Searching a Khatian Online: Division to Dag, Step by Step
Most khatian searches fail at the first step, because the searcher does not know which survey their record belongs to. This guide explains every field, the order they must be filled in, and the mistakes that produce empty results.
Almost every land transaction in Bangladesh starts with a khatian — verifying a plot before buying it, applying for a bank loan, filing a mutation, dividing an inheritance, or bringing a case to court. This once meant a trip to the upazila land office record room. The Ministry of Land’s Digital Land Records Management System (DLRMS) now publishes the index-level khatian record online.
The online search follows a strict order, though, and if you do not understand that order it looks like the system is broken when in fact an earlier field is wrong. Here is the whole process.
What to have in hand before you start
Gather at least the following. The more of it you know, the faster you reach the right record.
- The district and upazila the land sits in — the search cannot begin without these.
- The mouza name. A mouza is a revenue village and its official name is often not the name locals use; check the header of an old deed or rent receipt.
- The JL number — the mouza’s official serial number. When two mouzas in one upazila share a name, this is what separates them.
- A khatian number or a dag number. Either one makes the search dramatically shorter.
- The owner’s name, as a fallback when no numbers are known.
Which survey are you looking for? The question that decides everything
The same plot of land can appear in several surveys, and the khatian and dag numbers differ in each. So "khatian 125" is not a complete statement — khatian 125 of which survey? The surveys in common use are:
| Survey | Full name | Approximate period | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| CS | Cadastral Survey | 1888–1940 | The first full survey of the country |
| SA | State Acquisition Survey | 1956–1963 | Prepared after the abolition of the zamindari system |
| RS | Revisional Survey | 1965–1990s | The latest complete record in most districts |
| BS / BRS | Bangladesh Survey | 1990s onward | The most recent record in cities and many upazilas |
| Diara | Diara Settlement | Varies | River-erosion and char areas |
As a rule of thumb, the newest finally-published survey in your area is the operative record. Urban land is usually BS; a great deal of rural land is still on RS. The online search will only offer you the surveys whose records have actually been digitised for that upazila.
The search, step by step
- Pick the division
Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barishal, Sylhet, Rangpur or Mymensingh. Choosing it loads the district list for the next step.
- Pick the district
Only districts of the selected division appear. If yours is missing, the division is wrong — step back and change it.
- Pick the upazila or circle
Land administration uses "circle" alongside "upazila", particularly inside city corporation areas. Choose whichever spelling the list offers.
- Pick the survey
Only surveys with digitised records for that upazila are listed. Match it to what your deed or dakhila says; if you are unsure, start with the most recent one.
- Pick the mouza (JL number)
An upazila can contain several hundred mouzas, so type into the filter rather than scrolling. The JL number is shown next to the name — confirm it matches.
- Search by khatian number or owner name
Once a mouza is selected its khatian list loads. Enter the khatian number if you know it, otherwise type part of the owner’s name.
- Or search by dag number
If a dag number is all you have, switch to dag mode. Be aware that the government system has no dag-to-khatian index, so this search has to open khatians one by one and is much slower.
What the result contains
Opening a khatian typically shows:
- The khatian number and its survey
- The mouza name and JL number
- The name or names of the recorded owners
- The list of dag numbers covered by the khatian
- The total land area, usually in acres
- The district and upazila
Index record versus certified porcha
What you see online is the index khatian — preliminary information. It is excellent for a quick check but it is not a legal document. Registration, bank lending, litigation and mutation all require a certified porcha, which is applied for and paid for on the Ministry of Land’s official portal and delivered by post or collected from the office.
Some khatians cannot be issued as certified copies at all — khas land, vested property, land under litigation, or records with known defects. The system states the reason when this happens, and resolving it means visiting the relevant upazila land office.
Common problems and what to do
The mouza is not in the list.
First check the survey — a mouza present in one survey may be absent from another. If it is still missing, try spelling variants; the official mouza name often differs from the name in local use.
Searching by khatian number returns nothing.
Khatian numbers are survey-specific. An RS khatian number will not match in a BS list. Change the survey and try again. Also, not every mouza has been digitised — where it has not, the upazila land office is the only route.
Searching by owner name returns too many results.
Search a distinctive fragment rather than the whole name, and try the spelling used in the record rather than the modern one. Records were transcribed by hand and spellings vary.
Why is dag search so slow?
There is no dag-to-khatian index in the government system. A khatian’s dag list is only visible once that khatian is opened, so a dag search has to walk the mouza’s khatians one at a time.
Is it safe to buy land based on the online record alone?
No. Alongside the khatian, verify the chain of deeds at the sub-registry office, the baya (prior) deeds, the most recent dakhila and DCR, and check whether the land is subject to any case or encumbrance. Engage an experienced lawyer for anything substantial.
About seeing the plot on a map
One thing must be said plainly: the official khatian and dag records contain no coordinates. Mouza maps and plot boundaries live in a separate cadastral map series that is not published as open data. So treat with scepticism any service claiming that entering a dag number will outline your exact plot on satellite imagery.
What can honestly be done is showing the upazila or district boundary the khatian belongs to, so the general area is identified. To get a real measurement of a specific plot, draw its boundary on the map yourself and read the area off.
Apply the steps above now — work down from division to mouza and look up a khatian or dag.
Start a khatian search