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Service Guide · Karnataka · Land Records

The RTC (Pahani): Reading Karnataka's Land Record

Karnataka digitised its land records before anyone else in India, and the depth shows. The RTC, the Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops, packs sixteen columns of history into one extract: owner, cultivator, crop, soil, irrigation, liabilities, and the mutation trail behind them all. Bhoomi serves it in seconds. Reading it properly takes a little longer.

Quick Reference
RecordRTC (Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops)
Also calledPahani
PortalBhoomi (landrecords.karnataka.gov.in)
Search bySurvey number + hissa
Free viewYes, unsigned
Legal copyi-RTC, digitally signed
OfficeVillage Accountant, Tahsildar
Bottom lineThe free view informs. Only the signed i-RTC stands at a bank or SRO.
1

What the RTC actually contains

Definition

The RTC is Karnataka's core land record, maintained per survey number and hissa on the Bhoomi system. Its columns carry ownership, khata reference, extent, soil class, cultivator, crops by season, irrigation source, liabilities and the mutation register entries that changed any of them.

Sixteen columns sounds bureaucratic until you realise what they let you do: reconstruct the parcel's working life. Who owned it, who actually tilled it, what grew on it season by season, whether a loan sits recorded against it, and which mutation entry brought the present owner in.

Three columns earn special attention from buyers. The cultivator column, where a name other than the owner hints at tenancy or an arrangement nobody wrote down. The liabilities column, where acquisition proceedings and loans surface. And the mutation reference, the MR number, which is your thread back through every change the record has absorbed.

Karnataka classifies land as tari, khushki or bagayat, wet, dry or garden, and the class drives value, water rights and the conversion question. One caution for city buyers: the municipal khata of Bengaluru property is a different instrument entirely; the RTC is the revenue record for land.

State-specific note: Search needs the hissa, not just the survey number. Karnataka parcels subdivide into hissas, and pulling the parent survey alone can show you a neighbour's history instead of yours.
2

How to check the RTC on Bhoomi

The unsigned view is free. Keep the survey number, hissa and village handy.

Online method

1
Open the Bhoomi portal
Go to landrecords.karnataka.gov.in and choose the RTC view service.
Karnataka's original e-governance workhorse.
2
Walk the location chain
District, taluk, hobli, then village.
The hobli step trips outsiders; confirm it from an old record.
3
Enter survey number and hissa
Fetch the current RTC, or historical year versions where you need the trail.
Old-period RTCs are gold for tracing possession.
4
Read all sixteen columns
Owner, cultivator, class, liabilities, crops and the MR references.
Note every MR number for the mutation trail.

Offline (VA / kiosk)

1
Meet the Village Accountant
The VA maintains the village's records and explains entries no portal will.
2
Use a Bhoomi kiosk or Nadakacheri
Counter prints of the RTC are available where connectivity is thin.
3
Escalate to the Tahsildar
Disputed or frozen entries move up to the taluk office.
3

The RTC columns that decide deals

Six of the sixteen columns do most of the work in a purchase.

Column What it records Why a buyer cares
Owner & khataRecorded holder and accountMust equal the seller and the deed
Extent & hissaArea of this subdivisionHissa-level precision prevents wrong-parcel deals
Soil classTari, khushki or bagayatDrives value, water rights, conversion
CultivatorWho actually tillsA stranger here means unresolved rights
LiabilitiesLoans, acquisition, court entriesSurfaces burdens before the EC stage
Mutation (MR) refsEntries that changed the recordYour thread through the parcel's history
Good sign: An RTC whose owner, cultivator and extent agree with the seller and deed, liabilities column empty, and MR trail explaining every change.
4

Common RTC issues, and the fix

RTC checks fail in four recognisable ways.

Record not found
Wrong hobli or a missing hissa in the search.
Fix: re-verify the location chain from an old RTC, then search hissa by hissa.
Cultivator is not the owner
Someone else's name occupies the tilling column.
Fix: get the arrangement in writing or treat it as a tenancy claim in waiting.
Liabilities column carries entries
Loans or acquisition proceedings sit on the record.
Fix: trace each entry to its source document before any advance.
Historical gap in the trail
Years of RTC history missing or inconsistent.
Fix: pull old-year RTCs and the MR extracts; gaps are where disputes hide.
5

Why the RTC opens every Karnataka land file

Bhoomi has been running long enough that the RTC's history is itself evidence: two decades of digitised entries that show not just the present state but the path to it.

🔍
Read the parcel like a revenue officer
Buyers who pull old-year RTCs alongside the current one read the parcel the way a revenue officer would.
📋
Pull it three times
Pull it three times: at shortlisting, on the site visit against the standing crop and the person tilling, and after your own mutation, when the owner column should finally read your name.
Red flag: A seller who cannot walk you through their own RTC's liabilities and mutation columns, or who waves off a cultivator-column stranger as a labourer, is narrating around the record instead of through it.
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Frequently asked questions

How do I check my RTC on Bhoomi?
Open landrecords.karnataka.gov.in, choose the RTC view, select district, taluk, hobli and village, then enter the survey number and hissa. The unsigned view is free.
What do RTC and Pahani mean?
The same record. RTC stands for Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops; Pahani is its everyday name in Karnataka's revenue offices.
What are tari, khushki and bagayat?
Karnataka's land classes: wet, dry and garden land respectively. The class shapes valuation, irrigation rights and the conversion route.
Why does the hissa number matter?
Surveys subdivide into hissas, each its own parcel. Searching without the hissa can pull a sibling parcel's record and mislead the whole check.
Is the free RTC valid for a bank?
No. Banks and sub-registrars act on the i-RTC, the digitally signed version. The free view is for your own homework.
Can I see older RTC entries?
Yes, Bhoomi serves historical year versions. Old RTCs plus the MR trail are the standard way to reconstruct a parcel's past.

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