Encumbrance Certificate Bihar: Check Loans & Cases on Patna Land (2026)

Short answer: To see whether a plot in Patna (or anywhere in Bihar) already has registered transactions against it (an earlier sale, a mortgage, a gift), get an Encumbrance Certificate, which Bihar's rules call an e-NEC (electronic Non-Encumbrance Certificate). You apply online on enibandhan.bihar.gov.in under "Encumbrance Certificate" after logging in, pay the fee online, and receive a digitally signed certificate (Bihar Registration Rules 2026, rule 49). But an EC only covers documents entered in the registration office indexes. A bank loan secured by depositing the original deeds, and court cases, often do not show up. So pair the EC with three more checks: the Bihar Bhumi mortgage (bandhak) search, CERSAI (the central registry of bank charges) and eCourts / revenue court records.

A typical case: someone working in Pune likes a 2 kattha plot in Danapur circle. The seller says, "Completely clear: no loan, no case." But if the seller pledged the sale deed with a bank five years ago, or a brother has filed a partition suit, that problem can follow the land to the buyer even after registration. Below is how to check all four from home before you pay anything.

What counts as an "encumbrance" on land?

An encumbrance is someone else's right or claim over the land that can survive a sale. For a Patna buyer, four matter most:

How to get an Encumbrance Certificate (e-NEC) online in Bihar

Rule 49 of the Bihar Registration Rules, 2026 (published in the Bihar Gazette on 13 July 2026) covers the e-NEC. You apply online and can pay online. The steps:

1. Open enibandhan.bihar.gov.in. The home page lists "Certified Copy", "Encumbrance Certificate" and "View Prohibited Properties".
2. Click "Encumbrance Certificate". It takes you to the citizen login page, so you need to create an account and log in first.
3. Fill in the application (Form V of the Rules). It asks for: applicant's name, purchaser/claimant's name, document (deed) number, date and year of registration, the registration office, and property details.
4. Pay the fee online (see below).
5. The certificate (Form VI) is issued online with a digital signature. For old deeds not yet digitised, the office prepares the NEC by hand and sends it to you online. An e-NEC is treated on par with a paper NEC from the office.

Tip: the form asks for the deed number and year, so get a photocopy of the seller's sale deed first. Use it to also order a Certified Copy of that deed and compare it with the copy the seller hands you. Portal helpdesk: 14544 / 0612-3522300 (as listed on the portal).

What does the certificate show?

Per Form VI of the Rules, the certificate states:

• The property: circle, village/ward number, khata, khesra/plot and area.
• The search period: the dates between which Index I and Index II of the registration office were searched.
• Each transaction found: office, claimant's name, document number, date of registration, type of deed (sale, mortgage, gift and so on), volume, year and pages.
• A certification that, apart from those, no other transaction or encumbrance affecting the property was found.

Read the two notes on the form: (1) the certificate relies on the property description the applicant gives, so a wrong khesra or village means the wrong land gets searched; (2) under section 57 of the Registration Act, searching the indexes is the applicant's job, and where office staff did the search, the form says they are not responsible for inadvertent mistakes. Treat the EC as one check, not the final word.

How much does an EC cost in Bihar?

Rule 46 says search and copy fees are paid online as per the department's fee table. The department's published fee chart (the December 2020 version, still its latest published chart on 18 October 2026) sets the index search fee at ₹40 for the first year and ₹20 for each later year per name, with the fee for searching one office's indexes for one name capped at ₹500. The portal shows the actual e-NEC fee when you apply; go by that.

What an EC does not show (the part most people miss)

How to check if there is a bank loan on the land

1. Bihar Bhumi mortgage (bandhak) search

The Bihar Bhumi home page (biharbhumi.bihar.gov.in) has a link "बंधक भूमि को देखने की सुविधा" (view mortgaged land). It opens the Revenue and Land Reforms Department's "Recording of Encumbrances on Land" page (land.bihar.gov.in/Encumbrances). Enter the "Computerized Jamabandi No of Your Land" and click "Search Now"; no login is needed. The same page has a separate "Official Login" for officials. To find the jamabandi number: check jamabandi, khatiyan and LPC online. The online jamabandi register also shows mortgages recorded online.

This only shows mortgages entered into this system. A blank result does not prove there is no loan.

2. CERSAI search (central registry of bank charges)

CERSAI (Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India) is the central government's registry. According to the Reserve Bank of India's circular of 26 May 2011, under section 23 of the SARFAESI Act banks and financial institutions must file particulars of security interest they create over property with this registry, including mortgages by deposit of title deeds. In the RBI's words, the aim is to prevent multiple loans against the same property and the "fraudulent sale of property without disclosing the security interest", and the records are available to "any other person desirous of dealing with the property".

• On cersai.org.in, "Public Search" lets anyone search online on payment of the prescribed fee (shown on the portal).
• Asset Based Search for immovable property needs at least one of Survey Number/Municipal Number, Plot Number or House/Flat Number. For Bihar land, use the khesra and plot number; for a flat or house, the holding or flat number.
• Debtor Based Search looks up the borrower (the seller) by PAN or name. If you have the seller's PAN, run both searches.
• The portal says a report for a given Asset ID can be downloaded only once per search, so save it immediately.

CERSAI covers banks and financial institutions. Loans from individuals, moneylenders or relatives will not appear.

3. Who holds the original deed?

When a bank lends against deposited deeds, the original sale deed stays with the bank. Before registration, ask to see the seller's original deed and the originals of the earlier chain. If the seller says "the original is lost, only a photocopy", stop and get the reason in writing. If a loan is running, settle before registration how it will be paid off, and get the bank's written closure (No Dues) letter and the original papers back.

How to check if there is a court case on the land

1. Civil cases: name search on eCourts

District court cases, including Patna's, are on services.ecourts.gov.in:

1. Open "Case Status" and choose State: Bihar, District: Patna and a Court Complex.
2. Pick the "Party Name" tab and type at least 3 letters of the name. A party can be the plaintiff, defendant, appellant or anyone else in the case.
3. The Registration Year is mandatory, so go through several years one by one.
4. Choose "Both" (pending and disposed), enter the captcha and click Go. "View" opens the case history.

Whose names to search: the seller, the seller's father and, for ancestral land, every co-owner. Go through each court complex listed under District: Patna, especially the one covering the land. Older cases are not always fully online, so "nothing found" here is not proof.

2. Revenue court cases: Bihar Bhumi RCMS

Land-related revenue cases, such as mutation appeals, are heard by revenue courts (Circle Officer, DCLR, ADM, DM, Commissioner). Bihar Bhumi's "ऑनलाइन राजस्व न्यायालय" (Revenue Court Management System) has Case Status, Cause List and Orders/Judgements pages. Case Status needs the court, Act, nature of case, district, financial year and the case number, so it checks a known case rather than searching by name. Ask the seller in writing whether any revenue case was or is running, and check the status yourself if you get a number. The circle office can help: Patna circle officer list.

3. Visit the site and ask around

Neighbours usually know first if land is in dispute. Visit, see who is in possession, look for any board or notice, and ask around.

What happens if you buy land while a case is pending?

On section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (lis pendens), the Supreme Court in T.G. Ashok Kumar v. Govindammal (8 December 2010) said that a sale during a pending suit is not void by itself, but the buyer is bound by the outcome of that suit. In that case a co-owner sold land while a partition suit was pending. The buyer's title survived only for the share the court finally gave the seller, not the rest. With ancestral land around Patna, this is the most common trap.

Other checks to run alongside

• Registration bans: on e-Nibandhan, "View Prohibited Properties" by registration office, circle and village. For Patliputra township villages, see the Patliputra township village list.
• Jamabandi, khata-khesra and map must match the seller's papers: khata vs khesra vs plot number and Bhu Naksha Bihar.
• Every government record in one place: Bihar land records online.
• Common scams and how to catch them: property fraud in Patna.
• Buying a flat? Check the builder's project loan and RERA: flat buying checklist.

The full process: plot buying guide for Patna.

8-point loan and dispute checklist before buying land in Patna

What should you do? (our advice)

• Don't rely on the EC alone. Run all four: EC, mortgage search, CERSAI and eCourts. Their cost is tiny next to the price of the land.
• Search a long EC period, at least from before the seller acquired the land.
• Keep the advance small and write into the agreement that it is fully refundable if a mortgage or case turns up.
• Put the seller's declaration in the sale deed that there is no mortgage, case or third-party claim on the land.
• Taking a home loan? Ask the bank for a copy of its legal search report and compare it with your own checks.
• Living outside Bihar? All of this can be done online: buying property in Patna from outside. Full registration cost: Patna registry charges guide.

FAQs: Encumbrance Certificate, loans and cases on land in Bihar

1. How do I get an encumbrance certificate online in Bihar?

   Open "Encumbrance Certificate" on enibandhan.bihar.gov.in, log in with a citizen account, enter the deed number, year of registration, registration office and property details, and pay online. Under rule 49 of the Bihar Registration Rules 2026, the e-NEC is issued online with a digital signature; for old records not yet digitised, the office prepares it manually and sends it online.

2. What does an encumbrance certificate show?

   Registered documents affecting the property that appear in Index I and II of the registration office for the chosen period: document number, date, type (sale, mortgage and so on), party name and volume/pages. If nothing is found, it certifies that no transaction or encumbrance was found for that period.

3. What is the encumbrance certificate fee in Bihar?

   The department's fee chart (December 2020) sets the index search fee at ₹40 for the first year and ₹20 for each later year per name, capped at ₹500 per office per name. The portal shows the actual e-NEC fee when you apply.

4. How can I check if there is a loan on land in Bihar?

   Check three places: Bihar Bhumi's mortgaged-land search using the computerised jamabandi number; CERSAI (cersai.org.in) by khesra/plot number or the seller's PAN/name; and any registered mortgage in the EC. Also ask to see the original sale deed, because with a loan against deposited deeds the original stays with the bank.

5. How do I check whether there is a court case on a property in Patna?

   For civil cases, use services.ecourts.gov.in → Case Status → Party Name, choose State Bihar, District Patna and a court complex, and search the seller's and co-owners' names across several years. Revenue court cases show on Bihar Bhumi's online revenue court (RCMS) by case number. Ask the neighbours too.

6. Does a clean EC mean the land is completely clear?

   No. The EC covers registered documents only. A bank loan against deposited deeds, court cases, unregistered agreements and co-heirs' shares can all be missed. The certificate also relies on the description you give, so a wrong khesra or village gives a wrong result.

7. What happens if I buy land that is under a court case?

   Under section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act, as the Supreme Court explained in T.G. Ashok Kumar v. Govindammal (2010), the sale is not automatically void, but you are bound by the result of the case. Your title survives only to the extent the seller wins.

This article is based on the Bihar Registration Rules 2026 (Bihar Gazette No. 759), the Registration Department's fee chart, the e-Nibandhan, Bihar Bhumi and CERSAI portals, the RBI circular, eCourts services and the Supreme Court judgment, all checked on 18 October 2026. Portal menus and fees can change; go by what the portal shows when you apply. This is general information, not legal advice. Before a large purchase, have your papers checked by someone experienced.