RS Khatian vs LR Khatian — the difference explained

The short answer

RS stands for Revisional Settlement — you will also see it written as Revisional Survey; both refer to the same record generation. LR stands for Land Reforms. They are not two views of the same document — they are two separate generations of West Bengal's land records, created at different times, under different exercises, and maintained as distinct sets.

The land itself does not change. What changes is the record describing it: the plot number, the khatian number, the recorded owner, and sometimes the measured area can all differ between the RS record and the LR record for the very same piece of ground.

This is why so many searches fail. Someone reads a number off an old deed, types it into the portal, gets nothing, and assumes the portal is broken. Usually the number was simply from a different survey generation than the one being searched.

Where CS fits in

You will also see CS — Cadastral Survey — referenced on older documents. CS is the oldest of the three record generations commonly encountered in West Bengal, predating both RS and LR.

The rough chronology, oldest to newest, is CS → RS → LR. Older family deeds, partition documents and inherited papers frequently quote CS or RS numbers, while anything produced by the current administration will be in LR terms.

Because survey work was carried out area by area rather than statewide on a single date, which generations exist and how complete they are varies from district to district and even from Mouza to Mouza. Do not assume your area has the same set of records as a neighbouring one.

Why the same plot appears differently in each

Each survey was an independent field exercise. Surveyors went out, measured, and assigned numbers according to that survey's own sequence. There is no rule that the new number must resemble the old one.

On top of renumbering, several real-world changes accumulate between generations:

• Ownership moved on. Sales, inheritance and gifts between the two surveys mean the RS record may still name an ancestor while the LR record names the current holder — or vice versa, if mutation was never completed.
• Plots were split or merged. One RS dag can correspond to several LR dags, or several RS dags can be consolidated into one. The relationship is not always one-to-one.
• Measured area differs. Different survey methods and instruments produce different figures for the same ground. Small discrepancies in area between RS and LR records are common and are not by themselves evidence of encroachment.
• Land classification was updated. How the land is recorded — for example as agricultural or otherwise — can be recorded differently between generations, particularly where a conversion happened in between.

Which one do banks, registrars and buyers want?

In practice, the LR record is the current one, and it is what most present-day transactions are built on. When a bank processes a loan against property, or a purchaser's advocate runs a title check, the LR khatian is normally the starting point because it reflects the most recent recorded state.

But LR alone is rarely enough for a serious title check. The older RS and CS records are what establish the chain — how the land came to be held by the person now recorded. An advocate tracing title will typically want to see the older records alongside the current one, precisely to confirm that the story is continuous.

So the practical answer is: LR for what the record says today, RS and CS for how it got there. If an institution has given you a specific list of documents, follow their list rather than a general rule.

Looking each one up on Banglarbhumi

The official portal exposes both generations, and you will need to be signed in to see a record. The menus open and the District, Block and Mouza dropdowns fill in whether or not you have an account — but the step that returns the actual khatian or plot detail sends you to the sign-in page. Register on banglarbhumi.gov.in before you start, so the search does not stall at the point where the record should appear.

RS-LR Plot Information is the direct route when you are working from a plot (dag) number and want to see how it reads across RS and LR. Where the numbers themselves changed between generations, matching sabek to hal is the practical guide. Treat what it returns as a pointer to verify against the record of rights and the mouza map, not as a settled correlation. Know Your Property is the broader search: you pick District, Block and Mouza, then search by khatian number or by plot number.

Whichever you use, the search is scoped to a Mouza. Khatian and dag numbers are only unique within a Mouza, so selecting the wrong Mouza will either return nothing or — more dangerously — return somebody else's land that happens to share the number.

• Know Your Property — District → Block → Mouza, then khatian or plot number
• RS-LR Plot Information — plot details across the RS and LR records
• Mouza Information — use this first if you are unsure which Mouza your land falls in

What to do when the numbers don't line up

If you have an RS number and the LR search returns nothing, the usual cause is that the plot was renumbered and you need the corresponding current number — the sabek-to-hal problem, which is common enough to deserve its own treatment.

If you have both numbers but the details disagree in a way that matters — a different owner name, a materially different area, a classification you did not expect — that is not something to resolve by searching harder. Take the printouts and your documents to the BL&LRO office for the Block your Mouza falls under. Corrections to a record are an administrative process, not a search technique.

If the mismatch is because a sale or inheritance was never recorded, the process you need is mutation, and the portal tracks it under Mutation Case Status.