What is chitta and adangal?

Think of chitta as the ledger and adangal as the field report. The chitta lists each survey number in the village with the pattadar's name, the extent, the tax assessed and whether the land is nanjai (wet, irrigated), punjai (dry) or manavari (rain-fed). Since the patta and chitta were combined into one extract, you'll usually see both on the same page when you search on the Tamil Nadu e-services portal, eservices.tn.gov.in.

The adangal is prepared by the VAO for every fasli year and notes who is cultivating the survey number, what was grown, the source of water and whether the land lies fallow or has buildings on it. It is the document that tells you whether a "farmland" is really being farmed, or whether a house was built on nanjai land that was never reclassified. Andhra Pradesh keeps an adangal too, and AP buyers read it on Meebhoomi alongside the 1-B register.

Buyers of plots on the city's edges, in places like Sriperumbudur, Oragadam or Thiruporur, should compare three things: the classification in the chitta, the actual use in the adangal, and what the seller is telling you. Wet land cannot be put to non-agricultural use without reclassification and planning approval, and the Madras High Court has repeatedly been strict about this.

Neither record proves title by itself. They show how the revenue department sees the land. Ownership still rests on the registered sale deeds, and you should read the encumbrance certificate from the registration department for the same survey number over at least 30 years.