Tamil Nadu Patta Pass Book Act, 1983 (1983)

What the Act covers

The Tamil Nadu Patta Pass Book Act, 1983, Act No. 4 of 1986, governs patta pass books for agricultural land throughout Tamil Nadu. Agricultural land includes horticultural land, forest land, garden land and plantations, but excludes house-sites.

An owner includes a full owner or limited owner who holds land individually, jointly or in common and pays revenue directly to the Government. A mortgagee, lessee or tenant is not treated as an owner for this purpose.

Issue and contents of a patta pass book

The Tahsildar must issue a patta pass book to an owner who applies for one. Each taluk is a unit for issuing pass books.

Key requirements include:

• The application must be acknowledged.
• Interested persons must receive a reasonable opportunity to make oral or written representations.
• The Tahsildar decides who is entitled to receive the pass book.
• A rejected application or claim must be supported by written reasons.
• The pass book records the survey number or subdivision number, land extent, local name, if any, and the owner's name and address.
• Corresponding entries must be maintained in the Register of Patta Pass Book.

Entries in a patta pass book and certified copies are presumed correct until disproved or lawfully replaced. Entries are also prima facie evidence of the named person's title to the recorded land, free from prior encumbrances unless the pass book states otherwise.

Transfers and later ownership changes

A registering authority cannot register a sale, gift, mortgage, exchange, settlement or other transfer of agricultural land unless the relevant patta pass book is produced. Following registration, transfer details are entered and reported to the Tahsildar for corresponding record changes.

A person acquiring an ownership right through succession, survivorship, inheritance, partition, purchase, a court decree or order, or a Government or other authority's order must report it in writing to the Tahsildar within three months. This reporting duty does not apply when the right is acquired through a registered document.

Loans, copies and challenges

An owner obtaining a loan secured on land must produce the patta pass book to the credit agency. The loan, charge or mortgage must be entered and reported to the Tahsildar.

Certified register entries may be obtained from the Tahsildar. A person affected by a Tahsildar's decision may appeal to the prescribed authority. A Revenue Department officer not below the rank of District Revenue Officer may also examine proceedings and revise decisions after giving an affected person a reasonable opportunity to respond.