Glossary · Offices & officials

What is Patwari?

Also called: Lekhpal (UP), Talathi (Maharashtra), Village Accountant / VAO (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu), Halka patwari, Karamchari (Bihar), Village revenue officer

A patwari is the village-level revenue official who keeps the land records, village map and crop register for a group of villages and reports to the tehsildar.

Each patwari is responsible for a circle of villages, often called a halka. They maintain the record of rights (jamabandi or khatauni), the village map (shajra), the field register, and carry out the girdawari crop inspection each season.

The patwari also enters mutations for approval, prepares reports for legal heir certificates and inheritance, and takes part in demarcation. The title differs by state: lekhpal in Uttar Pradesh, talathi in Maharashtra, village accountant or village administrative officer in the south, karamchari in Bihar.

Many records are now online, but the patwari’s knowledge of who is actually using each field is still hard to replace — and, because so much passes through this one office, it is also where many record changes begin.

Why it matters if you live abroad

A polite relationship with the patwari — through a trusted relative or lawyer — often gets a copy of the shajra, a fresh fard or an honest answer about who is using your land.

Read the full guide

Nishandehi

Where does your land end?

📜 Land records explained 7 min read

Land Demarcation Process in India: Nishandehi Guide for NRIs

How land demarcation (nishandehi, hadbast, mojani) works in India: who measures, documents, notice to neighbours, attending from abroad, and disputing a report.

Related terms

Tehsildar
A tehsildar is the revenue officer in charge of a tehsil or taluk — overseeing land records, mutations, demarcation and certificates, and acting as a revenue court.
Girdawari
Girdawari is the regular crop inspection in which the patwari records, for each field, what crop is grown and who is cultivating it, usually once each season.
Jamabandi
A jamabandi is the record of rights for land in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Rajasthan and other states, showing the owners, cultivators, shares and area of each holding.
Shajra
Shajra usually means the shajra kishtwar — the village revenue map showing every numbered field. Shajra nasab is a different record: the landholders’ family tree kept with the jamabandi.
Demarcation
Demarcation is the official measurement of a plot by the revenue or survey department to fix its boundaries on the ground according to the village map and records.
Ferfar
Ferfar is Maharashtra’s word for a mutation entry — the numbered change recorded by the talathi in the mutation register (Village Form 6) before the 7/12 extract is updated.

We watch both sides: the land from space, and the record every week.

See how it works

← All glossary terms