract (for urban / town land). Many people confuse the two. The simple rule:

• tnlandsurvey.tn.gov.in → buying / downloading survey maps (village maps, FMB).
• eservices.tn.gov.in → viewing and verifying patta-chitta, A-Register and FMB sketches with an OTP.

2. Documents available only at the Taluk (Vattatchiyar) office

These are not maintained online. The notice is explicit: to get them, contact the relevant Taluk office.

• UDR புலப்படம் (UDR FMB) — the field sketch under the Updating of Registry (UDR) scheme.
• UDR அ-பதிவேடு (UDR A-Register) — the corresponding UDR survey register.
• அடங்கல், சிட்டா (Adangal, Chitta) — the cultivation account and revenue record.
• நத்தம் புலப்படம், சிட்டா, அடங்கல் (Natham FMB, Chitta, Adangal) — the same set for natham (village habitation) land.
• நகர அளவை பிளாக் வரைபடங்கள் / நிலப்பதிவேடு (Town survey block maps / Land register) — for urban surveyed land.

3. Documents available only at the District Collector office

These are the older, settlement-era records. They are held at the Collectorate and, again, are not online.

• பழைய புலப்படம் (Old FMB) — the historical field sketch, often from the original settlement survey.
• பழைய செட்டில்மேண்ட் பதிவேடு (OSR) — the Old Settlement Register.
• பழைய அ-பதிவேடு (RSR) — the older settlement-era A-Register (commonly referred to as the Re-Settlement Register).
• S.L.R — another settlement-era land register.
• நத்தம் நிலவரித்திட்ட ஆவணங்கள் (Natham land survey documents) — settlement records for habitation land.
• இனாம் பதிவேடுகள் (Inam registers) — records of inam (tax-free / granted) lands.

If you are tracing the history of a plot — old boundaries, an original grant, a pre-digitisation survey — this is the bucket you'll usually be working from, and it means a visit (or a written application) to the District Collector's office.

Quick glossary

FMB (Field Measurement Book)

The sketch showing the exact shape and boundaries of a survey number. In Tamil it's the puluppadam (புலப்படம்). Rural land uses FMB; urban land uses the TSLR sketch instead.

A-Register

The survey register listing extent, land classification and ownership for each survey number.

Chitta

The revenue record confirming who holds the land and how it's classified (wet / dry, etc.).

Adangal

The cultivation account maintained at the village level.

Natham

Village habitation land, recorded separately from agricultural land.

UDR (Updating of Registry)

The scheme under which survey records were re-verified and updated.

Inam land

Land historically granted tax-free; recorded in separate inam registers.

The catch with downloaded FMB sketches — and how Village Map Joiner helps

Here's the part most people only discover after they've downloaded their files. When you pull FMB sketches or village map sheets from tnlandsurvey.tn.gov.in, you don't get one clean continuous map. You get individual sketches, one survey number at a time — each on its own sheet, each in its own orientation.

The moment you need to see how your plot sits next to the neighbouring survey numbers, how a subdivided parcel fits back into the parent, or where a boundary actually runs across two sheets, you're left manually rotating, scaling and aligning images by eye. That's exactly the gap Village Map Joiner was built to close — it stitches separate FMB / village map sketches into a single, correctly aligned map, so you can see the whole picture instead of a pile of disconnected sheets.

So the workflow is simple:

1. Download your village maps and FMB sketches from tnlandsurvey.tn.gov.in.
2. Verify ownership via patta-chitta / A-Register on eservices.tn.gov.in.
3. Join the FMB sheets into one continuous map with Village Map Joiner.
4. For the historical records (Old FMB, OSR, RSR, inam), visit the Taluk or District Collector office as the notice directs.