By: Mohammad Amin Mir
Jamanandies are an essential document as per revenue record is concerned. Jamabandi consists many parts like kheawat numbers and khata numbers names of landlord with parentage name of tenant with parentage source of irrigation survey number area of land with kind of soil cess charges lagan if any mutation number with kind of mutation and remarks column. These are written in columns and the holdings of landlords are mentioned completely in one or more than one khewat. In revenue parlance it is known as Jamabandi charsala.. It means it was written after a gap of four years after the previous Jamabandi.
Before writing of new Jamabandi of any revenue estate all the mutations that have been attested from last four years are to be incorporated in previous Jamabandi with red colour pen . Red colour pen is used because it gives visibility to the statements of mutations that are written there. After all the mutations have been mentioned in previous Jamabandi it is necessary to check if there are any entries in the current girdawari that too have to be kept in view and should be mentioned in previous Jamabandi especially mortgage cases are mentioned only in Girdawariries. When all these have been completed it is necessary for a patwari to make a chant register meaning a register in which it will be thoroughly mentioned what was or is the share of any landlord and whether he or she has sold any patch of land from his share or has borrowed any patch. It means addition and subtraction is done in this register. It will be called a rough register also but remember it is an essential document. It must be preserved for future references.
But till date many Jamanandies have been written but not a single chant register is available in any village resulting many Litigations have arisen in past decades by false records and are still lingering in revenue and civil courts there by many people have and are suffering a lot. Now this government has taken a best advantage of information technology and it has made possible that the revenue department was made hi tech by introducing on-line system. Jamanandies have been written in each revenue estate and have been scanned and there after digitalized. Officers and especially the field staff has made it possible within short spell of time . These newly written jamanandies are available on revenue portal Aap Ki Zameen Aap ki Nigraani. Nowadays government has ordered and the Deputy Commissioners have constituted teams of experts that are checking these jamanandies and it called quality check. Once it will be completed these jamanandies will be freezed and tthere after no change will be done and the teams engaged have to give certificate that these jamanandies are hundred percent error free and even officers have to submit authentication before higher ups in this regard. Bu one wonders how it will be possible for the teams constituted tto make these jamanandies 100℅error free in short span of time. IMany people have visited District record room Anantnag and are enquiring about old records. When asked why you need this old record they pause and answer that in digitalized Jamabandi my name doesn’t exist any where when record ha been tallied the grievance was found genuine. One person from Qasbai Baghat Or from Anantnag town came and demanded the record of his ancestral property and before this author can open the record of Jamabandi written in the year 1967_68 the person revealed the I was having share from two survey numbers but when I checked the online records only one survey number is there in which my name exists. He was adamant to know the answer to his question What should I do? This is the question this author listens from 30 percent of people that visit record room in a day.
It is a fact that these jamanandies were written on war footing basis but bad luck was these were not thoroughly checked instead were got signed hurriedly and then submitted in Regional Director offices where these were scanned and after that were handed back to patwaries who were not computer savvy at that time. Some were knowing ABC but majority were not aware about IT technology. These patwaries hired computer literate persons and read them entries by sitting on iron or wood made tools lying aside this computer literate person who himself was not aware about ABC of revenue language. There are many errors in these jamanandies and if these will be made Like Verification Register and will be checked thoroughly by the concerned patwari and GQ that too in a targeted time will make the record error free and nobody can raise fingers about it. Area of any village mentioned in Record of Rights and in Jamabandi of 1967_68 and newly digitalized Jamabandi is not same. It varies. Some where more and some where less. On last page of this Jamabandi which is handwritten it has been mentioned as figures in ROR but when one checks inside it varies. It is suggested if these digitalized jamabandies will be treated verification registers and patwari concerned including GQ and Naib Tehsildar will be given dead line to write new Jamabandi that will be best for the betterment of general public. There are many mortgage letters mentioned in Girdawariries where a person has taken KCC Or housing or any other lone means the property vests with bank. These entries are also missing in digitalized jamabandies. It also creats problems. Same needs incorporation in new records.
Author is in charge record room DC office Anantnag.
