Jammu & Kashmir’s Jamabandi Crisis: How Bureaucratic Neglect and Digitization Blunders Have Shaken Land Ownership Integrity.
||Black & White Digital News||
||Parvinder Singh March 12, 2025||
The Legacy of Jamabandi: A Pillar of Land Governance Under Siege:
In India’s intricate land governance framework, Jamabandi has long been revered as the bedrock of property ownership. This Record of Rights (RoR) meticulously documents land proprietorship, tenancy, soil classification, and encumbrances—acting as a vital reference for property transactions, agricultural subsidies, and legal disputes. Historically, its meticulous maintenance ensured credibility. However, Jammu & Kashmir’s once-robust Jamabandi system is now crumbling under bureaucratic negligence and digitization errors, jeopardizing land security for thousands.
A Legacy Tarnished: How Digitization Has Compounded Errors:
Jammu & Kashmir, renowned for its well-maintained land records, once followed a rigorous Charsala Daur (four-year cycle) for Jamabandi updates. Supervised by the Financial Commissioner Revenue, these records—particularly those from the 1960s—are still deemed error-free. However, in a paradoxical turn, the push for digitization has corroded rather than strengthened this legacy.
A staggering 70% of newly digitized Jamabandis in J&K lack proper verification. Despite a structured accountability hierarchy—where Girdawar Qanungos are 100% responsible, Naib Tehsildars bear 50% accountability, Tehsildars 25%, and the Assistant Commissioner Revenue (ACR) another 25%—the system is collapsing.
Instead of thorough verification, records are carelessly endorsed without scrutiny, leaving Patwaris as the sole bearers of rectification burdens.
Shocking Discrepancies Exposed in Digitized Jamabandis:
A critical examination of Jamabandis on the “Aap Ki Zameen, Aap Ki Nigrani” portal exposes glaring errors that undermine ownership legitimacy.
Village Sunjawan, Tehsil Bahu, Jammu (2020-21 Jamabandi)
Khewat No. 1586, Khata No. 3860—Marked as Shamilat Deh (common land), with tenancy labeled as Sharayi Aam (public passage), yet crucial details like soil classification and area are missing.
Khata No. 3861—Land area is omitted entirely, and survey numbers replace soil classification, making verification impossible.
Village Kanal, Jammu
Khewat No. 3, Khata No. 12—Land listed as Sarkar (government-owned), tenancy stated as Shikargah (hunting ground), but no survey numbers or soil types are recorded, rendering the entry legally ambiguous.
Village Sidhra, Jammu
Khewat No. 302, Khata No. 1752—Tenancy details state Seeta Devi Baaya Gh Nabi Bhat Mushtere for 10 marlas under Survey No. 74 min, but Mutation No. 685 refers to Survey No. 312/97—an irreconcilable mismatch that erodes the document’s credibility.
Bureaucratic Apathy: The Unending Loop of Inaction:
Half of the people visiting tehsil offices come seeking corrections in faulty Jamabandis, yet they are shuffled from one department to another in an endless bureaucratic maze. Revenue officers routinely deflect responsibility:
Tehsildars redirect applicants to Regional Directors,
Regional Directors claim only the concerned Tehsildars can approve corrections,
Meanwhile, Patwaris bear the blame for errors they never created.
Despite Financial Commissioner Revenue’s directive mandating that new Jamabandis undergo public verification before landowners, middle-level officers consistently ignore this requirement, allowing unchecked errors to persist.
A Land Ownership Crisis in the Making:
The Jamabandi system in Jammu & Kashmir is not just faltering—it is on the brink of collapse. What was once a pillar of land security now breeds legal chaos, fraudulent claims, and ownership disputes. Unless revenue officials, particularly middle-tier officers, step up and enforce stringent verification, land records will soon lose all legitimacy.
The solution lies not just in digitization but in a commitment to accuracy, transparency, and accountability. If systemic inefficiencies are not immediately rectified, Jamabandi—once the guardian of land security—will be reduced to a relic of misgovernance and decay.
Office of LG, J&K
Omar Abdullah
Deputy CM Surinder choudhary
Satish Sharma
Sat Sharma CA
Sunil Sharma
Jammu and Kashmir
Chander Parkash Ganga
Dr Narinder Singh
Surjit Singh Slathia
Kavinder Gupta
Ravinder Raina
Balwant Singh Mankotia
Arvind Gupta
Ankur Sharma
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