Glossary
Lakshadweep land & survey glossary
Plain-language meanings for the words on your Land record extract and island / plot sketch, what each one is, and which of them you actually need before joining your sheets.
12 terms
- Plot sketch
- The survey drawing of one survey number, with its boundary lines and the subdivisions inside it. One sketch covers one number, so a holding across several numbers means several sketches, joined to see the holding whole.
- Island survey map
- The survey map of a whole island, showing every survey number with its neighbours, paths and the shore. It runs across several sheets and answers where a plot sits, where the plot sketch answers its exact shape.
- Survey number
- The number that identifies a parcel on an island. Every land record in Lakshadweep is keyed on it: the land record extract, the plot sketch and the island map. Quote the island with it, since numbers repeat from one island to the next.
- Subdivision number
- The part after the slash in a number like 45/2: a share of the original survey number created when it was split by sale, partition or inheritance. Each subdivision appears on the sketch of the parent number.
- Island (revenue village)
- Each inhabited island is its own revenue village. A land request names the island first, then the survey number, and it goes to the revenue office for that island.
- Sub-division
- The unit between the district and the island. Lakshadweep has four: Amini, Andrott, Kavaratti and Minicoy, each covering one or more islands.
- Land record extract
- The revenue record of who holds a survey number and how it is classified. It names the holder and the extent; it does not draw the land. Pair it with the plot sketch to see the parcel it describes.
- Mutation
- The change in the land record that follows a transfer, an inheritance or a partition. Until it is made, the record still names the previous holder.
- Tharavad
- A matrilineal joint family, and the property it holds as a whole. Much island land is Tharavad property, so a record may name the family rather than one person, and separating out a share is a partition, not a simple sale.
- Pandaram land
- Land that historically belonged to the islands' ruler and later to the government, occupied and cultivated by islanders under long-standing arrangements. Its status differs from family-held land and has been disputed, so check how a survey number is classified before relying on it.
- Land transfer restriction
- Lakshadweep's own land regulation restricts transfers of land in order to protect land held by the islanders. Whether a given transfer is allowed is a question for the revenue department and an advocate, not for the map.
- Revenue office
- The Lakshadweep Administration's revenue staff for an island or sub-division, who keep the survey sketches and the land records for that island. The first place to ask for a sketch that is not online.