Encumbrance Certificate in Chhattisgarh (e-Panjeeyan NGDRS, Registration Department)
Chhattisgarh state government scheme
An Encumbrance Certificate in Chhattisgarh comes from the Registration and Stamps wing of the Commercial Tax Department, which runs the NGDRS e-Panjeeyan portal at epanjeeyan.cg.gov.in for citizen registration, fee calculation, appointments and grievances, and from the Sub-Registrar office that holds the registers. Chhattisgarh charges only the fee shown on the portal or at the counter.
What is an encumbrance certificate in Chhattisgarh?
An encumbrance certificate in Chhattisgarh is an official record of the documents registered against a property over a stated period, issued by the Sub-Registrar under the Registration and Stamps wing of the Department of Commercial Tax (Vanijyik Kar), Government of Chhattisgarh. An encumbrance is any registered claim that limits an owner's freedom to sell clean, a bank mortgage, a court attachment, a registered lease, a gift, a partition, a release or an earlier sale.
Chhattisgarh's registration department runs on NGDRS, the National Generic Document Registration System, at epanjeeyan.cg.gov.in. The citizen side of that portal carries registration with name, mobile number, email ID and password, a fee calculator, appointment booking, a dashboard, a grievance module, and downloadable user manuals and FAQs. Chhattisgarh also sends WhatsApp notifications covering everything from slot booking to final registration.
One point of confusion is worth clearing early. Chhattisgarh keeps registration under the Commercial Tax Department, while land records, khasra, B-1, khatauni, sit with the Revenue Department on Bhuiyan at revenue.cg.nic.in. An encumbrance search runs on the registration side. A complete title check needs both sides.
Chhattisgarh does not issue a numbered "Form 15" or "Form 16". Those belong to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Ask a Chhattisgarh Sub-Registrar for an encumbrance certificate or search report for a stated number of years.
Who can apply for an encumbrance certificate in Chhattisgarh?
You can apply if:
- You are the owner of the plot, house, flat or agricultural land.
- You are a prospective buyer verifying title before paying advance money.
- You are a bank, housing finance company or advocate checking title for a loan, a sale or litigation.
- You are a legal heir establishing what a deceased relative owned and what charges attach to it.
- You are any member of the public. The register of registered documents is public under the Registration Act, 1908, so no owner consent, power of attorney or stated reason is needed.
An encumbrance certificate is a property record, not a welfare benefit: no income limit, no caste or category condition, and no domicile requirement.
You cannot apply, or will get an unusable result — if:
- You cannot give a property identifier. Without a khasra number, or a plot number with the ward or scheme, plus the patwari halka or town, the index cannot be searched.
- You name the wrong Sub-Registrar office. Raipur, Bilaspur and Durg have more than one office and jurisdictions have shifted with new districts and tehsils.
- You expect unregistered dealings to appear. An oral family arrangement, an unregistered agreement to sell, a pending civil suit or a personal loan will not show.
- You expect the search to reveal transfer restrictions. Land in Scheduled Areas of Chhattisgarh carries restrictions on transfer to non-tribals under the Land Revenue Code, and those are a legal condition, not a register entry.
- You treat a portal screenshot as a certificate. It is not certified and a bank will refuse it.
What documents and details are required?
| Requirement | Mandatory | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Khasra number, or plot with ward/scheme | Yes | The index is searched on this, not on an address |
| Patwari halka, tehsil, district | Yes | Needed to identify the correct office |
| Sub-Registrar office | Yes | The search is office-specific |
| Exact search period | Yes | 12–13 years for lenders, 30 years for buyers |
| Registered mobile number and email | Yes | To create the NGDRS citizen login and get OTP and WhatsApp updates |
| Identity proof | Yes | Aadhaar, voter ID, driving licence or passport |
| Sale deed copy or B-1 / khasra extract | Helpful | Carries the exact khasra number and year |
| Document number, book and year | Helpful | Speeds up a certified copy request |
| Written application to the Sub-Registrar | Offline route | For a manual certified search report |
How to apply for an encumbrance certificate in Chhattisgarh
- Open epanjeeyan.cg.gov.in, the Chhattisgarh NGDRS portal of the Registration wing, and download the user manual and FAQ published there before you start.
- Create a citizen login with your name, mobile number, email ID and password, and complete the OTP verification on the citizen login page.
- Use the fee calculator on the portal to see the charges applicable to the service you need before you commit to a payment.
- Identify the Sub-Registrar office with jurisdiction over the property, using the district and tehsil in which the khasra or plot lies.
- Enter the property details: khasra number, or plot with ward or scheme, plus the patwari halka or town and the district, exactly as they appear on the deed or the B-1 extract, and state the exact search period with from and to dates.
- Book an appointment through the portal where the service or the office requires a visit, and note the WhatsApp updates the system sends against that booking.
- Pay the fee shown on the payment screen and save the receipt with its acknowledgement number.
- Collect or download the signed encumbrance certificate from the Sub-Registrar office or your portal dashboard, whichever the acknowledgement directs you to.
How to get a search report at the Sub-Registrar office
- Visit the Sub-Registrar office holding the registers for the property, in the tehsil where the land or building lies.
- Submit a written application describing the property by khasra or plot number with the halka or ward, tehsil and district, and stating the exact period to be searched.
- Attach identity proof and, if you have it, a copy of an earlier registered deed with its document number and year, that single detail often cuts the search time in half.
- Pay the notified fee at the counter and take a printed receipt with the application number.
- Allow time for the manual search of older bound registers, which is the honest reason a 30-year report takes longer than a 12-year one.
- Collect the certified search report or certified copies on the date given.
How do I check status and get support?
- Online: log in to your e-Panjeeyan dashboard and open the request or appointment history.
- WhatsApp: Chhattisgarh's NGDRS sends real-time updates to the mobile number registered against the request.
- Grievance: the grievance module on epanjeeyan.cg.gov.in.
- Help desk: the NGDRS help desk email published on the portal, helpdesk[dot]ngdrs[at]nic[dot]in, for login, payment and portal faults.
- In person: at the Sub-Registrar counter, quoting the acknowledgement number.
How long is a Chhattisgarh encumbrance certificate valid?
An encumbrance certificate has no expiry date, but it is only accurate up to the last date of the period it covers. A mortgage registered the day after your period ends will not appear.
Chhattisgarh lenders and buyers' advocates therefore want a recently issued certificate, and careful buyers run a second short search immediately before the sale deed is registered to catch anything filed in the gap. There is no renewal procedure. You apply again for the fresh period only.
Why do Chhattisgarh property searches go wrong?
- Wrong khasra number, or a parent khasra used after the land was subdivided in a later survey.
- Wrong Sub-Registrar office, returning a nil result that means nothing.
- Village or halka name spelt differently in the register from the deed.
- Urban plots described by colony address rather than the plot and scheme numbers used at registration.
- Confusing Bhuiyan with the registration record. A clean B-1 extract says nothing about a registered mortgage.
- Ignoring a mortgage with no release entry. A repaid loan never released on the register still reads as a live charge.
- Overlooking Scheduled Area transfer restrictions, which no encumbrance certificate will flag but which can make a sale void.
- Skipping namantaran. An unmutated sale in the chain is a common problem an encumbrance certificate will not reveal.
What does it cost, and what should you refuse to pay?
An encumbrance certificate in Chhattisgarh costs only the fee displayed on the e-Panjeeyan payment screen or the notified fee charged at the Sub-Registrar counter against a printed receipt, and the portal publishes a fee calculator so you can check the amount before you pay. The charge rises with the number of years searched. Those are the only legitimate charges.
Deed writers and agents outside Chhattisgarh registry offices offer to "get the encumbrance certificate quickly" for a few thousand rupees. They are using the same NGDRS portal that is open to you. There is no paid priority queue, and no officer can add or delete an entry in the register. Create your own login on epanjeeyan.cg.gov.in, check the fee calculator, pay only the portal or counter rate, never share your password or Aadhaar OTP with an agent, and never accept a certificate that did not come from the portal or the Sub-Registrar's counter.
Grievance and escalation route
- Portal grievance module: epanjeeyan.cg.gov.in
- NGDRS help desk email: helpdesk[dot]ngdrs[at]nic[dot]in
- Local level: the Sub-Registrar of the office holding the registers
- District level: the District Registrar
- State level: the Inspector General of Registration and Superintendent of Stamps, Registration wing, Department of Commercial Tax, Government of Chhattisgarh, Raipur
- Related records: revenue.cg.nic.in (Bhuiyan) for khasra, B-1 and khatauni
Carry the acknowledgement number to any of these; without it no office can trace the request.
Documents required
Frequently asked questions
Which portal handles registration services in Chhattisgarh?
epanjeeyan.cg.gov.in, the Chhattisgarh implementation of the National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) run by the Registration wing of the Department of Commercial Tax, is the official portal. It carries citizen registration, a fee calculator, appointment booking, a grievance module, user manuals and FAQs, and it sends WhatsApp updates from slot booking to final registration.
Does Chhattisgarh issue Form 15 or Form 16?
No, Chhattisgarh does not use the Form 15 and Form 16 encumbrance formats, which belong to the Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana systems. In Chhattisgarh the equivalent is an encumbrance certificate or search report from the Sub-Registrar, supported by certified copies of the registered documents.
Who issues the encumbrance certificate in Chhattisgarh?
The Sub-Registrar of the office where the property's documents are registered issues it, under the Registration Act, 1908. The Registration and Stamps wing sits under the Department of Commercial Tax (Vanijyik Kar), which is why registration services in Chhattisgarh are found under the commercial tax department rather than the revenue department.
How is this different from Bhuiyan land records?
Bhuiyan, the Chhattisgarh land records system at revenue.cg.nic.in, holds khasra, B-1 and khatauni records showing who is recorded as holding the land. An encumbrance certificate comes from the registration side and shows what documents were registered against the property. A full title check in Chhattisgarh needs both.
How much does it cost in Chhattisgarh?
Only the fee shown on the e-Panjeeyan payment screen or the notified fee charged at the Sub-Registrar counter against a printed receipt. The amount rises with the number of years searched. The portal also publishes a fee calculator for registration charges. No agent is entitled to charge above the notified rate.
Does an encumbrance certificate prove ownership?
No, it records registered transactions only. A Chhattisgarh title check also needs the khasra and B-1 extracts from Bhuiyan, the namantaran (mutation) position, the deed chain, and for tribal-area land the restrictions on transfer under the Chhattisgarh Land Revenue Code.
How long is a Chhattisgarh encumbrance certificate valid?
An encumbrance certificate has no expiry, but it is only true up to the last date of the period it covers. Chhattisgarh lenders therefore ask for a recently issued certificate, and careful buyers run a second short search immediately before the sale deed is registered.
Where do I raise a complaint?
Use the grievance module on epanjeeyan.cg.gov.in, and the NGDRS help desk email published on the portal, helpdesk[dot]ngdrs[at]nic[dot]in, for portal and payment problems. For a records problem, escalate from the Sub-Registrar to the District Registrar and then to the Inspector General of Registration and Superintendent of Stamps, Chhattisgarh.
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