Glossary
Puducherry land & survey glossary
Plain-language meanings for the words on your Patta / Chitta and FMB sketch / village map, what each one is, and which of them you actually need before joining your sheets.
12 terms
- FMB sketchFMBFMB வரைபடம்
- Field Measurement Book sketch: the survey drawing of one survey number, with the length of each boundary line and the subdivisions inside it. Puducherry's are drawn on the same pattern as Tamil Nadu's. One sketch covers one number, so a plot across several numbers means several sketches, joined to see the plot whole.
- Village mapகிராம வரைபடம்
- The map of a whole revenue village, showing every survey number with its neighbours, roads and water bodies. It is drawn across several sheets, and it answers where a plot sits, where the FMB sketch answers its exact shape and measurements.
- Survey numberசர்வே எண்
- The number that identifies a parcel in a revenue village. Every record in Puducherry is keyed on it: the Patta, the FMB sketch and the village map. Use the current number from the re-survey, not an older one from a deed, when asking for any of them.
- Subdivision numberஉட்பிரிவு எண்
- 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 FMB sketch of the parent number.
- Pattaபட்டா
- The revenue record that names the holder of a survey number and gives its extent. It says who holds the land in the revenue department's books; it does not draw it. Read it together with the FMB sketch.
- Chittaசிட்டா
- The revenue extract listing a holder's survey numbers in a village with their extent and classification, such as wet or dry land. Where the Patta is the holder's title in the record, the Chitta is the line-by-line account behind it.
- Re-surveyமறு அளவை
- The later survey that re-measured Puducherry's villages and issued the current survey numbers. Land described in an older deed, including French-period records, may carry a number the current FMB no longer uses.
- Correlation statement
- The table that maps each old survey number to the new number, or numbers, it became after the re-survey. It is how an old deed is matched to the current Patta and FMB sketch, and the first thing to ask for when the two disagree.
- Revenue villageவருவாய் கிராமம்
- The unit the land records are kept in, which is not always the same as the village people name in conversation or the commune that governs it. Every map and record request names the revenue village, so take its spelling from the Patta.
- Village Administrative OfficerVAOகிராம நிர்வாக அலுவலர்
- The revenue official for a village or group of villages, who keeps the village accounts and is usually the first person to ask about a survey number's record on the ground.
- Tahsildarவட்டாட்சியர்
- The head of a taluk's revenue office. Patta changes, certified copies and correlation requests go through the taluk office, and each of Puducherry's four regions has its own.
- Encumbrance CertificateECவில்லங்கச் சான்று
- The certificate from the sub-registrar's office listing the registered transactions against a property over a period: sales, mortgages, gifts. It records what was registered, not who holds the land, so it is read alongside the Patta rather than instead of it.