Supreme Court has reiterated that mutation of property in revenue records neither creates nor extinguishes the title to a property and the title of a property can only be decided by a competent civil court.
SC said an entry in revenue records does not confer title on a person whose name appears in record-of-rights.
“Entries in the revenue records or jamabandi have only “fiscal purpose”, i.e., payment of land revenue, and no ownership is conferred on the basis of such entries. It is further observed that so far as the title of the property is concerned, it can only be decided by a competent civil court,”
As per the settled proposition of law, mutation entry does not confer any right, title or interest in favour of the person and the mutation entry in the revenue record is only for the fiscal purpose. As per the settled proposition of law, if there is any dispute with respect to the title and more particularly when the mutation entry is sought to be made on the basis of the will, the party who is claiming title/right on the basis of the will has to approach the appropriate civil court/court and get his rights crystalised and only thereafter on the basis of the decision before the civil court necessary mutation entry can be made,”
What is mutation of property and why is it important?
Land is a state subject and each state has a record of land/property deals. These records act as a proof of ownership and help the common man to keep their property investments safe. As all the information regarding land records are registered, this reduces the scope for property-related frauds. The records show who owns a particular property and what kind of encumbrances are there against it. All buyers and investors have to do, to stay clear of fraudsters is to check these records.
Now, once a buyer completes the land-buying process, the responsibility to get the new information registered in the revenue records arises. Land and property mutation also helps the state to fix property tax liability.
In different states, the process has different nomenclature.