Dag number explained — what it is and how to read one

What a dag number is

A dag number — also written as plot number — identifies one individual parcel of land as it was drawn and numbered during a survey. Every parcel mapped in a Mouza gets its own dag number, and that number is what ties the written record to a specific shape on the Mouza map.

That last part is the point people miss. A dag is not just an entry in a register; it corresponds to a bounded area on a map. When you look up a dag number you are asking about a specific piece of ground with edges, neighbours, and a measured area.

The number is assigned by a particular survey. Because West Bengal's records were built through successive surveys — CS, then RS, then LR — the same ground can carry different dag numbers in different record generations.

The rule that governs everything: dag numbers are Mouza-scoped

A dag number is only unique within a Mouza. Dag 215 exists in a great many Mouzas across West Bengal, and those are entirely unrelated pieces of land belonging to entirely unrelated people — see Mouza and JL number.

This single fact explains most confusion in land searches. A dag number quoted without its Mouza is not an address — it is an address without a town name. Anyone giving you a plot number and expecting you to find it must also give you the Mouza, and ideally the JL number that identifies that Mouza within its Block.

It follows that the sequence on any portal search is not decorative. District, then Block, then Mouza, then the number. Skip the hierarchy and the number means nothing.

How dag relates to khatian

These two numbers answer different questions, and confusing them is common.

A dag is a piece of land. A khatian is an account — the record of what a particular landholder or set of co-holders holds within that Mouza. So one khatian typically lists several dags, and, where a plot is held jointly or has been divided in the record, one dag can appear under more than one khatian.

In plain terms: dag answers "which land?", khatian answers "whose, and what else do they hold?" If you are trying to understand a holding rather than a single parcel, the khatian is usually the more useful entry point — and searching by khatian is often how people find a plot number they had lost.

• One khatian → many dags. A landholder's account normally covers several plots.
• One dag → possibly several khatians. Jointly held land shows up in more than one account.
• Both are Mouza-scoped. Neither number means anything without the Mouza attached.
• Both can change between surveys. A renumbering exercise reassigns dag numbers and rebuilds khatians.

How to read a plot information result

When a plot lookup returns, you are typically looking at a handful of fields. Each is worth understanding rather than skimming.

• Owner / recorded holder name. This is the name in the record, which is not necessarily the current legal owner. If land was sold or inherited and mutation was never completed, the record still shows the earlier holder.
• Share or share fraction. Where land is held jointly, the record shows each holder's share as a fraction rather than a physically demarcated piece. A half share does not tell you which half — that is what partition determines.
• Area. The measured extent recorded for the plot, in the local unit. Compare it against your documents; a large discrepancy is worth investigating, a small one between survey generations is ordinary.
• Land classification. How the land is recorded — for example agricultural or otherwise. This matters because it governs what may lawfully be done with the plot, and changing it is a formal conversion process, tracked on the portal under Conversion Case Status.
• Khatian number. The account the plot sits under, which is your route to seeing what else the same holder holds.

Why the dag number alone is never enough

For any real purpose — a purchase, a loan, a boundary question — a dag number on its own carries too little information. To identify a plot unambiguously you need, at minimum, the District, the Block, the Mouza (with its JL number), the record generation the number belongs to, and the dag number itself.

Even with all of that, what you have read is a record, not a title. The record can be out of date because mutation was never completed, it can carry an error, and it says nothing about encumbrances such as a mortgage. An online plot lookup is a starting point for a verification, not the verification.

Looking up a dag number on Banglarbhumi

Plan on signing in. Know Your Property is the main search: choose District, Block and Mouza, then search by plot (dag) number or by khatian number. RS-LR Plot Information shows how a plot reads across record generations. Both are reachable from the menu while signed out, and the District, Block and Mouza dropdowns will populate for you — but the request that returns the plot detail is answered with the sign-in page. Register on banglarbhumi.gov.in first and the search completes.

If you are not certain which Mouza your land falls in, use Mouza Information before anything else. Requests for signed copies and maps — ROR Request, Plot Info. Request, Plot Map Request — sit under Service Delivery and also require you to be signed in.