RTC (pahani) in Karnataka: how to view and verify a land record online on Bhoomi

On agricultural land in Karnataka, the document that tells a buyer who the land legally belongs to is not the khata and not the encumbrance certificate — it is the RTC, the Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops, commonly called the pahani. It is the state revenue record for a survey number: who is the recorded holder, how much extent, what kind of land, what crop, and what charges or court orders sit on it. The Karnataka Revenue Department's Bhoomi system makes it viewable online by anyone with the survey number, free to view and at a small charge for a printable copy. This guide covers what an RTC shows, how to pull one, how it connects to the khata and EC, and what an out-of-order RTC tells a buyer to do next.

Why the RTC matters — and where it does not apply

The RTC is the primary ownership and cultivation record for revenue (agricultural) land in Karnataka. For any plot on the city periphery, any farmhouse parcel, and any 'converted' site whose land was once agricultural, the RTC is where the title chain begins. It records the khatedar — the person in whose name the land stands in the revenue register — alongside the extent, the land classification, the crop grown, and the mutation references that trace how the holding changed hands.

Two limits are worth stating up front. The RTC governs revenue land; once land is lawfully converted to non-agricultural use and absorbed into a city's municipal limits, the urban property-tax record (the khata) takes over, and the RTC stops being updated for that parcel. And the RTC is a fiscal and revenue record — it reflects what the revenue department has entered, not an adjudication of title. It is necessary diligence on agricultural and converted land, never the whole of it.

What an RTC (pahani) actually shows

An RTC is laid out in numbered columns, and a buyer should be able to read the ones that matter rather than glance at it as a single page:

• Survey number, Hissa (sub-division) and Surnoc — the unique identifiers for the exact parcel. A holding is often split into Hissas, so confirm the Hissa matches the land actually being sold.
• Khatedar / owner details — the recorded holder's name, often with the father's or predecessor's name, and the extent each holder owns.
• Extent — the area in acres and guntas (and the Kharab, or uncultivable, portion shown separately). Cross-check this against the area in the sale deed.
• Land classification — whether the land is recorded as agricultural, and the soil and irrigation type. A parcel still classed as agricultural has not been converted for building use.
• Crop details — the crop grown season by season, which is how a revenue record evidences cultivation and possession.
• Liabilities column — registered charges such as a bank hypothecation against a crop or land loan, and any court stay, attachment or dispute noted against the parcel.
• Mutation references (MR numbers) — the entries that record each change of holder by sale, inheritance, partition or grant, pointing to the mutation register that explains the change.

The mutation references are the part casual readers skip and careful buyers read first. Each MR number links to a mutation register (MR) extract, and the sequence of MRs is the chain of custody of the holding — who held it, who it passed to, and on what basis. A break or an unexplained jump in that sequence is a question to answer before money moves.

How to view an RTC online on Bhoomi

The official portal is the Karnataka Revenue Department's land-records site at landrecords.karnataka.gov.in, run by the Bhoomi Monitoring Cell. The 'View RTC and MR' service shows the record on screen for free; the 'i-RTC' service issues a printable, digitally signed copy on payment of a small fee. Use the official portal — several lookalike third-party sites mirror the data but are not the source.

1. Open the Bhoomi land-records portal at landrecords.karnataka.gov.in and choose the 'View RTC and MR' service.
2. Select the location step by step — District, then Taluk, then Hobli, then Village — from the dropdowns.
3. Enter the Survey Number and choose the Surnoc and Hissa Number for the exact parcel you are checking; a single survey number can hold several Hissas.
4. Fetch the details to view the current RTC on screen — holder, extent, classification, crop, liabilities and the mutation references.
5. Read the liabilities column and the MR numbers, and pull each mutation (MR) extract to trace the chain of how the holding changed hands.
6. For a copy a bank or sub-registrar will accept, use the 'i-RTC' service to pay online and download the digitally signed RTC, which carries a QR code and signature that can be verified against the government server.

How the RTC connects to the khata, the EC and DC conversion

The RTC is one leg of a Karnataka title check, not a standalone answer. On agricultural and converted land it works together with three other records, and the join between them is where most defects show up:

• DC conversion — for land sold as a building site, ask for the deputy commissioner's order converting it from agricultural to non-agricultural use. If the RTC still classes the land as agricultural and no conversion order exists, the 'site' is a revenue site, whatever the seller calls it. See PropWatch's revenue-site guide.
• Khata — once land is converted and falls within municipal limits, the khata (now the e-Khata) is the property record. A khata does not erase the RTC history; a clean-looking e-Khata can still sit on land whose RTC and conversion were never in order. See PropWatch's A-Khata vs B-Khata explainer.
• Encumbrance certificate — the EC on Kaveri lists registered transactions and mortgages on the property; the RTC liabilities column and mutation chain show the revenue-side history. Read them together — a charge or transfer may appear on one and not the other.

Put plainly: the RTC tells you who the revenue department records as the holder and whether the land is still agricultural; the EC tells you what was registered against it; the khata tells you the municipal tax status; and the DC conversion order tells you whether the land was ever lawfully made non-agricultural. A gap in any one is the thing to resolve before signing.

What an out-of-order RTC signals — a verification checklist

An RTC that does not line up with what the seller says is the most common early warning a buyer of revenue or converted land will get. Before any advance or agreement:

• Match the holder — the khatedar on the latest RTC should match the seller and the chain on the registered sale deed. A name that does not match, or a recent unexplained change of holder, needs an answer.
• Match the extent — the acres and guntas on the RTC should reconcile with the sale deed and any survey sketch. A shortfall or an over-statement is a question, not a rounding error.
• Read the land classification — if it still reads agricultural and the plot is sold as a building site, ask for the DC conversion order before anything else.
• Read the liabilities column — an open hypothecation, a court stay or a noted dispute on the RTC must be cleared or explained, not waved away.
• Trace every mutation (MR) reference — pull the MR extracts and confirm the chain is complete and each transfer is accounted for. An inheritance or partition with missing consents is a recurring source of later litigation.
• Pull a long-period EC on Kaveri and read it against the RTC chain — see PropWatch's EC guide linked below.
• Have a property advocate examine the RTC, the mutation chain, the conversion order and the title deeds together before any payment — the online record does not replace that examination.

SourceRevenue Department, Government of Karnataka — Bhoomi land records portal (View RTC and MR, i-RTC, mutation services)

SourceBhoomi Monitoring Cell, Government of Karnataka — Bhoomi project portal

SourcePropWatch — Encumbrance certificate online in Karnataka (Kaveri): steps, charges and how to read it

SourcePropWatch — e-Khata for revenue sites in Bangalore: how to apply, and why the digital record is not clean title

SourcePropWatch — What is A Khata and B Khata in Bangalore: the foundational difference