Checked on 8 August 2026. Rates, rules and portals in Karnataka change, sometimes at short notice. Treat this as an orientation, not as advice on your own transaction, and have your advocate confirm anything that decides money.
RTC, or pahani
The Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops is the working document of agricultural land in Karnataka. It records the survey number, the extent, who holds it, what is grown, and the nature of the tenure. On a coffee estate it is the first document to ask for and the one you will refer to most.
What it does not do is prove ownership in the way a title deed does. It is a revenue record. It is strong evidence and its absence is a serious warning, but a name on an RTC is not the end of a title investigation.
Mutation register
Mutation, often called MR, is the record of how the holding passed from one name to the next: sale, inheritance, partition, gift. Read as a sequence, it is the chain of how the land came to the person now offering it to you.
Gaps and abrupt changes in that chain are worth understanding before you go further. On family plantation land held across generations, partition entries are where most complications sit.
Khata
Khata is the property tax account: it identifies who is liable to pay tax on the property to the local body. An A-khata is a regular, fully recognised account. A B-khata indicates a property the local body records for tax but treats as irregular, and it carries real consequences for borrowing and for building.
Khata is about tax and municipal recognition. Like the RTC, it is not proof of title.
Encumbrance certificate
The EC lists registered transactions against the property over a period: sales, mortgages, charges. Ask for 30 years rather than the 13 that is commonly offered. The extra years cost very little and they are where old mortgages and forgotten partitions surface.
An EC shows what was registered. It cannot show what was never registered, which is precisely why an EC alone is not a title search.
What none of them prove
Taken together these four tell you who the revenue and tax records point at, and what has been registered against the land. They do not settle whether the seller has clean, marketable title, whether there is a live dispute, whether the land is restricted or granted tenure, or whether the boundary on the ground matches the boundary on paper.
That is what an advocate's title opinion and a surveyor are for. On plantation land, walk the boundary with the surveyor. Boundary disagreement with a neighbouring estate is among the most common and most bitter problems in this district.
Common questions
What is an RTC or pahani?
The Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops: Karnataka's revenue record for agricultural land, showing the survey number, extent, holder, crop and tenure. It is the first document to ask for on a coffee estate, but it is a revenue record and not proof of title on its own.
What is the difference between A-khata and B-khata?
A-khata is a regular, fully recognised tax account with the local body. B-khata records a property for tax purposes while treating it as irregular, and it has real consequences for raising a loan and for obtaining building approvals. Neither is proof of title; both are about tax and recognition.
How many years of encumbrance certificate should I ask for?
Thirty, not the thirteen usually offered. The additional years cost very little and they are where old mortgages, forgotten partitions and stale charges tend to appear.
Does an encumbrance certificate prove clear title?
No. An EC lists what has been registered against the property in a period. It cannot show anything that was never registered, which is why it supports a title investigation rather than replacing one.
What is mutation and why does it matter?
Mutation is the record of how a holding passed from one name to the next through sale, inheritance, partition or gift. Read in sequence it shows the chain of how the land reached the current holder, and on family plantation land the partition entries are where most complications sit.
Which document proves I own the land?
None of these four on their own. They are revenue and tax records plus a register of transactions. Ownership rests on the title documents and an advocate's opinion on them, supported by a survey that confirms the boundary on the ground matches the boundary on paper.
Tell us what you're looking for.
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