Property Mutation (Namantaran / Dakhil-Kharij) in Uttar Pradesh

What is namantaran (property mutation) in Uttar Pradesh?

Property mutation in Uttar Pradesh is called namantaran, and in ordinary speech dakhil-kharij. It is the revenue entry that changes the recorded bhumidhar, the holder of bhumidhari rights under the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code, 2006, in the village khatauni, after land has been sold, inherited, gifted or partitioned.

The record itself belongs to the Board of Revenue, Uttar Pradesh, which publishes village land records to citizens on UP Bhulekh at upbhulekh.gov.in. There you can look up the khatauni for any khata or gata by selecting district, tehsil and revenue village, free of charge. Mutation and other revenue proceedings; including varasat (inheritance) cases: run through the Revenue Court Computerised Management System (RCCMS) at vaad.up.nic.in, which registers, lists and tracks revenue cases by case number.

The distinction that trips up most buyers in UP is this: the deed and the khatauni are different records. A registered sale deed executed before the Sub-Registrar transfers ownership between you and the seller. The khatauni, which the bank, the next buyer, the tehsil and every government department will actually consult: continues to name the seller until the Tehsildar orders the namantaran. Skipping mutation leaves you legally the owner but administratively invisible.

Uttar Pradesh uses its own vocabulary for the parts of the record. The gata number is the individual plot. The khata number is the holding. The khatauni is the record of rights listing holders against khatas. The Lekhpal is the village-level revenue official, equivalent to the Patwari elsewhere, and the Kanungo supervises a group of halkas.

Who can and who cannot apply for namantaran in Uttar Pradesh?

You can apply if you have acquired an interest in land in Uttar Pradesh through:

• A registered sale deed in your favour.
• Varasat (inheritance) on the death of a recorded bhumidhar, where you are a legal heir.
• A registered gift deed or a will that has taken effect.
• A partition (batwara) among co-sharers, by registered deed or by a revenue partition order.
• A decree of a civil court or an order of a revenue court declaring your right.
• Mortgage, exchange or surrender entries, which are also recorded through the mutation process.

You cannot apply, or the mutation will be refused, if:

• You hold only an agreement to sell, a power of attorney or an unregistered writing. These do not transfer title and UP revenue courts will not mutate on them.
• The land is scheduled-caste bhumidhar land being transferred to a non-scheduled-caste buyer without the Collector's permission. The UP Revenue Code restricts such transfers, and a mutation will not be sanctioned where the permission was required and not obtained.
• The transfer breaches the ceiling limits or the restriction on a bhumidhar with non-transferable rights alienating the holding.
• The land is government, gaon sabha, banjar or forest land described as private in the deed.
• The seller was never the recorded bhumidhar of the gata sold, so the chain of the record is broken and the earlier link must be mutated first.
• The gata number or area does not match the khatauni, or the deed conveys more than the seller holds.
• There is a stay order or a pending title suit over the land.
• Stamp duty is deficient on the instrument, which sends the matter for adjudication before the mutation can proceed.

A sanctioned namantaran is not proof of title. It records what the revenue administration accepts about the holding, and a person with a better title can still succeed against it in a competent court.

How to apply for property mutation in Uttar Pradesh: step by step

1. Get the deed registered before the Sub-Registrar of the tehsil, paying the stamp duty and registration fee assessed on the circle rate, and collect the registered document with its number, date and Sub-Registrar office. For a varasat case there is no deed — collect the death certificate of the bhumidhar and proof of every heir, usually the family register (kutumb register) extract from the gram panchayat or nagar nikay.
2. Check the current khatauni free on upbhulekh.gov.in. Select district, tehsil and revenue village, and pull the khatauni for the khata or gata. Confirm that the gata number, khata number, area and the seller's name match your deed exactly. A mismatch found here is far cheaper to fix than a rejection later.
3. File the mutation application at the Tehsil. Present the registered deed, the khatauni extract, your Aadhaar and, for varasat, the death certificate and heir proof, and have the mutation entered against the gata. For a sale, the entry follows the registration; for varasat, the application initiates the case. A Jan Seva Kendra / CSC can prepare and submit the paperwork for you at the counter charge displayed there.
4. Note the case number allotted in RCCMS. Uttar Pradesh runs mutation and varasat proceedings as revenue cases at vaad.up.nic.in, and the case number is the only reliable way to trace, list or follow up your file.
5. The Lekhpal reports and the Kanungo verifies. The Lekhpal of the halka records the change and reports on possession, the extent of the gata and any restriction on the land. The Kanungo checks it against the field record.
6. Attend the hearing before the Tehsildar. For an uncontested registered sale this is normally a short proceeding. For a varasat case the Tehsildar will want every heir identified, since leaving out a daughter or a widow is both the commonest and the most serious error in UP inheritance mutations. A contested case is decided after both sides are heard.
7. Collect the order and verify the khatauni. After the mutation is ordered, pull the khatauni again from upbhulekh.gov.in and confirm your name now appears against the khata. An order that has not been given effect in the online record is only half done.

How do I check my mutation status in Uttar Pradesh?

Two checks answer different questions, and you should do both.

• Check the record itself on UP Bhulekh (upbhulekh.gov.in). Pull the khatauni for the gata and see whose name stands there now. This is the outcome that matters.
• Check the case on RCCMS (vaad.up.nic.in). Uttar Pradesh's Revenue Court Computerised Management System registers and lists revenue cases including mutation and varasat, so your case number will show the stage, the court and the listed dates.

Both are free to use. Nobody is authorised to charge you for a status check, and a certified copy from the tehsil or a Jan Seva Kendra costs only the charge displayed at that counter.

What does mutation cost in Uttar Pradesh, and should I use an agent?

Keep two costs apart. Stamp duty and the registration fee, assessed on the circle rate for the locality, are paid at registration and are the large amounts in a land transaction in UP. The mutation itself carries only a small statutory revenue charge, plus a nominal court-fee stamp on the application.

Pay only what the tehsil counter or the portal displays and receipts. Viewing the khatauni on upbhulekh.gov.in is free.

Tehsil compounds across UP have a settled population of agents offering to "get the namantaran passed" for a few thousand rupees. They have no power the Lekhpal, Kanungo and Tehsildar do not already exercise on exactly the documents you would file yourself. Paying a revenue official for an order is a bribe and is punishable. The correct route when a file is held up is a written grievance, to the SDM, the District Magistrate, or through the UP Jansunwai (IGRS) grievance system, which gives you a tracked complaint number.

Why do UP mutations get rejected or stall?

• Gata mismatch, the plot number, area or share in the deed does not tally with the khatauni. The single commonest cause.
• Broken chain of record, the seller's own namantaran was never done, so his name is not in the khatauni he is selling from. This is extremely common in inherited agricultural land in UP, where families sell without first completing varasat.
• Missing heirs in a varasat case, especially widows and daughters, whose shares are protected. A varasat order that omits an heir is liable to be set aside later.
• Objection by a co-sharer or a neighbour, converting a routine entry into a contested revenue case with hearings.
• Scheduled-caste land transferred without the Collector's permission, where such permission was required.
• Gaon sabha, banjar, government or forest land wrongly described as private.
• Court stay or pending civil suit over the land.
• Deficient stamp duty, which stalls the file pending adjudication.

A refusal is a revenue order and is appealable. Under the UP Revenue Code the ordinary route runs from the Tehsildar to the SDM, then to the Additional Commissioner and the Board of Revenue. Where the defect is purely documentary, curing it and filing again is usually faster than an appeal.

Is a UP mutation permanent, and does it need renewal?

A sanctioned namantaran in Uttar Pradesh does not expire and needs no renewal. The change flows into the khatauni and is carried forward into each subsequent fasli year record. You will need a fresh mutation each time the land changes hands again; every sale, every death of a recorded bhumidhar, every gift, every partition.

The one recurring duty worth flagging is the opposite of renewal: do the varasat promptly when a bhumidhar dies. Families in UP routinely leave inherited land in a dead ancestor's name for a generation, and every year of delay makes the eventual mutation harder, because more heirs die, more branches appear, and the proof of who inherits gets thinner.

Keep the mutation order, the registered deed and a recent khatauni extract together. In Uttar Pradesh the khatauni is asked for far more often than the deed.

Where do I complain if my namantaran is stuck?

• The Tehsildar, who is the deciding authority, and then the SDM of the sub-division.
• The District Magistrate, for administrative delay across a tehsil.
• The Board of Revenue, Uttar Pradesh, which owns the land records system.
• UP Jansunwai (IGRS), the state's integrated grievance redressal system, for a written complaint with a tracked reference number.
• Appeal to the SDM and the Additional Commissioner where the grievance is a wrong or refused order rather than delay.

Always quote your case number, gata number, khata number, revenue village, tehsil and district, and the registered deed number where there is one. A grievance without these identifiers cannot be traced to a file and will be closed unanswered.