E-Swathu, Form 9 and Form 11B: Reading Gram Panchayat Property Records
Many plots and villas sold around Bangalore are outside the city corporations and come under a gram panchayat. Their property record is kept on e-Swathu, the state's rural property system, and it is printed as Form 9, Form 11A or Form 11B. This guide explains what each form records, how e-Swathu differs from the city's e-Aasthi system, what changed in 2025, and the checks a buyer should run before paying.
What E-Swathu Is
E-Swathu is the online property register of Karnataka's Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department. It holds the records of non-agricultural property inside gram panchayat limits: house sites, houses, layouts and other buildings. Each record is created by the gram panchayat and issued with the digital signature of the Panchayat Development Officer.
Agricultural land is a separate matter. Farm land is recorded in the RTC on the Bhoomi system of the Revenue Department, and it enters e-Swathu only after it has been converted and laid out as sites. A seller who offers an RTC for a "site" is therefore selling land that the panchayat register does not yet treat as a building site.
E-Swathu and E-Aasthi: Two Systems for Two Jurisdictions
The record a property should carry depends on the local body it comes under. The two systems cover different areas and one never replaces the other.
| Point | E-Swathu | E-Aasthi |
|---|---|---|
| Area covered | Gram panchayat limits | City corporations, city and town municipal councils, town panchayats |
| Kept by | The gram panchayat, under the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department | The urban local body |
| Record issued | Form 9, Form 11A or Form 11B | The khata, issued in the city as an e-khata |
| Typical property near Bangalore | Sites, villas and layouts in villages beyond the city limits | Flats, houses and sites inside the city corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority |
The outer stretches of Devanahalli, Sarjapur, Hoskote and Anekal have many villages under gram panchayats, so e-Swathu records are common there. The first question for any property on the fringe is which local body it comes under. A seller who shows a city khata for a panchayat property, or a panchayat form for a city property, has shown the wrong record.
Form 9, Form 11A and Form 11B
The three forms look alike on paper, yet they describe very different properties. Reading the form number correctly is the most useful single check on a panchayat property.
Form 9
Form 9 is the extract of the panchayat's property register for a non-agricultural property that meets the legal conditions. It shows the owner's name, the property number, the survey number, the measurements and the use of the property. A panchayat issues it for three kinds of property:
- A site in the old village settlement (gramathana), supported by a sketch certified by the Tahsildar
- A site on land converted from agricultural use, in a layout approved by the planning authority
- A site or house allotted under a government housing scheme, with the allotment papers
Form 11A
Form 11A is the extract of the demand, collection and balance register for the same property. It records the tax assessed each year, the tax paid and any arrears. Form 9 and Form 11A go together, and a property with both is what sellers loosely call a panchayat "A khata".
Form 11B
Form 11B is the tax record for a building or vacant site that does not qualify for Form 9. That usually means a site on unconverted land, a site in a layout without planning approval, or a building put up in breach of the rules. The panchayat collects tax on it and keeps it in a separate register. Sellers often call this a panchayat "B khata".
What Changed in 2025
The Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Act, 2025 added two sections to the parent Act of 1993. Both matter to anyone buying a site in a panchayat area.
Section 199B deals with new records. A gram panchayat may issue a new khata or property identification number for a building site only when the layout plan has prior approval from the planning authority. Where a village is outside every local planning area, the approval comes from the Director of Town and Country Planning or an authorised officer. An official who issues a khata to an unlawfully formed plot is liable to penalty.
Section 199C deals with properties that already exist without approvals. It lets the panchayat collect property tax from them, at double the tax for the first year and the normal tax after that. Three limits in the section are important for buyers:
- It covers only properties created before the section came into force in 2025, and the register is closed to new entries after that.
- Buildings on government land, forest land or land of a local or statutory body are left out.
- Payment of the tax gives no right to regularisation, title, ownership or legal status, and the holder stays open to legal action.
In December 2025 the state launched e-Swathu 2.0, the upgraded portal that issues Form 11A and Form 11B as digital e-khata documents. The state government said the upgrade would bring about 95 lakh rural properties into the tax net. It also said a Form 11B account would be issued within 15 days of an application, down from 45 days.
What a Panchayat Record Proves
A Form 9 with Form 11A shows that the panchayat has accepted the property as a lawful non-agricultural holding and is taxing it in the named person's name. That is a strong starting point. The ownership itself still rests on the registered deeds, and the panchayat register is a tax and administrative record that follows those deeds.
A Form 11B proves much less. It shows only that the property is on the panchayat's tax rolls, and the 2025 law says in plain words that such tax gives no title or legal status. Lenders generally ask for Form 9 and Form 11A along with the conversion order and the approved layout plan, so a Form 11B property is difficult to finance and slower to resell.
Villages That Move Into the City
When a village is merged into a city corporation or a municipality, its properties move from the panchayat register to the urban khata system. During the change, an owner may hold an e-Swathu form while the urban khata is still to be created. A buyer in such an area should ask which local body now has charge of the property and whether the urban khata has been issued.
Inside the city corporations of Bangalore, a final e-khata is needed for a sale deed to be registered. A panchayat form for a property that now falls in the city is therefore an old record, and the seller should obtain the e-khata before the sale.
Checks for a Buyer
These checks apply to any site, villa or house offered with a panchayat record around Bangalore:
- Confirm the village and the local body, and expect the matching record: e-Swathu for a gram panchayat, an urban khata for a city or town.
- Read the form number. Form 9 with Form 11A is the lawful set; Form 11B marks a property taxed without approvals.
- Verify the form on the e-Swathu portal with its document number, and match the owner's name, survey number and measurements with the sale papers.
- Ask for the conversion order and the layout plan approved by the planning authority, and confirm that the site number appears on that plan.
- Trace the title through the registered deeds and take an encumbrance certificate for the full period, with a lawyer's opinion.
- Check that property tax is paid to date on Form 11A.
- Ask a bank whether it will lend on the property before paying an advance.
A project of plots or villas that is registered with Karnataka RERA will already have filed its conversion and layout approvals. The registration number is worth checking on the Karnataka RERA portal alongside the panchayat record.
