Supreme Court: Revenue record entries don't create or extinguish property title

The Supreme Court of India has clarified that mutations in revenue records do not determine property ownership. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Augustine George Masih observed that a revenue entry exists essentially for fiscal purposes and does not create or extinguish title to immovable property.

The ruling came while quashing an order from the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which had decided a title dispute based on revenue records. The Supreme Court stated that a right in immovable property cannot be considered voluntarily abandoned merely because of a revenue entry in someone else's favour. Such an entry must be independently supported by other evidence.

According to the bench, title cannot be decided on the sole basis of revenue records and must be weighed along with other material. The judgment reiterates the settled legal position that revenue entries are not proof of ownership.