What is Patta or Pattayam?

Saji Koduvath, Advocate, Kottayam

Part I

Patta is a Certificate or Document issued by the Government

  • (i) to persons to whom ownership is conferred upon Govt. property, or
  • (ii) to tenants/grantees of Govt. property, for cultivation, residence etc.

‘Patta’ (or ‘Pattayam’)

  • But, Patta, as a Revenue-Term, expresses both assignment of absolute Tile and lease or grant of licence.
  • Now-a-days ‘patta’ is generally used to show confinement of Govt. land with absolute Title.
  • It was used in early times to signify lease or grant (of licence) of Government-lands alone.

Kerala Government Land Assignment Act, 1960

The Kerala Government Land Assignment Act, 1960, Sec. 8 shows that ‘Pattah is a document evidencing the assignment of Government land or of any interest therein’. Sec. 2(2) denotes that ‘assignment includes a transfer of land by way of lease and a grant of licence‘.

From Sec. 2(2) and Sec. 8, it is clear that “Patta” is issued by the Government on assignment of land  including that on lease or grant of licence.

Section 2(2) of the Land Assignment Act, 1960 reads as under:

  • “2. Definitions.- (1) ….
    • (2). In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- (a) assignment includes a transfer of land by way of lease and a grant of licence for the use of land.”

Section 8 of the Land Assignment Act, 1960 reads as under:

  • “8. Assignment to take effect with restrictions, conditions, etc., according to their tenor .- All the provisions, restrictions, conditions and limitations contained in any Pattah or other document evidencing the assignment of Government land or of any interest therein shall be valid and take effect according to their tenor, notwithstanding any law for the time being in force or any custom or contract to the contrary.”

Following decisions speak as to patta issued to Tenants

  • Nature Lovers Movement Vs. State of Kerala, AIR  2009 SC 1573
  • Kamala Bakshi Vs. Khairati Lal, AIR  2000 SC 1808
  • Glanrock Estate (P) Ltd Vs. State of Tamil Nadu, AIR  2010 SC 795 (Ryotwari Patta).
  • M Chinnathambi Alias Muthiah Vs. Ponnathal, 2010-1 Mad WN 725;
  • Umapathi, K.  Vs. Addl. Collector, Thanjavur, 2000-2 Mad LJ 725
  • KS Shanthilal Vs. Sarojini Ammal, 1996-1 Mad LJ 562, (Ryotwari Patta)

Lessee is Referred to as Pattadhar

  • In Revenue documents (‘record of rights’) of various States in India, the lessee is referred to as pattadhar.
  • Several enactments, relating to revenue, also refer patta as lease-document.

‘Holder of property’ – ‘Pattadaran’

In Kerala, in the Land Tax Act Rules, 1972 and the Tax Receipt, describes the ‘holder of property’ as ‘Pattadaran’. It is definite that he is not the title holder.

Transfer of Registry Rules (Kerala) makes it clear – Patta and Title stand for Different Concepts. In Moideen v. Village Officer, 9 January, 2019 (Alexander Thomas, J.) Kerala High Court pointed out with reference to Rule 16 of the Transfer of Registry Rules that the mutation or acceptance of basic land tax, by itself, will not confer or extinguish title and that in accordance with the decisions of the Civil Court pattas will be revised from time to time. Rule 16 of the Transfer Registry Rules reads as under:

  • “The summary enquiry and the decision thereon is only an arrangement for fiscal purposes and does not affect the legal rights of any person in respect of the lands covered by the decisions in transfer of registry cases. The question of legal rights is always subject to adjudication by civil courts and pattas will be revised from time to time in accordance with judicial decisions.”

Part II

What was ‘Patta’ In erstwhile Madras (including Malabar)?

  • In the erstwhile Madras State, ‘Patta’ was originally a word connected to land-lease. “Patta” issued when Lease was made by Government

Ryotwari System in Malabar – Lease by Government, under Pattas

  • Sir Thomas Munro, Madras Governor, introduced ryotwari system throughout the Madras Presidency in 1820.  
  • Under the ryotwari system, land was given on lease by the government to the ryot under a patta.
  • A ryotwari pattadar was not a proprietor of land in its full sense, but only a tenant.
  • British Government collected taxes directly from the peasants. The rate of tax was 50% in dry-lands and 60% in irrigated land.
  • In S. Thenappa Chettiarv. State of Tamil Nadu, AIR 1986 SC 1117, it was held, following Khajamian Wakf Estates v. State of Madras, AIR 1971 SC 161, that the expression ‘estate’ in Article 31A included ‘ryotwari’ land also by virtue of the Seventeenth Amendment of the Constitution on June 20, 1964 with retrospective effect.

Part III

In Travancore & Cochin – “Patta” denoted both Lease and Janmam

‘Patta’ was originally used in Travancore and Cochin also to denote Government-recognition of ‘holding’ lands, other than that with ‘ownership’ or ‘janmam’ rights; and subsequently it had been used for both lease, grant/licence and Janmam lands.

In the 1910 Indenture executed by an English citizen, Henry Mansfield Knight, in favour of Malayalam Rubber and Produce Co. Ltd. it is seen stated that the vendor (HM Knight) obtained land (Gudempara Estate) under ‘Pattas’ of 1907 and 1909 from the Travancore government subject to ‘terms conditions and covenants’ and also subject to assessment, for a period of 20/30 years. The indenture also provided for applying and obtaining ‘grant or title deed’ by the purchaser (from the Government). From this deed it can be seen that it conferred only lesser right than lease/grant. (Copy of this deed is produced in various civil cases filed by the State of Kerala, in Sub Court, Kattappana, in 2024.)

In Harska Trust v. State of Kerala, ILR  1960 Ker 345, it is pointed out as under –

  • ‘According to the petitioners, the issue of the Patta under that Act in respect of these lands was something duly done and the repeal of the Act cannot in any way affect the right granted under that Patta, namely, the right to continue in possession of the lands till the end of 1144 on payment of Rs. 2,665 (about) per year as rent against the basic tax now demanded of over Rs. 12,000 per year’.

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