Govt Service · Meghalaya · Land Records

How to Check Land Records (ROR, Khata, Khasra) Online in Meghalaya

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

If you are looking for a Bhulekh or Jamabandi style website to pull a Meghalaya land record, the honest answer is that for most land there is no such portal, and it is important to understand why before you buy. Meghalaya is a Sixth Schedule state, so land is managed by the Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills Autonomous District Councils rather than a single state revenue department, and most of the state was never cadastrally surveyed, so there are no uniform survey numbers or a central record of rights. Land is largely community or clan land governed by customary law, and the records that do exist sit with the Councils, the village Dorbar, the Chief or the clan, not on one website. This page explains how land is actually held and recorded in Meghalaya, what a Land Settlement Certificate is, how the Meghalaya Transfer of Land (Regulation) Act 1971 restricts sales, and the practical steps to verify a holding when there is no online record to download. Last verified October 2026.

01Why there is no single online portal

Three things together explain why Meghalaya does not have a Bhulekh-style record of rights you can download:

• Sixth Schedule. Land is under the overall management and control of the Autonomous District Councils (Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills), not a single state revenue department.
• No full cadastral survey. Most of the state was never surveyed after the colonial era, so there are no uniform survey numbers and no state-wide record of rights to digitise.
• Customary tenure. Much land is community or clan land governed by customary law, recorded locally by the Dorbar, Chief or clan, not centrally.

So the correct question in Meghalaya is not which website to open, but who holds the record for this particular land and under which authority.

02Ri-Raid and Ri-Kynti land

Khasi and Jaintia land is broadly of two kinds, and the type decides whether it can be bought at all:

Garo Hills has its own customary categories, including community (a-king) land held by the clan. Before any purchase, establish the land type, because a seller cannot give you more than the right the customary system recognises in their hands.

03Where the records actually sit

Records in Meghalaya are local and uneven. Depending on the land, proof of right can be in:

• a Land Settlement Certificate or allotment document issued by the District Council for certain land;
• registers kept by the village Dorbar, the Chief (Syiem, Doloi or Nokma) or the clan;
• a registered deed where the land was sold and the deed was registered;
• Council or district records for land in towns and administrative areas.

Because there is no single source of truth, verification in Meghalaya means visiting the right local authority and cross-checking more than one document, not pulling one certificate online.

04The Transfer of Land Act 1971

The Meghalaya Transfer of Land (Regulation) Act 1971 is the key statute for any buyer. In broad terms it restricts the transfer of land from a tribal to a non-tribal, to protect indigenous land rights, and transfers that break this can be void.

• A non-tribal generally cannot acquire land from a tribal owner except as the Act allows, often only with specific permission.
• Transfers of community land and transfers that bypass the Dorbar or Council can be challenged.
• The Inner Line and local entry rules also affect what outsiders can do.

Treat this Act as the first gate on any Meghalaya purchase. If you are a non-tribal buyer, confirm whether you can hold the land at all before you look at price or paperwork.

05How to verify a holding

With no online record, verification is done on the ground:

• Identify the land type (Ri-Raid, Ri-Kynti or the Garo equivalent) and confirm it can be transferred.
• Check at the Dorbar, Chief or clan who holds the recognised right over the land.
• See the District Council for any Land Settlement Certificate, allotment or permission on record.
• Check for a registered deed and the chain of earlier documents.
• Confirm the 1971 Act position and any required permission for your purchase.

Get local legal help for this. A clean-looking deed in Meghalaya can still sit on community land or a transfer the law does not allow, and only a local check across the Council, the Dorbar and the deeds will show it.

06When the record is disputed

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

Because title in Meghalaya rests on customary right rather than a single record, disputes are common: a clan or co-heir claims the land, a sale is attacked as a barred tribal-to-non-tribal transfer, a boundary is contested, or a Council allotment is challenged. These matters are decided by the civil courts, and some customary questions go before the Autonomous District Council courts or traditional bodies first. If your matter reaches a court or tribunal, you can create a FREE Claw account and track it by case number or party name across the forum that hears it, so you see each hearing date and order as it is posted. Claw searches across 9,102 courts, benches and forums and returns results in under 5 seconds, and it does not use your searched names or documents to train its AI models. Tracking a case is information and case management, not legal advice.

Before you buy or when a title looks doubtful, run a case search across Indian courts by the seller name, and read how to clear a cloud on a property title.

07Sources and further reading

• Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Meghalaya: megrevenuedm.gov.in
• Government of Meghalaya: meghalaya.gov.in
• eCourts (case status if it reaches court): ecourts.gov.in
• National Judicial Data Grid: njdg.ecourts.gov.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This page is general information for readers in India, not legal advice. Meghalaya's customary tenure is specific to each District Council and village; take local counsel before a purchase or a dispute.

08Frequently asked questions