THE ASSAM LAND RECORDS MANUAL�

Mandal or Recorders Section

1.Appointment:(a)Recorders are appointed by the DC

2. An appeal from the order of DC for appointment to a permanent post shall lie to the DLR
3. An appeal from the order of the DLR lie with Govt

2. Promotion.-Subject to the sanctioned cadre of the district, the grant of grade promotion to a recorder rests with the DC.

3. Transfer.- The DC can transfer a recorder from one lot to another within his district but no resident recorder should be transferred from his lot without the sanction of the DLR.

During the currency of a Re-settlement Operation, the Settlement Officer will exercise the powers of the DC in respect of temporary, additional recorders working under the SO in matters relating to appointment, transfer and promotion.

4. Punishment.-(l) DC, SDO ,SO, CO and ASO may, in their respective jurisdictions and subject to the restrictions hereinafter mentioned impose on the recorders under mentioned penalties:

​

5. Increase of staff/Lots.-Proposals for the creation or the redistribution of lots involving any increase or decrease in the sanctioned staff of recorders of a district will be submitted by the DC to the DLR. The DLR will scrutinize and submit them with his recommendation or remarks, if any, to Govt for sanction. ��6. Residence.-A recorder must be a permanent resident within his Lot with his family. But the DC may grant exemption�� 7. Under the Govt Servants' Conduct Rules, a recorder must make a declaration of all immoveable property held or acquired by himself, his wife or any member of his family� �9. Survey School Certificate.-(l) All persons holding the office of recorder will be required to attend the Assam Survey Settlement Training Cntre and to pass the prescribed examination.

15. Principal duties.-The recorder's principal duties fall under three broad categories, viz. �(i) maintenance of land records, �(ii) collection of agricultural statistics and� (iii) assistance in revenue administration.��(i) Maintenance of land records: The first category of his duties includes the recording of mutations, field­ inspection, survey of areas newly occupied, preparation of field-map, compilation of chitha, preparation of record-of-right, inspection of survey marks and the keeping of land and revenue records upto date by necessary correction.�

15. Principal duties.-�(ii) Collection of agricultural statistics :The second category includes recording of area under different crops and other land uses and crop wise irrigated area with source by field-to-field inspection, conducting crop cutting experiments, assisting Supervisor Kanungo in preparation of crop- forecast and compilation of area, crop and irrigation abstracts.�

15. Principal duties.-�(iii) Assistance in revenue administration: The third category, he is to assist Mauzadar in preparation of his records for collection of revenue. He is to prepare the list of 'faut' 'ferar 'and 'jotrahin' lands, assess newly settled land and detect concealed cultivation. He is to submit report on encroachment of Govt land, Professional grazing Reserved, Public grazing reserved and other reserved lands. He is to report about damage of crops or other calamities and do all other works given to him by the circle officer in connection with revenue administration.�Besides the above, he is to assist other Govt Depts in various miscellaneous works

• 16. In surveyed areas, the procedure for carrying out these duties rests upon the maintenance of (a) a field map, (b) a field catalogue or 'chitha' and (c) a field ledger or 'jamabandi’.
• 17. In unsurveyed areas no map is maintained, but the same form of chitha and jamabandi will be used and the records for annual and periodic holdings will be prepared separately.
• 19. The assessment of new land.
• 20. The striking-off of land from the assessment roII (faut), or (ferar) or (jotrahin).
• 21. Relinquishment(Istafa).-Notices of relinquishment will generally be made over to the recorder under the endorsement of the officer receiving them, and the recorder will enter them in a register in Form 5 and will check them in the course of his Spring tour. It should be noted that a part of a dag cannot be relinquished.

​

��22. Faut, ferar and jotrahim field.- The recorder will annually prepare for each village in Form 6 a separate list of all fields abandoned by settlement­ holders who tire dead (faut), untraceable (ferar) or insolvent (jotrahin) noting whether they were annually or peridocially settled. The list in triplicate must be completed by the 1st May. �23. Reclassification: Altered assessment of fields converted from agricultural to non-agricultural use.-The recorder will also during his winter tour make a list in Form K appended, of all fields which have been converted from agricultural to non-agricultural use .� 24. Record of annulments.-Orders for the annulment of settlement will be noted by the recorder in the remarks column of the chitha. �25. Crop inspection tours.- The recorder annually will make two tours of field inspection, viz. a spring tour from 15th February, to 15th June and a winter tour from 1st November to 15th January �26. Correction of jamabandi register.-When the recorder's recess station is not at the headquarters of the RKG he will, towards the end 'of the summerrecess, go to the RKG's office with his chitha and jamabandi in order to make the transfers and correction referred to in Rules 100-103.� ��

33. Survey mark.-A register of all permanent survey marks in each village will be maintained in Form 7. The recorder should visit each mark annually, noting the visit in his diary and recording in the register the condition of the mark and any repairs which may be needed. He must take early action to cause these repairs or renewals to be effected.The recorder will also annually inspect all the boundary marks of the areas which have been reserved for public purposes within his lot, such as grazing grounds, and supply such information regarding them as may berequired by the DC. Such marks will be entered in the Register of Survey marks in the spare pages at the end of the book under a separate serial number beginning with number one.In addition to the register, each recorder will keep a 'mujmuli' map of his lot on the scale of 4 inches to the mile, showing all the marks which have been assigned to his charge. �34. Maintenance of Survey marks.-In established villages the recorder is responsible for maintenance of all boundary marks.� 38. Registers and retuns.- The following registers and statements shall be maintained and prepared by the recorder :-��

44. Field work’s-During his field tours the recorder will �(1) survey and bring on to the map all areas that have been settled upon application, � (2)survey all new cultivation and extensions of cultivation, carefully exploring the unsettled lands and sarkari dags of his villages to. ensure that no new cultivation or extension of cultivation escape notice,� (3) go round the periodically settled fields of his villages and make any corrections on the map which are needed in order to give effect to orders passed by the Sub-Deputy Collector or other officer duly empowered in mutation proceedings, and �(4) inspect all the areas reserved within Ius lot for public purposes (e.g. road-side lands, grazing or camping grounds etc.) and report encroachments, if any. The encroached areas in respect of Sarkari lands or lands reserved for public purposes within his lot will be plotted on the map in pencil and taken over to the encroachment register and Tauzi-Bahir jamabandi to be maintained under Rule 19.Extensions of cultivation in lakhiraj estates and fee-simple grants held for ordinary cultivation are to be surveyed and numbered in separate dags according to blocks of cultivation for the assessment of local rates.�

58(2)(iv) Fieldmutation.-If there has been a change in the settlement holder, as shown in column 7, the name of the person in actual possession must be shown in column 8 with a number corresponding to that in column 7 when there are more pattadars than one, and a word be entered to indicate the cause of change (e.g., inheritance, purchase, gift, exchange etc.). If an entry has been made in column 8 of the previous chitha, but mutation not yet sanctioned, the entry should be copied in column 8 in the new chitha. The entry in column 8 will be signed and dated by the recorder. ��97. To facilitate the preparation of the general settlement statement (daul) for the mauza, the recorder will prepare a similar abstract for each village and for the lot for all tenures other than khiraj.�

Supervisor Kanangoh

• 125. (i) Appointments to the office of the Supervisor Kanungohs are made by the DC from among the recorders who have successfully passed the Special Class course of the ASSTC should ordinarily  be selected.
• 141. Report of recorders' bad work.-
• 142. Check of recorder's chain.-
• 143. Check of recorder's measuring standard.-
• 145. Duration of tour.- The Supervisor Kanungo will be on tour throughout the recorder's Spring and Winter tours. The prescribed minimum of touring is 200 days. Of these 200 days, at least 50 nights will be spent outside headquarters.
• 147. The Supervisor Kanungo will be on. his rounds of testing the recorders' work and seeing that they work correctly,

​

​

Supervisor Kanangoh

• 170. Check of mutations.-He will check at least ten percent of corrections of the local periodic Jamabandi effected by the recorder under Rule 100.
• 171. Settlement assessment statement (daul).-It is one of the most important duties of the Supervisor Kanungo to prepare the settlement assessment statement (daul) for each Mauza or Pargana of his sub-circle. The statement for the regular settlement is due from him on the 1st August.
• 172. The most important register to be maintained by the Supervisor Kanungo is the statistical register of village areas.
• 175. The Instrument Ledger Account will be in Form D. A number of pages will be allotted for each recorder's lot

​

​

• Circle Officer
• 202. General duties of the Circle Officer .-(l) The Circle Officer is directly responsible to the Deputy Commissioner for proper carrying out these rules. It is his duty to see that the recorders and Supervisor Kanungos act as herein ordered; that the returns and statements prescribed are punctually submitted; that the recorders begin their tours on the proper date; that the Supervisor Kanungos constantly check the work of recorders of his Sub-Circle. He is also responsible for timely submission of circle crop forecast in turns and compilation of circle area, crop and irrigation abstracts.

​

• 222. Annual retum.-In the 1st week of October, the Circle Officer in charge of a Circle should submit to the DC, with a copy to the Sub-divisional Officer, a brief note showing for the twelve months ending 30th September,-

​

• DC will forward this note to the Director of Land Records, stating his opinion as to the character and efficiency of the work done.

​

​

• (1) the total number of days in charge with the number of days spent on tour, with details as to how many were spent in each mauza or Pargana and how many nights halted elsewhere than at head­ quarters;
• (2) the number of recorders and villages in his circle;
• (3) the number of recorders whose work he has inspected and the villages visited;
• (4) the number and length of check lines run with the number or Katans and offsets. Independent checklines and lines run over other officers' work should be shown separately;
• (5) the number and character of errors found, the number of lines in which they were found and the number of cases in which the recorders were ordered to re-survey;
• (6) the number of Chitha entries tested and the number that they were found incorrect;
• (7) the number of survey marks inspected;
• (8) the number of villages the [amabandi of which were read out in the village;
• (9) the number of mutation and partition cases effected on the spot;
• (10) the number of mutation cases done in office;
• (11) particulars of any new survey carried out in unsurveyed areas, showing in acres the total unsurveyed areas in the circle, the area surveyed and mapped, the area passed and the amount of rewards paid during the year;
• (12) the area in acres of concealed cultivation discovered, if any; (13) the character of each Kanungo's work during the season;
• (14) the names of specially good recorders and the nature of their work;
• (15) the names of incompetent or otherwise useless recorders and the nature of their work;
• (16) the number of resident and non-resident recorders, the number of recorders exempted by special orders from becoming resident up­ to-date, the number who have become resident or were exempted during the year;

​

• 223. Circle Registers.-The Circle Officer will keep the following registers and files :-
• (1) Register of application for mutation.
• (2) Register of application for waste lands under Section 1 of the Settlement Rules framed under ALRR
• (3) Register of miscellaneous petitions.
• (4) Diary Register.
• (5) Cash Book.
• (6) Files relating to correspondence.
• (7) Orders and instruction files.
• (8) Inspection Book.
• (9) Counterfoil receipt books.
• (10) Acquaintance Roll.
• (11) Dak Book.
• (12) Court fee Register.
• (13) Register of relinquishment petition.
• (14) Conversion Register.

• 223. Circle Registers.-The Circle Officer will keep the following registers and files :-
• (15) Encroachment case register.
• (16) Stock and furniture register.
• (17) Stationery articles register.
• (18) Forms register.
• (19) CO's daily Diary book. This Diary book will contain all the particulars of work attended by him.
• (20) Attendance register of office staff.
• (21) Attendance register of field staff during the recess.
• (22) Weekly attendance register of field staff, i.e., recorders and Supervisor Kanungos.
• (23) Log books for each lot and each Sub-Circle. The log books may be maintained for all the SK and LM

​

• 224. Deputy Commissioner and Sub-divisional Officer.- The Deputy Commissioner and the Sub-divisional Officer will make frequent inspections of the work of each Circle Office in the district or sub-division.

​

• 225. Director of Land Records and his Assistant.-The Director of Land Records will inspect the work of maintaining the land records throughout the State.

THANK YOU