Tamil Nadu Land Records Explained: Patta, Chitta, Adangal & FMB

Patta, Chitta, Adangal, FMB and Land Classification: A Plain Language Guide

When you own land in Tamil Nadu, several official documents define your relationship with that land. Each one answers a different question. Together they form what the government calls revenue records: the formal system by which land ownership, use, classification, and boundaries are tracked and maintained.

The four core revenue records are:

• Patta / Chitta: the revenue record that identifies the recorded landholder and key property particulars. It supports the ownership record, but is not by itself conclusive proof of title.
• Adangal: the land use record. Tells you what is happening on the land right now.
• FMB (Field Measurement Book): the survey map. Tells you what the land looks like: its shape, size, and boundaries.
• Survey Number: the unique identifier. Tells you which piece of land is being referred to.

Before you can fully understand what each of these records means, you need to understand how land itself is classified in Tamil Nadu. The type of land (whether it is agricultural, residential, government-owned, or historically granted) determines which records apply to it, what can legally be done with it, and how it is taxed. That is why this document begins with land types before moving to the records themselves.

Land Types in Tamil Nadu

Land in Tamil Nadu is officially classified by the Revenue Department based on how it is used, how it is watered, and who owns it. Understanding the land type is important because it determines what can be done with the land, how it is taxed, and what documents apply to it. At the broadest level there are two main categories, Patta Land and Poramboke Land, though within and beyond these, several other specific land types exist in revenue records, each with its own rules and implications.

The Two Broad Categories and Others

Patta Land is privately owned land. The government has issued a formal ownership document (patta) to an individual or family. This is the land that can be bought, sold, inherited, or mortgaged.

Poramboke Land is government-owned land reserved for public or community use: roads, water bodies, burial grounds, grazing land. It cannot be privately owned or transacted. Any private construction on poramboke land is legally an encroachment.

Detailed Land Type Classification

The table below covers all major land types as recorded in Tamil Nadu revenue records. Each is explained in full underneath the table.

Land Type	Tamil Name	Description
Nanjai	நஞ்சை	Wet land fed by canals, tanks or rivers. Used mainly for paddy/rice cultivation.
Punjai	புன்செய்	Dry land dependent on rainfall. Used for groundnut, millets, cotton, etc.
Manavari	மானாவாரி	Rain-fed land with no assured irrigation source. Similar to Punjai but entirely rainfall dependent.
Sarisu (Fallow)	சரிசு நிலம்	Cultivable land left unfarmed for an extended period. A temporary status, not a permanent class. It reverts to its base type when farming resumes.
Natham / Grama Natham	நாதம் / கிராம நாதம்	Village residential settlement land. Land on which houses and habitations in rural villages traditionally stand.
Poramboke	போரம்போக்கு	Government-owned public land: roads, water bodies, burial grounds, grazing land. Cannot be privately owned.
Inam	இனாம்	Historically granted land given by rulers or the colonial government for services. Largely resumed after the Inam Abolition Acts.
Grama Dhanam / Gramdan	கிராம தானம்	Land donated under the Bhoodan / Gramdan framework for landless persons or community purposes. May vest in the Bhoodan Board or a Sarvodaya Panchayat; it is not the same as ordinary private patta land.
Devadhanam / Devadayam	தேவதானம் / தேவதாயம்	A historical inam / endowment classification connected with religious or temple purposes. By itself the label does not conclusively establish present ownership.

Each Land Type Explained

Nanjai (நஞ்சை): Wet Land

Nanjai is agricultural land with an assured source of irrigation: a canal, tank (eri), or river. Because water is dependable, nanjai land is the most productive category and is used primarily for water-intensive crops, above all paddy. It typically carries a higher land value and a higher assessed land revenue than dry land, and its classification as nanjai is recorded in the patta and chitta. When buying nanjai land, confirm that the irrigation source described in the records still exists and functions, since tanks and channels can fall into disuse over time.

Punjai (புன்செய்): Dry Land

Punjai is agricultural land without an assured irrigation source, cultivated using rainfall and, in modern practice, borewells or open wells. It suits less water-intensive crops such as groundnut, millets, pulses, and cotton. Punjai land generally carries a lower assessment than nanjai. A practical point for buyers: land recorded as punjai but now irrigated by a private well is still classified as punjai in the revenue records. The classification reflects the historical assured source, not present-day private irrigation.

Manavari (மானாவாரி): Purely Rain-fed Land

Manavari is land that depends entirely on rainfall with no other assured water source at all. It overlaps closely with punjai in everyday use, and in many records the two terms are treated as near-equivalents. The distinction is that manavari signals the complete absence of any irrigation infrastructure. Cultivation is possible only in seasons with adequate rain. This makes it the lowest-yielding agricultural category and typically the lowest assessed.

Sarisu (சரிசு): Fallow Land

Sarisu describes cultivable land that has been left unfarmed for a prolonged period. It is important to understand that this is a status recorded in the adangal, not a permanent land classification. Land is fallow when it is resting, when the owner has not cultivated it, or when it is temporarily out of use, but its underlying type (nanjai, punjai, or manavari) remains unchanged and it reverts to that type the moment cultivation resumes. For a buyer, long-standing fallow status is worth investigating: it can indicate water problems, boundary disputes, or absentee ownership.

Natham / Grama Natham (நாதம் / கிராம நாதம்): Village Residential Land

Natham, or Grama Natham, is the residential settlement area of a village: the land on which homes, yards, and habitations traditionally stand. Unlike agricultural land, natham is meant for dwelling rather than cultivation, and it is not assessed for agricultural land revenue in the same way. Natham land is a legitimate category to own and build on, but boundaries in old natham areas are often loosely recorded, so an FMB sketch and a physical survey are especially important before buying or constructing. Do not confuse Grama Natham with Grama Dhanam: the names sound alike but mean entirely different things (see below).

Poramboke (போரம்போக்கு): Government Public Land

Poramboke is government-owned land set aside for public or communal use: roads, streams and channels, tanks and water bodies, burial and cremation grounds, and grazing commons. It cannot be privately owned, bought, or sold, and any private construction or cultivation on it is legally an encroachment that the government can remove. Poramboke frequently appears next to private parcels, so when buying land adjacent to a channel, tank, or road, verify on the FMB that your boundary does not extend into poramboke. Encroachment onto poramboke is a common and serious title problem.

Inam (இனாம்): Historically Granted Land

Inam land was granted historically by kings, zamindars, or the colonial government, often rent-free or on concessional terms, in return for services: military, administrative, religious, or charitable. After independence, a series of Inam Abolition Acts converted most inam tenures into ordinary ryotwari (patta) holdings or resumed them to the state. When a present-day record still carries an inam label or traces back to an inam grant, the chain of title needs careful checking: the key question is whether the inam was validly settled in favour of the current holder under the abolition legislation, or whether restrictions still apply.

Grama Dhanam / Gramdan (கிராம தானம்): Bhoodan / Gramdan Donated Land

Grama Dhanam is commonly referred to as Gramdan in the Tamil Nadu Bhoodan Yagna Act, 1958. The Bhoodan movement, associated with Acharya Vinoba Bhave, encouraged voluntary gifts of land for distribution to landless poor persons and for community purposes. The Act created the legal framework for receiving, settling, and managing such donated lands.

In a notified Gramdan village, Gramdan land may vest in and be managed by a Sarvodaya Panchayat. Other Bhoodan lands may be held or dealt with through the Tamil Nadu Bhoodan Board under the Act. For a buyer, the important point is that a reference to Bhoodan, Gramdan, or Grama Dhanam in older records should not be treated as if it were an ordinary private-land classification.

Buyer checks for Grama Dhanam / Gramdan:

• Trace the original donation, settlement, or assignment and confirm whether the land vested in the Bhoodan Board or a Sarvodaya Panchayat.
• Check whether the present holder received the land through a legally permitted grant or assignment, and whether any transfer restrictions continue to apply.
• Compare the historical Bhoodan / Gramdan records with the present patta, survey number, registration records, and possession before relying on the current revenue entry.

Devadhanam / Devadayam (தேவதானம் / தேவதாயம்): Religious Endowment Land

Devadhanam or Devadayam is a historical inam / endowment term associated with religious purposes. In older Inam Fair Registers and revenue records, the word may describe land granted for the support of a temple, deity, religious charity, or a service connected with a religious institution.

A crucial title point is that the word “Devadayam” alone does not automatically prove that the temple is the present owner. Madras High Court decisions have noted that, depending on the original grant, a Devadayam entry may refer either to a grant to the religious institution itself or to a service inam held by an individual subject to performance of a religious service. The original grant and subsequent settlement records therefore matter.

Buyer checks for Devadhanam / Devadayam:

• Examine the Inam Fair Register, title deed, settlement / ryotwari proceedings, “A” Register, patta history, and the complete chain of registered documents.
• Verify whether the property belongs to, or is endowed for the purposes of, a religious institution and whether HR&CE records show an institutional interest.
• If the property is endowed for a religious institution, special restrictions can apply to sale, mortgage, exchange, and long-term lease under the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959. Obtain specialist legal verification before transacting.

Do not confuse these terms: Grama Natham is a village habitation / residential classification; Grama Dhanam / Gramdan concerns land donated under a community-oriented Bhoodan / Gramdan framework; Devadhanam / Devadayam is a historical religious inam / endowment classification. Similar-sounding names can have very different title implications.

Patta: The Ownership Document

A Patta is the primary land revenue record in Tamil Nadu, issued by the Revenue Department through the Tahsildar’s office. It records who is currently recognised in government records as being in possession of a specific piece of land and liable for its land tax. A patta is not a title deed: Indian courts, including the Supreme Court, have held that a patta is presumptive evidence of possession, not conclusive proof of ownership. Legal title is established through a registered sale deed and an unbroken chain of prior title, not through the patta alone. See our Patta Transfer guide for how registration and patta mutation work together.

What a Patta Contains

• Owner’s name and father’s name
• Patta number: a unique number assigned to the patta within that village
• Survey number and subdivision number: identifies which land parcel this patta covers
• Village, Taluk, and District
• Extent of land: area in hectares or acres
• Land classification: Nanjai, Punjai, Natham, etc.
• Annual land tax payable: the amount of land revenue due to the government

Important Points About Patta

• One patta can cover multiple survey numbers belonging to the same owner within the same village.
• When a survey number is subdivided and sold to different people, each new owner must obtain their own separate patta through a process called mutation.
• Patta mutation is the process of updating the patta when land changes hands: through sale, inheritance, gift deed, or court order. Until mutation is completed, the previous owner’s name stays on the patta even after a sale deed has been registered at the Sub-Registrar’s office.
• In Tamil Nadu, patta records are accessible online through the eServices portal at eservices.tn.gov.in by selecting ‘View Patta/Chitta’ and entering the district, taluk, village, and survey number.
• For urban areas under municipalities and corporations, the equivalent document is the Town Survey Land Register (TSLR), not the rural patta.

Registration and Patta mutation are separate legal/administrative functions. In some eligible transactions, the Patta update may be initiated through the integrated registration-revenue workflow; in other cases, a separate Revenue Department process at the Tahsildar’s office may still be required.

Chitta: The Village Ownership Extract

Chitta was historically a separate extract from the Patta register, maintained at the village level by the VAO (Village Administrative Officer), confirming the same ownership information with additional land classification details. In 2015, the Tamil Nadu government officially merged Patta and Chitta into a single unified document. Today they are issued together as one record, referred to as Patta Chitta, through the eServices portal. The distinction is preserved here for understanding older documents and terminology that people still commonly use.

The combined Patta Chitta document contains: the owner’s name and father’s name, patta number, survey number and subdivision, village, taluk and district, extent of land, land classification (Nanjai/wet, Punjai/dry, or Natham), and the tax dues. When people refer to ‘patta and chitta’ today they are referring to this single merged record.

On Tamil Nadu’s eServices portal, the merged record is available under the ‘View Patta & FMB / Chitta / TSLR Extract’ option. The Patta Chitta extract is required when applying for loans, registering property, verifying ownership, or obtaining building approvals.

How Patta and Chitta Worked Before 2015

Understanding the pre-2015 system helps explain why old documents, older people, and even many government officials still refer to patta and chitta as separate things, because for most of Tamil Nadu’s administrative history, they were.

The Revenue Department operated across two tiers:

• Taluk Office (Tahsildar): held the Patta register. This was the master record of land ownership for the entire taluk. Any update to ownership (sale, inheritance, partition) had to be processed here through a formal mutation order.
• Village Level (VAO): maintained the Chitta as part of the village accounts. The VAO’s chitta was the village-level working record: it reflected who owned what land in that village, the land classification (nanjai/punjai/natham), and the tax details.

These two tiers operated somewhat independently. A change at the Taluk level (for example, a patta mutation after a property sale) would take time to filter down and be reflected in the VAO’s chitta register. The village chitta was updated on the VAO’s schedule, not automatically.

In practice, this meant:

• To prove ownership, you needed the patta extract from the Tahsildar’s office: a separate visit, a separate application, often a wait of several days.
• To confirm land classification and village-level status, you needed the chitta extract from the VAO: another visit, another application, to a different office.
• Banks, courts, and government departments routinely demanded both documents separately, as neither alone was considered complete.
• Discrepancies between the two were common. A patta might show the new owner after a mutation, while the chitta at the VAO level still showed the old owner because the village records had not been updated. This mismatch was a frequent source of disputes and loan rejections.

The 2015 merger eliminated this two-office, two-document burden. Both records are now served as a single unified Patta Chitta extract from the eServices portal. The VAO no longer issues a separate physical chitta. However, if you are reviewing land documents from before 2015, you may still encounter separate patta and chitta extracts: both will be needed to get the full picture.

Adangal (1-B Register): The Land Use Record

Adangal, also called the 1-B Register, is the field register maintained at the village level by the VAO. While patta and chitta tell you who owns the land, adangal tells you what is currently happening on the land.

What Adangal Records

• Survey number and subdivision
• Owner’s name and patta number
• Type of crop being cultivated, or whether the land is fallow, vacant, or under a structure
• Water source: canal, tank, well, rain, etc.
• Nature of possession: whether the land is being cultivated by the owner directly or by a tenant
• Extent under cultivation: the area actually being farmed in that season

Why Adangal Matters

• Banks and financial institutions require adangal extracts before approving crop loans or Kisan Credit Cards, to verify that the applicant is actually cultivating the land.
• Government subsidy schemes and crop insurance programmes use adangal data to verify the nature and extent of cultivation.
• Adangal is updated continuously: the VAO records crop details every month across each fasli (revenue year), so the register reflects changes throughout the growing season, not just at fixed points. The full register is written up annually at the end of each fasli year.
• Adangal can be accessed online through eservices.tn.gov.in under the ‘View Adangal’ option by entering district, taluk, village, and survey number.

If adangal shows a tenant as the cultivator, the landowner may face complications in sale or development, as tenancy rights can sometimes be claimed under applicable tenancy laws.

FMB: Field Measurement Book

The Field Measurement Book (FMB) is the official map or sketch of a specific survey number. It is prepared and maintained by the Commissionerate of Survey and Settlement, Tamil Nadu, a department entirely separate from the Revenue Department that handles patta and adangal. At the ground level, the FMB is under the custody of the Tahsildar’s office at the Taluk level, which is where citizens go to request certified copies of FMB or to file complaints about boundary demarcation. The actual field measurement work is carried out by the Firka Surveyor and Taluk Sub-Inspector of Survey, who operate under the Survey and Settlement Department.

What an FMB Shows

• The exact shape and boundaries of the land parcel
• Measurements of each side of the boundary, recorded in feet or metres
• Adjacent survey numbers: who owns the land on all four sides
• Landmarks: roads, water channels, buildings, or other features on or near the boundary
• Total area of the parcel as physically measured on the ground

When FMB is Required

• Resolving boundary disputes between neighbouring landowners
• Physically identifying and demarcating a land parcel before purchase
• Splitting land during subdivision: a new FMB sketch is drawn for each new sub-divided parcel
• Obtaining building plan approvals or layout approvals from local authorities
• Court proceedings involving land boundary or encroachment disputes

FMB sketches can be accessed online through eservices.tn.gov.in under the ‘FMB Sketch’ option by entering district, taluk, village, survey number, and subdivision number.

If the physical boundaries of your land do not match the FMB sketch, this is a serious discrepancy that should be resolved through a licensed surveyor and the Survey Department before any sale or construction.

How All Four Records Connect

For any piece of land in Tamil Nadu, these four documents together give you the complete picture. No single document is sufficient on its own:

Document	Answers	Maintained By	Key Details Recorded
Patta / Chitta	Who owns it?	Revenue Dept (Tahsildar)	Owner name, survey no., extent, land class, tax payable
Adangal (1-B)	What is on it?	VAO (Village level)	Crop grown, water source, possession type, cultivation extent: updated each season
FMB	What does it look like?	Survey & Settlement Dept (Tahsildar’s office at Taluk level)	Boundary sketch, measurements, shape, adjacent parcels and landmarks

 

A Simple Way to Remember

• Survey Number: the address of the land
• FMB: the map of the land
• Patta / Chitta: the ownership certificate of the land
• Adangal: the current use report of the land

Before buying any land in Tamil Nadu, always verify all four: confirm the survey number on the FMB matches the sale deed, check that the patta is in the seller’s name, review the adangal to understand current use, and identify the land type to know what restrictions apply.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Field Measurement Book (FMB) in Tamil Nadu land records?

The FMB is the official map or sketch of a specific survey number, prepared and maintained by the Commissionerate of Survey and Settlement, a separate department from the one that handles patta and adangal. It shows the exact shape, boundaries, measurements and adjacent survey numbers of a land parcel.

What is adangal in Tamil Nadu land records?

Adangal, also called the 1-B register, is the land use record. Where patta tells you who owns the land, adangal tells you what is happening on it right now: the crop being cultivated, irrigation source, and related agricultural details, updated each revenue year.

How can I view or download my FMB sketch online?

FMB sketches can be accessed through eservices.tn.gov.in under the ‘FMB Sketch’ option, by entering the district, taluk, village, survey number and subdivision number.

What is the difference between patta and chitta?

Patta and chitta both relate to ownership and are usually issued together. Patta is the individual ownership document for a specific survey number; chitta was historically the village-level register these were drawn from. Since 2015 the two have been merged into a single combined document in Tamil Nadu.

How do patta, chitta, adangal and FMB connect to each other?

Patta and chitta establish who owns the land. Adangal records what is currently happening on it. FMB records its physical shape and boundaries. All four are cross-referenced by the same survey number, which is why checking a property means checking all four, not just one.