Rajasthan's land revenue system is governed primarily by the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 (RLRA), the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955, and the Rajasthan Revenue Courts Procedure Rules. The state maintains comprehensive revenue records for agricultural land, including: (1) Khasra — a parcel-wise register recording the field number, area, nature of soil, type of crop, and the name of the possessor; (2) Khatauni — a holding-wise register listing all khasra numbers held by one person in a village; (3) Jamabandi/Record of Rights — the comprehensive revenue document prepared every five years by the Patwari. These documents are digitised and accessible through the Rajasthan government's Apna Khata portal (apnakhata.raj.nic.in).
Mutation (Intkal/Dakhil Kharij): Mutation is the process of updating revenue records to reflect a change in possession or ownership following a sale, gift, inheritance, partition, or court decree. Importantly, mutation in revenue records does not create or extinguish title — it is merely a fiscal record (settled by the Supreme Court in Balwant Singh v. Daulat Singh, 1997). An application for mutation is filed before the Tehsildar, who issues a notice to persons likely to be affected, receives objections, and after enquiry passes a mutation order. Appeals lie to the Sub-Divisional Officer, then the Collector, then the Board of Revenue.
Revenue court jurisdiction: Revenue courts under the RLRA and Rajasthan Tenancy Act have exclusive jurisdiction over: tenancy disputes; agricultural partition disputes; disputes concerning rights recorded in revenue records; and proceedings under the Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings Act. Civil courts have no jurisdiction over matters exclusively assigned to revenue courts.
Board of Revenue: The Board of Revenue for Rajasthan, headquartered at Ajmer, is the highest revenue court in the state. It exercises appellate, revisional, and reference jurisdiction in revenue matters. The Board's decisions on questions of revenue law are binding on all subordinate revenue courts. Further judicial review of Board decisions lies only before the Rajasthan High Court under Article 226/227.
Common issues in Rajasthan: (1) Khatedari rights — under the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, a tenant who has cultivated land for a specified period acquires khatedari (occupancy) rights, which are heritable and can be transferred with certain restrictions. (2) Land use conversion — agricultural land cannot be used for non-agricultural purposes without conversion permission from the Collector. (3) Government land encroachments — addressed through revenue authorities with powers of summary eviction.