Drive out from Bengaluru on almost any side and you pass land that was farmland not long ago. Some of it has been lawfully converted for homes. Some has not. From the road they look exactly the same. The paper that separates them is the conversion order, often called DC conversion.
The law, in plain terms
Section 95 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 covers using agricultural land for a non-agricultural purpose. The landholder applies to the Deputy Commissioner (the "DC"), and the change of use takes effect once permission is granted, on the conditions set. Section 96 deals with what happens when land is used for another purpose without that permission.
The procedure under section 95 has been amended more than once, so read the section as it stands today rather than relying on any summary, including this one.
Reading the order line by line
- The land: survey number, hissa (sub-division) number if any, village, hobli and taluk.
- The area converted: often less than the whole survey number. This is the line most often misread.
- The purpose: residential, commercial or industrial. Permission is for that purpose only.
- The conditions: often road space, open space and a time limit for starting the new use.
- Order details: office, reference number and officer, so it can be traced.
Three mistakes first-time buyers make
- Thinking the whole survey number is converted. If the order covers 2 acres of a 5-acre survey number, the other 3 acres are still farm land, however seamless the ground looks.
- Ignoring the purpose. Industrial conversion does not permit a housing layout.
- Treating conversion as the finish line. It is only the first of several approvals.
What must come after conversion
| Step | Who | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Conversion | Deputy Commissioner, under section 95 | The conversion order |
| Record update | Revenue officials | Land record shows the new use |
| Layout approval | Planning authority | Approved layout with plots, roads and open space |
| Property register | Panchayat or city body | Khata or register extract |
| Building approval | Plan-sanctioning authority | Sanctioned building plan |
Each step depends on the one above. A missing conversion order often shows up years later, as a khata that cannot be issued or a plan that cannot be sanctioned, long after the buyer has paid.
How to verify it
- Ask for the order itself, not a mention of it in a brochure.
- Match survey number, village and area against the sale deed and the land record.
- Check that the land record now shows the new use. An order never entered in the record is only half done.
- Check the purpose matches what is being built.
- Check the conditions, especially any deadline to start the new use.
- For plots, also ask for the approved layout. Conversion allows the use; layout approval allows the split into plots.
What conversion does not do
- It does not prove ownership. It is a permission, addressed to whoever applied.
- It does not approve a layout.
- It does not sanction a building.
- It does not bring water, drainage or power. Those need their own applications.
A worked example: what a missing order can cost
This is illustrative. The numbers are chosen only to show the arithmetic.
Ravi has booked a plot in a new layout for ₹30 lakh, planning to build a small home later. He pays a token of ₹2 lakh. When he applies for a loan, the bank's lawyer asks for the conversion order. The seller says it is "in process".
- The bank will not sanction the loan until the order is produced.
- Ravi is paying rent of, say, ₹22,000 a month while he waits.
- If the wait stretches to six months, that is ₹22,000 × 6 = ₹1.32 lakh in rent he had hoped to stop paying sooner.
- His ₹2 lakh token is stuck, and his agreement may not say clearly whether he can get it back.
The order itself costs Ravi nothing to see. Asking for it before paying the token would have saved all of this.
Step by step: checking the conversion order
- Ask for a copy of the order before you pay anything beyond a refundable token.
- Match the survey number on the order with the survey number in the sale deed and the RTC.
- Match the extent. The converted area should cover the land the project or plot sits on.
- Read the permitted use. For a home, it should say residential.
- Read the conditions. Many orders carry conditions. Ask your lawyer whether they have been met.
- Check the RTC. After conversion, the land record should reflect the change. Ask your lawyer to confirm.
- Check that the plan approval came after the conversion and refers to the same land.
Checklist: the land papers your lawyer will want
- Conversion order and any later corrections to it
- RTC extracts for the survey numbers involved
- Sale deeds showing the chain of ownership
- Encumbrance certificate for a long enough period
- Approved layout or building plan
- RERA registration details, where the project needs registration
Questions to ask the seller, word for word
- "Please share the conversion order for this survey number."
- "Is the whole extent converted, or only part of it?"
- "Which authority approved the plan, and when?"
- "If the order is not produced, is my token fully refundable, and is that written down?"
Plot or flat: how the check changes
If you buy a plot, the conversion order is about your own piece of land and the layout it sits in. You check it directly, with your lawyer. If you buy a flat in an apartment project, the order covers the land the whole building stands on. You are one of many owners, so the builder holds the file and should share it with every buyer who asks.
Either way, the order should come before the plan approval in time. A plan sanctioned on land that was still agricultural on paper is a question your lawyer must answer before you pay more.
When it matters less
If you buy a plot in an approved layout that has already passed through these steps, the approvals come with it. If you buy a flat in a RERA-registered project, the land's details were filed with the regulator under section 4 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, and you are entitled to see what was filed. Your lawyer can still ask for the conversion order as part of the land papers, and a confident builder will share it.
One thing never makes the question go away: a promise that conversion is "in process". A promise is not a document. For the order in which these checks fit into a purchase, see our first home guide.