Land Record Extract in Ladakh (Jamabandi / Fard from the Revenue Department)

What is a land record in Ladakh, and who keeps it?

A land record in Ladakh is the entry in the village revenue register showing who holds a particular khasra (plot) number, the extent of that plot, its classification and the rights attached to it. The record of rights is commonly called the jamabandi, and a certified copy of a single holding is commonly called a fard, the vocabulary Ladakh inherited from the revenue system of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, of which Ladakh was a part until it became a separate Union Territory on 31 October 2019.

The Revenue Department of the UT Administration of Ladakh owns these records. Ladakh's official Revenue Department page states plainly that the Deputy Commissioner heads district administration, is the chief revenue officer, and is "responsible for collection of revenues and other govt. dues recoverable as arrears of land revenue". Below the Deputy Commissioner sit the Additional Deputy Commissioner, the Assistant Commissioner (Revenue), the Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars, and at village level the Patwari, who is the officer physically holding the register for a group of villages.

Ladakh has two districts: Leh and Kargil, and the record for any plot sits with the tehsil in which that plot lies.

Can I check Ladakh land records online?

No. This is the single most important thing to understand before you start searching. Unlike Uttar Pradesh (Bhulekh), Karnataka (Bhoomi), Telangana (Dharani) or Maharashtra (7/12), the UT Administration of Ladakh does not run a public land records search website.

The administration's own Online Citizen Services page at ladakh.gov.in/online-citizen-services lists exactly what is online: the Ladakh e-Seva portal (eseva.ladakh.gov.in), application for trade licence, application for rent collection, the REWA social welfare portal, grant-in-aid portals of the Ministry of Social Justice and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, labour registration, RTI Online (rtionline.ladakh.gov.in) and the Grievance Monitoring System (grievance.ladakh.gov.in). No land record, jamabandi, fard or mutation service appears on that list. The Revenue Department's own page likewise carries no link to a records portal.

Treat any website that offers to "download Ladakh Bhulekh" or "check Leh land records online" for a fee as unofficial. There is nothing for it to be pulling from, and giving it money or your documents is a real risk.

Who can apply for a land record in Ladakh, and who cannot?

Who can apply:

• The recorded holder of the khasra number.
• A legal heir of a deceased holder, for the purpose of inheritance mutation.
• A buyer under a registered sale deed, for the purpose of mutation into their own name.
• A bank or financial institution examining a title before sanctioning a loan against the land, usually through the borrower.
• A party to a revenue or civil case concerning that land, on the strength of the case reference.

Who cannot apply, or cannot succeed:

• A person with no khasra number and no village name cannot be helped; the register is indexed by plot, not by owner name, so a search with only a name is extremely slow and may simply be refused.
• A prospective outside buyer cannot assume a purchase will be mutated. Land transfer in Ladakh is restricted, and the Revenue authorities examine status before attesting a mutation. Verify this with the Tehsildar in advance rather than after paying an advance.
• Government, common or unassessed land will not show a private holder.
• Nobody can get a change in the record over the counter. A correction or a transfer is a separate revenue proceeding with notice to interested parties.

What documents do I need?

For a plain copy of an existing entry, carry the khasra number, the village and tehsil name, a written application to the Tehsildar and your own identity proof.

For a mutation (intiqal) after a purchase, add the registered sale deed and the status documents the Revenue office asks for. For an inheritance mutation, add the death certificate of the recorded holder and proof of the relationship of each heir.

How to get a land record extract in Ladakh; step by step

1. Fix the jurisdiction first. Identify the district (Leh or Kargil), the tehsil and the village in which the plot lies. The office that holds the record is decided by where the land is, never by where you live.
2. Trace the khasra number. Take it from an earlier fard, a mutation order, a registered deed or a land revenue receipt. If you have none of these, ask the village Patwari to identify the plot from the field map before you file anything.
3. Write an application to the Tehsildar of that tehsil. State your name, your relationship to the land, the khasra number, the village and the purpose, sale, loan, court case, mutation or partition.
4. File it at the Tehsil office counter with your identity proof, and take an acknowledgement or diary number. Ask on the spot for the expected date.
5. Pay only the receipted counter fee. Ask for the receipt every time. Refuse any payment for which no receipt is offered.
6. Collect the attested copy on the date given, and check the extent, the classification and the spelling of every name against your own documents before you leave the counter.
7. If the Tehsil office does not act, escalate in writing to the Assistant Commissioner (Revenue) of the district, and then to the Deputy Commissioner.

What does it cost?

The UT Administration of Ladakh does not publish a land record copying fee on its website. That absence is exactly why you should insist on the official receipt: the correct amount is whatever the Tehsil office formally receipts, and nothing more.

Agents and typists sitting outside revenue offices in Leh and Kargil will offer to "arrange" a fard. There is no legitimate fast track. A Patwari cannot produce an entry that does not exist, and a Tehsildar cannot attest a mutation sooner because a middleman was paid. Any demand beyond the receipted fee should go straight into a written grievance.

How long does it take, and how do I follow up?

Ladakh publishes no statutory service-delivery timeline for land record copies, so the honest answer is: ask for a date when you file, and hold the office to it. Two practical factors stretch the timeline in Ladakh more than anywhere else in India, the Patwari of a remote circle may be physically distant from the Tehsil headquarters, and winter closure of roads and passes between Leh, Kargil, Nubra, Zanskar and Changthang can make records and officers hard to reach for weeks. Begin any land record request well before a registration date, loan sanction or court hearing.

Follow up in person at the Tehsil office with your diary number. If there is no response, put the request on the record through the Grievance Monitoring System at grievance.ladakh.gov.in, which gives you a traceable number, or file an RTI application at rtionline.ladakh.gov.in asking for a certified copy of the relevant register entry, an RTI is often the fastest way to make a stalled record request move.

Common reasons a Ladakh land record request fails

• No khasra number provided, so the Patwari has nothing to search.
• Wrong tehsil approached — a Leh office cannot issue a Kargil record.
• Sale registered but never mutated, so the seller or an ancestor is still the recorded holder years later.
• Ancestral land undivided, with several heirs recorded jointly and no partition ever effected, which blocks a clean single-name extract.
• Name spelling differences between Aadhaar, the deed and the old register, which stall a mutation until an affidavit is filed.
• Restricted transfer. The transaction itself is not one the Revenue authorities can attest.

Whom do I contact?

The Ladakh Revenue Department page publishes these officers:

• Deputy Commissioner / CEO, Leh to 01982-252010
• Additional Deputy Commissioner, Leh to 9419978801
• Assistant Commissioner (Revenue), Leh to 7006546765
• Deputy Commissioner / CEO, Kargil to 01985-232216
• Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kargil to 9419346606
• Assistant Commissioner (Revenue), Kargil to 7006116177

For anything the Tehsil office will not resolve, the Assistant Commissioner (Revenue) is the correct first escalation, and the Deputy Commissioner the second. Keep a dated copy of every application and every receipt; in a land dispute, the paper trail decides who is believed.