Property Mutation in Arunachal Pradesh (Mutation of Land Records under LISA)

What is property mutation in Arunachal Pradesh?

Property mutation in Arunachal Pradesh is the entry of a new holder's name in the land records after a transfer, inheritance or allotment. The function sits with the Department of Land Management, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, and the governing statute is the Arunachal Pradesh (Land Settlement and Records) Act, 2000.

Under that Act, every proprietor, landholder or mortgagee succeeding to any land, whether by transfer or by inheritance, must apply to the Deputy Commissioner or the Circle Officer for mutation of their name in the land records as proprietor, landholder, manager or mortgagee. The duty is on the person acquiring the land. Nobody does it for you.

Arunachal Pradesh has been digitising this in recent years. LISA, the Land Information System of Arunachal, at lisa.arunachal.gov.in: was launched on 3 February 2025 by the Department of Land Management and developed by the National Informatics Centre under MeitY. LISA digitises land records to improve transparency, accountability and real-time access for both citizens and officials, and carries services around land allotment, land revenue payment and Land Holding Certificates. It works alongside NGDRS, the national registration system, so that registration and the land record talk to each other.

The two remain separate steps. Registering a deed records a transaction; mutation is a decision the Deputy Commissioner makes, and it is only after approval and payment of the applicable fee that the DC issues the mutation document.

Who can and cannot apply for mutation in Arunachal Pradesh?

You can apply if:

• You have succeeded to land by transfer, you are the proprietor, landholder, manager or mortgagee named in the transfer document.
• You have succeeded by inheritance to a holding recorded in a deceased person's name.
• You hold a government allotment of land and need the record entered in your name, in which case the Circle Officer applies to the Deputy Commissioner for grant mutation.
• You are a mortgagee whose interest needs to be recorded. The Act names mortgagees expressly.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not an Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribe person and the land is subject to Arunachal Pradesh's restrictions on acquisition of land by non-tribals. This is the defining feature of land in Arunachal Pradesh and it is not something a well-drafted deed can get around. The Deputy Commissioner cannot record a mutation that breaches it.
• Your claim rests on an unregistered document or an informal understanding with no allotment order or registered instrument behind it.
• The plot is government land or community land not lawfully transferable to you as an individual.
• Land revenue is in arrears on the holding.
• The land is under a pending dispute before the Deputy Commissioner or a court.

A practical note that matters more here than in most states: a very large share of land in Arunachal Pradesh is held under customary community tenure, not under an individual title in a settlement register. In those areas the Deputy Commissioner's office relies heavily on local community and village authority verification of possession, and the paper trail you are asked for will be shaped by that. Do not assume a plains-style patta exists for every plot.

What documents are required?

The Land Possession Certificate (LPC), issued by the Deputy Commissioner, is the document most commonly relied on in Arunachal Pradesh to show who holds a plot. Before you buy or accept any land in the state, verify the LPC, the revenue records, the mutation status and the ownership particulars: in that order.

How to apply for property mutation in Arunachal Pradesh

1. Complete the transfer properly first, a deed registered through NGDRS, or a government allotment order, depending on how the land came to you.
2. Verify the parent record. Check the transferor's Land Possession Certificate and the revenue record for the plot, and check on LISA whether the record for that circle has been digitised. A mismatch found now costs nothing; found later it costs the whole file.
3. Clear the land revenue on the holding. LISA carries an online land revenue payment facility: use it and keep the receipt.
4. Apply to the Circle Officer or the Deputy Commissioner of the district where the land lies, as the Arunachal Pradesh (Land Settlement and Records) Act, 2000 requires. Ask for the mutation application form at the circle office.
5. Fill the application with the circle, village, plot particulars and area, the transferor's and transferee's details, and the registration or allotment particulars.
6. Attach the documents, transfer deed or allotment order, the transferor's land record or LPC, your identity and APST status proof, the revenue receipt and the village authority recommendation where asked for.
7. Let the verification run. For grant mutation the Circle Officer applies to the Deputy Commissioner, and a district-level committee headed by the DC verifies all the land-related documents and checks the proposed mutation against the rules and regulations in force.
8. Pay the applicable fee once approval is accorded. The sequence in Arunachal Pradesh runs the other way from most states: approval first, fee after. Take the printed receipt.
9. Collect the mutation document issued by the Deputy Commissioner, and check the circle, village, plot number, area and the spelling of your name against your transfer document before you leave.

Where does mutation sit among Arunachal Pradesh's online services?

This is worth being precise about, because the two portals are often confused.

LISA, at lisa.arunachal.gov.in, belongs to the Department of Land Management. It is the land records system — digitised records, land allotment services, online land revenue payment and Land Holding Certificates. This is the land side.

Arunachal e-Services, at eservice.arunachal.gov.in, is the district administration certificate portal. The services listed there are the Scheduled Tribe Certificate, Income Certificate, Dependent Certificate, Character Certificate, Temporary Residence Certificate (TRC) and Permanent Residence Certificate (PRC). Land mutation is not one of them. If you are hunting for a mutation link on the e-Services portal, you will not find one. The file goes to the Circle Officer and the Deputy Commissioner.

NGDRS handles the registration of the deed itself, upstream of both.

How do I check the status of a mutation application?

• At the Circle Officer's office where the application was filed, quoting the circle, village and plot particulars.
• At the Deputy Commissioner's office of the district. The DC heads the committee that verifies the documents and is the authority that issues the mutation document.
• On LISA, at lisa.arunachal.gov.in, for the digitised record itself once the entry has been made.
• Through your district's Deputy Commissioner's published contact. Each district site lists its own DC office number, East Kameng, for example, publishes 03787-222576 for the DC office at Seppa. Use the number for your district, not another one.
• NIC Arunachal Pradesh, 0360-2212919, or the Department of Information Technology helpline 155250, for portal and technical problems.

Why do mutation applications get rejected in Arunachal Pradesh?

• Restriction on transfer to non-APST persons, which the Deputy Commissioner is bound to enforce. This is the commonest fatal defect.
• No registered deed or allotment order behind the claim.
• Community or customary land that was never individually held, offered as if it were private property.
• Land revenue arrears on the holding.
• Plot or area mismatch between the transfer document and the parent record.
• Missing heirship proof in an inheritance case.
• Adverse verification by the district-level committee headed by the DC.
• Pending dispute over the same land.

What does it cost, and what should you refuse to pay?

In Arunachal Pradesh the applicable fee becomes payable once mutation approval is accorded, and the Deputy Commissioner then issues the mutation document. The Department of Land Management does not advertise a single flat statewide figure online, and it does not advertise a paid fast track. So: ask what the fee is, pay it at the office against a receipt, and keep the receipt.

Anyone who offers to "arrange" a mutation in Arunachal Pradesh for a lump sum is selling something they cannot deliver. The Circle Officer still has to move the file, the district-level committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner still has to verify the documents, and the DC still has to approve. If the transfer runs into Arunachal Pradesh's restrictions on land acquisition by non-tribals, no fee to anybody changes that outcome.

Grievance and helpline route

• Circle Officer for the circle where the land lies; where the file starts
• Deputy Commissioner of the district. The approving authority and the practical escalation point
• Department of Land Management, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, lisa.arunachal.gov.in
• NIC Arunachal Pradesh to 0360-2212919, for LISA and portal problems
• Department of Information Technology helpline to 155250

Carry your application receipt, the circle and village name, and the plot particulars to any of these. No revenue office in Arunachal Pradesh can trace a mutation file without them.