The legal importance of 7/12 extract
Property purchase is one of the most valuable decisions in everyone’s life, it includes a lot of legal terms, charges, and documents required. It is our duty to be clear about all the required documentation involved in a property buying process. 7/12 extract is one such document required for the property purchase in Maharashtra. This is one of the most important paper required when the buyer is interested to invest in buying a plot in semi-rural areas of the state. We all are aware that Maharashtra has scrapped the usage of this document in the urban localities of the state including suburban areas of Mumbai, the document holds importance only to those localities where land plots do not have city survey numbers. This document is traditionally called “Saath Baara Utara”
This document provides entire information about every a particular piece of land and is defined as an extract from the land register of any district in Maharashtra. This document is issued by the tehsildar or the concerned the land authority of the locality. This document contains a few important details that are required such as:
- Name of the owner and its cultivator
- Survey number of land
- Size of the land
- Type of land irrigational or rain-fed
- Crops planted on the land
- Location of the land with respect to the infrastructure facilities like roads and water bodies
- Availability of the loan by the owner or cultivator.
- Reason for the loan like the purchase of seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers.
- Loan extended to the landowner by government agencies.
This document was originated from the “Bombay Land Requisition Act 1948”. All the records pertinent to the land are maintained by the revenue department of the government.
Why is this document necessary?
This extract will serve as proof of the land title. It can be used to check if there are any previous conflicts associated with the property. This is one of the most important documents required for sale transactions at the sub registrar’s office and for the loan requirement. And also to define the exact location of the land with all the activities done on the land in the past. For agricultural lands, this document will have all the details of crops that were grown on the land, mutation entries, and outstanding loans. This also helps the owners to identify if the land is agricultural or non-agricultural.
The 7/12 extract is named after the two forms that are used to collect the information for the extract:
- Village Form VII where it records the entire details of owner and owner rights.
- Village Form VII which records the agricultural aspects of the land.
The information in both these forms are filled and prescribed in the “Maharashtra Land Revenue Record of Rights and Registers Rules, 1971”. The extract of the register pertaining to that land is given to obtain the information.
How to get 7/12 extract online?
This document can be availed from the Tehsildar office and can either obtain the document online by following the below steps:
- Visit Maharashtra government’s website.
- Select the division, district, taluk, and village name from the list given on the website.
- You can search the extract by feeding in any of the following details
- Survey number/ group number of the property.
- First name of the owner
- Ancestral owner of the property
- Last name of the owner
- Full name of the owner
The latest update about this document is that from May 1, 2020, landowners would be able to print 7/12 land record receipts online, and to ensure the authenticity the document will be provided with a digital signature on it.
Can you transfer the title in 7/12 extracts?
Industry experts say that this extract is not proof of an established title and hence one cannot transfer the title on the basis of 7/12 as it does not act as proof of ownership.
The remark of Sec. 43 of Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Land Act 1948.
The land will be purchased by the tenant under the relevant provision of the law in this extract but now the tenancy needs to obtain permission from the district collector to transfer or sell the land. If it happens without the permission of the collector then the sale would be treated as illegal.
The remark of sec. 36 of Maharashtra land revenue code 1966.
This section deals with tribal land transfer. This section details that if any land is in possession of tribal people then it cannot be transferred to non-tribal people without obtaining permission from the district collector. This transfer does not have any legal stand and cannot be acknowledged.
About fragmentation of land:
If any few fragmentations have been sold out by the title holder, the entry will be made in the right column as a debarred transfer due to fragmentation of land, it means that the land is sold to the government and rest of the land cannot be sold without obtaining permission from government officials.
Entry of protected land:
Section 4-A of the Bombay tenancy and agricultural lands act 1948, In this law, If a person lawfully cultivates any land belonging to another person shall be deemed to be tenant subjected to the condition of any such land is not cultivated personally by the owner. If he is not the family member or servant of the landowner then in this case, land cannot be transferred without the permission of the government. One need to asses these entries carefully while purchasing any land.
