Legal Heir / Succession Certificate in Uttar Pradesh (Varasat)

Uttar Pradesh calls inheritance varasat, and that word, not "legal heir certificate", is what gets a file moving in a UP tehsil. Varasat is the recording of succession in the khatauni when a recorded tenure holder dies, ordered by the Tehsildar or Naib Tehsildar under the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code 2006 after the Lekhpal of the halka reports on the death and the surviving heirs.

Families routinely start in the wrong place. The e-District portal at edistrict.up.gov.in, with its Citizen (e-Sathi) login, is the state's single window for caste, income, domicile, birth and death certificates, and the state runs its e-District helpline on 0522-2304706 from Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM. It does not carry a legal heir or succession certificate. Anyone who tells you an heirship certificate can be downloaded from e-Sathi is describing a service that does not exist there.

What proves heirship in Uttar Pradesh?

Three things do different parts of the job, and knowing which you need saves weeks.

The varasat order in the khatauni is the revenue answer. It transfers agricultural land and recorded holdings from the deceased tenure holder to the surviving heirs, and once passed, the khatauni on upbhulekh.gov.in shows the heirs' names in that khata. Nothing else transfers land in Uttar Pradesh.

The family register extract and heir affidavit are the administrative answer. Uttar Pradesh maintains a parivar register at the Gram Panchayat and Nagar Nikay level, and its extract, together with a notarised affidavit listing every surviving heir with age and relationship, is what employers, pension branches, provident fund offices and insurers in the state generally accept as proof of who the heirs are. Many UP departments also accept a Tehsildar-attested heirship statement obtained through the same tehsil application.

A succession certificate from the District Judge is the judicial answer, and the only one a bank will accept for a large deposit.

What is the difference between varasat and a succession certificate?

This distinction decides which office you walk into.

Varasat and the tehsil heirship enquiry are administrative. They are inexpensive, they are decided by the Tehsildar on a local report, and they are enough for state government dues, employer settlements, pension branches, small bank balances and the land record.

A succession certificate is a judicial order under Sections 370 to 390 of the Indian Succession Act 1925, granted by the District Judge having jurisdiction. It authorises the holder to collect the debts and securities of the deceased, which in practice means bank deposits, fixed deposits, shares, debentures, bonds and mutual fund units. It costs far more, because the court fee is charged ad valorem as a percentage of the value of the assets listed, and it takes months rather than weeks because the court must publish a citation inviting objections before granting it.

The limit that families miss is that a succession certificate covers movable assets and debts only. It does not transfer immovable property. A house, a plot or agricultural land passes by varasat in the revenue record, and where the title itself is disputed, by a civil suit for declaration or partition. A UP family with both farmland and a fixed deposit will generally need the varasat order and the succession certificate, in that order.

Who can and cannot apply in Uttar Pradesh?

Any surviving heir of the deceased can apply. Under the Hindu Succession Act 1956 that means the spouse, sons, daughters and mother as Class I heirs, with the applicable personal law governing Muslim, Christian and Parsi families in Uttar Pradesh. A minor heir applies through a natural guardian. Where several heirs exist, one heir files and names all the others, and every one of them must appear in the affidavit and in the varasat order.

You cannot apply if you are not an heir under the personal law that governs the family. A cousin, a neighbour, a tenant, a business partner or a creditor of the deceased is not eligible, however real their interest in the estate. An applicant who cannot show that the deceased ordinarily resided in that tehsil, or that the land lies there, is not eligible in that tehsil and must file where jurisdiction lies. A person who needs authority to collect large bank deposits or securities is not eligible for that purpose through the revenue route at all and must petition the District Judge.

Uttar Pradesh applies no income limit, no caste criterion and no separate domicile test to heirship. Residence and the location of the land decide only which Tehsildar hears the file.

What documents are required?

The death certificate is the foundation, issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths of the Nagar Nigam, Nagar Palika or Gram Panchayat where the death was registered, and available through the e-District portal.

Beyond it, assemble the applicant heir's Aadhaar, identity proof of the deceased, a residence proof tying the deceased to that tehsil, a notarised affidavit on stamp paper listing every surviving heir with age and relationship, and the family register extract from the Gram Panchayat or Nagar Nikay. Add the khatauni copy where the purpose is varasat, the other heirs' no-objection where one heir is acting for all, and the deceased's service or pension records where the claim is against an employer.

How to apply for varasat in Uttar Pradesh

1. Register the death and collect the death certificate. Apply on edistrict.up.gov.in through the Citizen (e-Sathi) login or at the Nagar Nigam, Nagar Palika or Gram Panchayat registrar. Take five or six copies; every later office keeps one.
2. Get the family register extract. Ask the Gram Panchayat Secretary or the Nagar Nikay office for a certified extract of the parivar register showing the deceased and the surviving household members.
3. Swear the heir affidavit. Draft it on stamp paper naming each surviving heir with age and relationship, get it notarised, and collect written no-objection from any heir not applying jointly.
4. Download the current khatauni from upbhulekh.gov.in for the khata in which the deceased is recorded, searching by district, tehsil and village and then by khata number, khasra number or name.
5. File the varasat application at the tehsil office of the tehsil where the land lies and the deceased resided, with the death certificate, the family register extract, the affidavit, the identity proofs and the khatauni copy attached. Take the receipt with the case or diary number written on it.
6. Let the Lekhpal verify. The Lekhpal of the halka visits the village, confirms the death and the heir list locally, and reports through the Kanungo to the Tehsildar. This field step, not the paperwork, is what usually decides how long the case takes.
7. Wait out the objection window. Notice is given so that co-sharers and other interested parties can object. If nobody objects, the Tehsildar passes the varasat order and the khatauni is corrected.
8. Verify the corrected khatauni on upbhulekh.gov.in and take a copy. If the heirs' names have not replaced the deceased's, the order has not been given effect and the file needs chasing at the tehsil.

How do I check the status of a varasat file in Uttar Pradesh?

Chase it at the tehsil office with the case or diary number written on the receipt; the reader in the Tehsildar's court can tell you whether the Lekhpal's report has come in and whether notice has issued. The practical test of completion is the record itself: open upbhulekh.gov.in, pull the khatauni for that khata, and see whether the heirs' names now stand where the deceased's did.

Where the case has been contested and turned into a revenue court matter, it is tracked as a revenue case rather than an administrative file, and the hearing dates come from the Tehsildar's or Sub Divisional Officer's court. For the supporting e-District certificates, track the application on edistrict.up.gov.in or call the e-District helpline on 0522-2304706 during working hours.

If the file has stopped moving, escalate within the revenue hierarchy, from the Tehsildar to the Sub Divisional Magistrate, then the Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue), and then the District Magistrate, who heads revenue administration in the district.

How do I get a succession certificate from the District Court?

1. Engage a lawyer and file a petition before the District Judge of the district where the deceased ordinarily resided or where the assets are held, setting out the death, the relationship, the full list of heirs and a schedule of the debts and securities claimed.
2. Attach the death certificate, the family register extract and proof of relationship, plus documentary proof of every asset — the bank passbook, the fixed deposit receipt, the demat statement or the share certificate.
3. Pay the ad valorem court fee, calculated as a percentage of the value of the assets listed under the court-fee schedule applicable in Uttar Pradesh. Ask the court's copying agency or your counsel for the exact figure for your value slab before filing; it is the largest single cost in the process.
4. Wait for the citation. The court publishes a notice inviting objections from anyone claiming an interest. If nobody objects within the period allowed, the certificate is granted; if an objection is filed, the matter is heard on evidence.
5. Collect the certified copy and lodge it with the bank, company or depository holding the asset. District court case status in Uttar Pradesh can be tracked through the eCourts services using the case number issued at filing.

Why do varasat and heirship files stall in Uttar Pradesh?

• An incomplete heir list. Leaving out a married daughter, the children of a predeceased son or a second wife's children is the commonest defect, and it surfaces when the omitted heir objects to the varasat entry.
• The deceased not traceable in the khatauni. If the recorded tenure holder is an ancestor two generations back rather than the person who just died, the varasat has to be worked through the intermediate generations first.
• Name mismatch. The spelling on the death certificate not matching the khatauni entry, the family register or the Aadhaar of the deceased.
• Wrong tehsil. Filing where the heirs now live rather than where the deceased resided and the land lies.
• No family register extract, or an extract that does not show the deceased as part of that household.
• An unnotarised affidavit, or one that omits any heir's age or relationship.
• A dispute among the heirs, at which point the Tehsildar converts the file into a contested revenue case and the family may end up in civil court.
• Asking the revenue route to do a court's job, seeking authority over large bank deposits or securities from the Tehsildar rather than the District Judge.

What does it cost, and where do I complain?

Pay only the government's own charges. In Uttar Pradesh those are the stamp paper and notary fee for the heir affidavit, the court fee stamp on the varasat application, the fee for the family register extract at the panchayat or nikay counter, and the notified counter charge at a Jan Seva Kendra, Lokvani or CSC if a kiosk files for you. Khatauni views on upbhulekh.gov.in are free. There is no large separate fee for a varasat entry, and nobody in the tehsil is entitled to anything beyond the listed amounts.

Agents sitting outside tehsil offices in Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Agra and Gorakhpur routinely quote a few thousand rupees to "get the varasat done". That is money for a file any heir can submit personally, and paying it does not move the case ahead of anyone else's before the same Tehsildar.

For delay or a demand for money, take the case number and receipt to the Sub Divisional Magistrate and then the District Magistrate. For problems with the supporting e-District certificates, the state e-District helpline is 0522-2304706, Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM, excluding government holidays. Keep the affidavit copy, the family register extract and the receipt: every escalation asks for all three.