What Hal and Sabik mean
Odisha's Record of Rights, the khatiyan, is prepared in a survey and settlement operation under the Orissa Survey and Settlement Act, 1958, and an area is settled again in time. The Revenue Department's papers call the record of the current settlement the Hal ROR and the record of the settlement before it the Sabik ROR (Revenue Department SOP, December 2025). The Hal ROR is the one a mutation corrects: the same procedure speaks of "seeking mutation of land in Hal ROR based on pre-publication registered sale deeds". A deed made before the Hal record was published speaks of the land in the Sabik record's numbers, which is why the procedure asks for proof of ownership "with reference to the Sabik ROR". Sabak, as this page's address spells it, is another spelling of Sabik.
The khatiyan itself has no column for Sabik numbers: read one column by column.
What the law presumes of each
Every entry in a finally published Record of Rights "shall be evidence of the matter referred to in such entry and shall be presumed to be correct until it is proved by evidence to be incorrect" (Section 13(3), Orissa Survey and Settlement Act, 1958). Where two records disagree, the proviso says which one the law leans on: "if any entry in a record-of-rights is altered in a subsequent record-of-rights, the later entry shall be presumed to be correct until it is proved by evidence to be incorrect, but the previous entry shall be admissible as evidence of the facts existing at the time such entry was made".
So the Hal entry is the one presumed right, and evidence can still prove it wrong; the Sabik entry is part of that evidence, a record of how things stood when the earlier settlement was made.
Where a Sabik plot meets its Hal plot
The link between the two records is kept plot by plot. When a mutation case on an old deed reaches the Tahasil, the Record Keeper checks the land's record, within 2 days, "along with the Sabik-Hal correlation of the land schedule", to make sure it is not Government, institutional, corporation or deity land (Revenue Department SOP, December 2025). The Tahasildar "may obtain the Yadasta, LR report, and Encumbrance Certificate relating to transactions involving the land from the Settlement, Consolidation, and Registration Authorities respectively, with respect to the relevant Sabik plot corresponding to the Hal plot under mutation" (the same SOP).
The SOP calls these the "Sabik record like Yadast/ land register". The record room gives out only "a scanned copy of the Yadasta and orders passed at various stages of ROR preparation during consolidation/settlement operations". So the papers that tie a Sabik plot to its Hal plot sit with the Tahasil, the settlement and consolidation record rooms and the Sub-Registrar, and the procedure asks the registration side for the encumbrance certificate by the Sabik plot.
Deeds made before the Hal record: Rule 34(g)
A buyer whose title rested on a deed older than the Hal record used to go to the Board of Revenue in revision. "Approximately 1,15,000 revision petitions filed before the Board of Revenue under Section 15(b) of the OSS Act, 1958 and Section 37 of the OCH & PFL Act, 1972 seeking mutation of land in Hal ROR based on pre-publication registered sale deeds" were pending before 40 revisional courts when the rule changed (Revenue Department SOP, December 2025).
Since 13 November 2025, Rule 34(g) lets the Tahasildar correct the Record of Rights on "any valid registered transfer deed executed prior to publication of Final ROR establishing proper flow of title", except land classified as Government or leasehold, land of a Government Department, statutory authority or Government Corporation, and land of a religious institution or Deity (S.R.O. 1406/2025). The application goes to the Tahasildar on the Revenue Department's online portal with "A copy of the old or pre-publication registered transfer/sale deed", a trace map of the sub-divided plot if there is one, and the title documents "establishing the applicant's claim of ownership over the land with reference to the Sabik ROR" (SOP).
The Revenue Inspector's enquiry form asks whether the flow of title is established and, if it is, wants "the detail to be narrated through a flow chart from Sabik Recorded tenant to present petitioner". The Tahasildar's order must address the "Sabik-Hal comparison", and the Record of Rights, map included, is corrected "within 07 days" of the order (the same SOP). The rest of the procedure, its fees and its appeals are in land mutation in Odisha.
What the mutation does not decide
"Mutation proceedings being fiscal in nature, and the Tahasildar not being a competent authority to decide right, title, and interest over land, he must ensure correctness of recording through proper flow of title based on valid documents and possession. Prima facie title coupled with possession is sufficient for recognition in the ROR" (Revenue Department SOP, December 2025). A Hal entry, even one made under Rule 34(g), is a presumption that evidence can displace, and the Sabik entry is part of that evidence (Section 13(3), Orissa Survey and Settlement Act, 1958).
Check the record and the names before you buy
Read the Record of Rights as it stands today: look it up by plot, or find every parcel recorded under a name.
Where the seller's title runs through a deed older than the Hal record, trace it the way the enquiry form does: from the tenant the Sabik record named, deed by deed or heir by heir, to the seller. How to check land before you pay in Odisha covers the other checks. Run the Land Litigation Check on the names in that chain: 499 credits for up to 30 names, in the Orissa High Court and the district court where the land lies, or search one name across the courts.
Registered charges show on the land's encumbrance certificate: we fetch it from IGR Odisha if you have none. The AI title report reads the EC, the Record of Rights and the deeds together, every finding cited to its page; our empanelled advocates give a written, signed opinion; and for a home loan, the bank's panel advocate prepares the search report the bank asks for.