What Is a Fard? (Part 4)

When you want to buy land, first get the jamabandi, you'll find out who has owned it from the first owner up to the present day, and don't panic if the name of the person you're buying from isn't written in it. Here patwaris and tehsildars keep the jamabandi registers such that they don't update them for five years at a stretch, in some mauzas it doesn't happen even for ten years. That doesn't mean that if, in the jamabandi, the original owner A sold to B, B sold to C, C sold to D, now D sold to E, and F bought it from E. Now F goes to check the jamabandi and finds that everything from A to D is there, but E is missing, there's no need to panic. If he is the owner in the register of rights holders and his mutation has been passed, but he isn't in the jamabandi yet, there's no need to worry. When that jamabandi update happens in due course, E's name will appear, and your name too will appear in it. But what you should do is: if E's name isn't in that jamabandi, ask D, sir, who did you sell the land to, don't let him tell you he sold it to someone else, maybe E approached D, or D is just being mischievous and lies to you. Ask him who he sold the land to, he'll eventually tell you he sold it to E. Go to C, sir, you sold it to D, go to their heirs if they've passed away. This kind of vigilance is needed with the jamabandi. If a patwari blackmails you, demands money, there's no need for you to hesitate at all, don't hesitate, immediately file an application against him with the tehsildar. If the tehsildar doesn't take action, write another application and go before the AC, saying, I filed this application against the patwari, the patwari said, the tehsildar is my own man, I didn't listen, I filed an application with the tehsildar, the tehsildar did nothing, meaning the patwari was right that the tehsildar is also part and parcel of it. The AC will take up this application. If it's him, go above him, if it's him too, go above that, you're buying land, becoming an owner, so you need to stand firm on your right. People panic, thinking, oh, a different owner has shown up for my property, three owners have shown up for my property. Well, if you did the thorough inquiry I described before buying, then even if these branches show up afterward, you have no reason to worry. All these registrations that pop up left and right will be bogus if you have completed this inquiry. If you've looked at the revenue record and sorted through it, rest assured, have complete confidence, that if you've had this whole inquiry done yourself or through your lawyer, no fraud will happen to you. If, God forbid, fraud still happens, inquiry doesn't mean you looked at the jamabandi and walked away, no, no, get a copy of it, looked at the patwar copy, no, no, get a copy of it, looked at the government copy, looking isn't enough, get copies of everything you look at. Get certified copies for the record, then buy the land. You'll find out about a patwari's mischief the moment you say, give me a certified copy of this, that's when you'll immediately know whether the patwari has done something crooked or not. So I hope I have answered your questions. Dealing with a patwari or tehsildar is not a difficult task, you just need to have the courage.