Updated: Thursday June 02, 2011/AlKhamis
Rajab 01, 1432/Bruhaspathivara
Jyaistha 12, 1933, at 05:51:43 AM
The
Contents
1 INTRODUCTORY
2 LANDOWNERS AND TENANTS
3 ASSIGNMENTS OF LAND
REVENUE
4 ORGANIZATION FOR
PURPOSES OF LAND ADMINISTRATION SCHEME OF REVENUE ADMINISTRATION
5 THE
6 POWERS OF REVENUE
OFFICERS
7 PATWARIS AND KANUNGOS
8 VILLAGE HEADMEN,
INAMDARS AND ZAILDARS
9 HARVEST INSPECTIONS
10 THE RECORD OF RIGHTS
11 AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS
12 RIVERAIN LAW AND
REASSESSMENT OF LANDS AFFECTED BY RIVER ACTION
13 PARTITIONS
14 ACQUESTION OF LAND FOR
PUBLIC PUSPOSES
15 COLLECTION OF LAND
REVENUE
16 SUSPENSIONS AND
REMISSIONS AND SPECIAL REDUCTIONS OF ASSESSMENTS
17 THE COURT OF WARDS
18 STATE LANDS
STATE
LANDS RESERVED FROM CULTIVATION
19 STATE LANDS DEVOTED TO
THE EXTENSION OF CULTIVATION
20 MISCELLANEOUS
THE
CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTORY
1. Land revenue not a
tax, but rent payable to the State. In the first edition of this
work it was contended that the land revenue was a rent and not a land tax, and
this view has been retained in the opening paragraphs of the fourth edition of
the Settlement Manual. This is not the place to embark upon a summary of the
prolonged controversy on the subject; the question was examined with care by
the Indian Taxation Enquiry Committee of 1926, which was found itself unable to
arrive at any agreed finding. As that committee pointed (See paragraph 53 of this Manual) out
“according to the description given by Manual of the fiscal administration of
an ancient Hindu State, The main source of the State revenue was a share of the
gross produce of all land, varying according to the soil and the labour
necessary to cultivate it. In normal times the share varied between one twelfth
and one-sixth, but was liable to rise even to one-fourth in times of war or
other public calamity. The revenue was collected not from individual
cultivators but from the community represented by the headman…. In the early
days of Muhammadan administration, the State share of the gross produce
demanded by the Hindu kings was converted into the khiraj or tribute payable on
land in countries under Muhammadan rule though the share taken was greater than
before.” The committee found that the land revenue has ceased to represent a
portion of gross produce…. That in the Punjab …….the Government demand is
theoretically based on an economic rent, but actually takes many other factors
into consideration…Under both Hindu and Muhammadan rule, the State never claimed the absolute or exclusive ownership
of the land and definitely recognized the existence of private property in it.”(See paragraph 80 of this Manual).
The General finding of the Committee was that in
some cases the revenue was a pure rent and in others it is more difficult to
maintain this view. In this province, the theory still holds that the revenue
is of the nature of a rent charged by the State as overlord of the land.
Commentary
The term “Rent” includes the payment of land revenue
and cesses on behalf of the landlord.
2. Collector and
steward. The officer entrusted with the duty of realizing the
land revenue is not a mere rent collector, especially in provinces like the
Punjab, where the demand is fixed for a period only, and the State continues to
have a direct and immediate interest in the improvement of the land. His
position is rather that of the steward of a great landowner. As such, he is
bound to respect, and preserve from encroachment by others every private right
in the soil which has been created or confirmed by the state.
Where the revenue has been fixed for a term only, he
has not only to collect it, but also to look forward to a time when it will be
revised, and to collect and record in systematic manner statistical
information, which will facilitate its equitable reassessment. He must initiate
and assist measures to prevent, so far as may be the loss of crops from causes
which are in any degree controllable by man, and must prepare in ordinary times
for those graver natural calamities which produce intense and widespread
scarcity of food. In particular the collector must do everything in his power
to conserve the soil of his district and to maintain its fertility. The top
–soil contains most of the fertility of the land, but on sloping ground in many
parts of the Punjab, especially in districts bordering on the
The aim of land policy is the true symbiosis, or
permanent association, of man his animals and the land. It is wrong that any
man, by slothful cultivation, by excessive grazing, or by exploitation of the
surrounding vegetation should imperil the stability of the soil of his own or
his neighbors holdings. It is his duty to hand on his fields intact to his
successor. The Collector must, therefore, encourage and assist every effort
made by right holders to maintain the fertility of their land, to conserve the
valuable top-soil, and to develop their estates. In addition he must in
co-operation with the
He must encourage and assist every effort made by
right holders for the development of their estates. In many parts of the
province, such as the colony districts, the State is not only supreme landowner
of the soil generally, but also sole landowner of a considerable part of it,
and it is the duty of its local representation to administer this property so
that it may be profitable to the State as representing the people as a whole,
and at the same time beneficial to the colonists, whose prosperity is the first
care of a progressive Government.
3. Scope of handbook. It
is the object of this book to describe how these various functions can best be
carried out by the officer incharge of a district. As a revenue officer, he is
legally known as the Collector, but the more familiar title of Deputy
Commissioner will generally be used in this work. His functions will be
described in the several capacities in which he is called upon to act:---
(i) As a recorder of agricultural statistics.
(ii) As guardian and registrar of the rights in the
soil enjoyed by private persons.
(iii) As a collector of the land revenue;
(iv) As a promoter of the stability and improvement
of landed property;
(v) As a custodian of State property;
(vi) As a judge between landlords and tenants.
The head of a district has many other important
duties to perform, but the discussion in this work is confined to his functions
in connection with the administration of the land.
CHAPTER
II
LANDOWNERS
AND TENANTS
4. Rural communities. Before
describing the machinery of the administration, it is well to say something of
the agricultural communities for whose benefit mainly it exists. The reader is
supposed to be familiar with the chapters in the Settlement Manual, which deal
with “Tenures and the Rights of Landowners” and “The Rights of Tenants.”(Chapters VIII and IX. The former may be usefully supplemented by
“Tribal Law in the
Commentary
Perpetuity cultivation with condition that
cultivator will maintain peachy creates relationship of landlord and tenant.
5.
6. Dangers to peasant
ownership from division of holdings and misappropriation by money-lenders - There
are two grave economic dangers, which beset the ownership of land in small
parcels by peasant proprietors. The first of these is the reduction of the size
of many holdings below an area sufficient to support a family in comfort. This
is due to the operation of the law of inheritance under which sons, on the death
of their father, each take an equal share of the family land. It is easy to
exaggerate the effect of this law. Most small owners are able to get additional
land on rent, and where means of livelihood are scanty, the difficulties in
finding brides are apt to prove insuperable. Apart from the unpopular remedy of
interfering with the law of inheritance, there are indirect means of mitigating
the evil of over population. One has been found in the colonization of large
tracts of State land rendered culturable by the construction of new canals.
Another has been the increasing diversification of occupations in towns.
The second, and more serious, danger was the
transfer of land by sale and mortgage to those whose outlook on life prevented
them from cultivating it with their own hands. (See in connection with this subject paragraph 379-381 and 402-406
of the settlement Manual 4th edition)
7. Oscillations of
opinion on subject - The political advantage of
maintaining the existing framework of society, and of keeping the land in the
hands of those whose hereditary occupations was tillage, was fully recognized
by the first administrators of the
8. Apologetic tone
adopted by early administrators as to measures adopted to preserve stability of
village communities - While experience acquired
elsewhere led shortly after annexation to the adoption of measures to prevent
the intrusion of aliens into village communities by the purchase of land, some
of the ablest officers held that these measures were open to the reproach of
economic unsoundness, and that the prospect of agricultural improvement by the
attraction to the soil of the capital of the moneyed classes was being
sacrificed to the importance of political stability. IN his commentary on the
Punjab Civil Code, Mr. Montgomery felt constrained to apologize for the
maintenance of the law of pre-emption. Later, Mr. Cust remarked in his Revenue
Manual:
“The principle (of pre-emption) is not defended on
any economic grounds, but is maintained for social and political reasons,” and
contemplated without regret” a gradual process” by which the existing village
communities might “melt away and give place to a more modern, and perhaps more
politically nice, distribution of property.”
9. Causes of increase
of transfers. The disposition to look on unlimited power of
transfers as an essential feature of proprietary right and a necessity of
economic progress was strengthened by the assimilation of the law and procedure
of the Punjab with that of the older provinces, which resulted from the
extension of the Code of Civil Procedure to the province in 1866, and the
establishment of a Chief Court in Lahore in the same year.
About the same time the policy of moderation and
fixation of the land revenue began to make land attractive as an investment.
Titles had been clearly determined, and the moderation of the demand made the
ownership of land a source of income. The peasant proprietor found his credit
rapidly expanding. The old system of limited borrowing on the security of
crops, cattle, and ornaments was supplanted by one of extravagant borrowing on
the security of the land.
10. Increase looked on
as beneficial or at least inevitable. Sales and mortgages of land to
money-lenders became a feature of village life. By some this was looked upon
with little alarm and even with complacency. It was maintained that the resources
of the country would be developed by the application to the improvement of the
land of capital of the moneyed classes. Even those who disliked the process,
were disposed for a time to look on it as the outcome of an irresistible
economic law.
11. Growth of opinion
hostile to free transfer. But, with each quinquennium the
alienation of land proceeded everywhere at a more rapid rate and in some parts
of the country the area which had passed out of the hands of the original
owners amounted to a considerable total. The social and political evils likely
to spring from the expropriation of the old landowning classes again came to be
keenly felt, and acquiescence became increasingly difficult, and ceased to be
regarded as inevitable. The policy of laissez faire expounded by the English
economists was no longer considered as applicable to every country and stage of
society. Experience also showed that the expectation that the new proprietors
and mortgages would be improving landlords was not fulfilled. Very few turned
out to be anything but rent receivers, and their tenants lacked the devotion
and pains-taking labour of peasant owners.
12. Reasons for change
of opinion. The interest in primitive institutions aroused by
the works of Sir Henry Mayne, and stimulated by the abundant evidence of their
survival in
13. Civil courts accept
doctrine of limited ownership - This doctrine invaded the civil
courts, which were bound by section 5 of the Punjab Laws Act to decide
questions of inheritance, adoption and gifts primarily on evidence of custom,
and from 1887 onwards it formed the foundation of a series of decisions by the
Chief Court on sales and mortgages by sonless proprietors, adoption, gifts and
pre-emption.(See chapter III of
“Tribal Law in the Punjab “ By Roe and Rattigan) But
these decisions, valuable though they were , did not prove effective restraints
on the actions of landowners, and in no way reduced the seriousness of the
problem which Government had to face.
14. Necessity of
restricting credit basis of
15. Classification of
measures taken at different times to protect landowners. The
measures taken at various times for the protection of the landowners of the
(a) The legal enforcement of the custom of
pre-emption:
(b) The restriction of transfers by landowners
belonging to agricultural tribes:
(c) The exemption from sale in execution of decree
of land and other property of hereditary agriculturists.
16. Pre-emption: its
nature - The origin of pre-emption is clearly explained in
“Tribal Law of the
17. Early provisions in
Punjab Civil Code, etc. The first administrators of
the
18. Entries in village
administration papers. The customs governing
pre-emption were also recorded in village administration papers draw up at
settlements made before the passing of the Punjab Laws Act, IV of 1872. “In
nearly all the old wajib-ul-arz we find a provision securing this right either
to the next heirs, or to the agnates generally, and after them to all members
of the village community to the exclusion of strangers.(“Tribal Law of Punjab by Roe and Rattigan page 88).
19. Right restricted by
Civil Courts. Two early judgments of the
20. Provision of
(a) to the village site and houses;
(b) to all lands within the village boundary;
(c) to all transferable rights of occupancy in such
lands. (Section 10).
In the absence of custom to the contrary. the right
was declared to belong to the following persons in the order stated:---
(a) first, in the case of joint undivided immovable
property, to the co-sharers;
(b) secondly, in the case of villages held on
ancestral shares, to co-sharers in the village , in order of their relationship
to the vendor or mortgagor;
(c) thirdly, if no co-sharer or relation of the
vendor or mortgagor claims to exercise such right, to the landowners of the
Patti or other sub-division of the village in which the property is situate
jointly;
(d) fourthly, if the landowner of the Patti or other
sub-division make no joint claim to exercise such right, to such landholders,
severally;
(e) fifthly, to any landholder of the village;
(f) sixthly, to the tenants (if any) with rights of
occupancy in the property;
(g) seventhly, to the tenants(if any ) with rights
of occupancy in the village.
In case of transfers of rights of occupancy under
section 5 of the Punjab Tenancy Act, XVI of 1887, the prior right of the
landlord was secured by section 53 of that Act. If he failed to exercise it,
pre-emption belonged, first, t the tenants (if any)having a share in the
occupancy right proposed to be sold and secondly, to the other occupancy tenant
in the village. (Section 12. By a
proviso to the section if Government owned the trees growing on land, it had a
right of pre-emption in the land superior to that of any private individual) Where
the charkadari tenure prevails (See paragraph
167-170) of the Statement Manual), the adna maliks possessing shares in a well had
a right of preemption in these shares in preference to the ala malik.(Section 20).
Where two or more persons were equally entitled to
pre-emption, the vendor or mortgagor might determine which of them should
exercise it (Section 12).
Section 13 to 18 of the Act provided for the enforcement of the right. The
matter was left entirely to the civil courts, no provision being made for the
reference of any question in dispute to the revenue officer.
21. Interpretation
applied as regards customary rights of pre-emption. It
will be observed that, as regards the persons entitled to pre-emption, the Act
expressly saved custom.(Section 12) But
in practice its 12th section
was usually taken, both by Settlement Officers and civil courts as, disposing
of the whole matter. The entry on the subject usually made by the former in
codes of tribal custom (riwaj-iam)was that pre-emption was regulated by the
Punjab Laws Act.(“Tribal Law in the
Punjab” by Roe and Rattigan page 83) The chief Courts has held that
the village administration papers furnish valuable evidence of custom as
regards the persons entitled to claim pre-emption.(Punjab Record No. 98 of 1894. See “Tribal Law in the
22.
Subject to the provisions of section 11(Now see section 15 of Act I of 1913),
the right of pre-emption in respect shall vest,---
(a) in the case of the sale of such land or property
by a sole owner of occupancy tenant, or when such land or property is held
jointly, by the co- sharers in the persons who but for such sale would be
entitled to inherit the property in the event of his or their decease, in order
of succession;
(b) in the case of a sale of a share of such land or
property held jointly, first in the lineal descendants of the vendor in the
male line, in order of succession;
Secondly, in the co-sharers, if any, who are
agnates; in order of succession;
Thirdly, in the persons described in sub clause(a)
of this sub-section and not herein before provided for;
Fourthly , in the co-sharers, (I) jointly (ii)
severally;
(c) If no person having a right of pre-emption under
sub-clause (a) or sub –clause (b) seeks to exercise the right,---
First, when the sale effects the superior or
inferior proprietary right and the superior proprietary right is sold, in the
inferior, proprietors, and when the inferior proprietary right is sold in the
superior proprietors.
Secondly, in the owners of the Patti or other sub-division
of the estate within the limits of which such land or property is situate, (I)
jointly, (ii) severally;
Thirdly, in the owners of the estate, (I) jointly
(ii) severally;
Fourthly, in the case of a sale of the proprietary
right in such land or property, in the tenants(if any)having rights of
occupancy in such land or property, (I) jointly, (ii) severally;
Fifthly, in any tenant having a right of occupancy
in any agricultural land in the estate within the limits of which the property
is situate.
Explanation 1.-
In the case of a sale of a right of occupancy, clauses (a), (b), and (c) of
this sub-section with the exception of sub-clause fourthly of clause (c), shall
be applicable.
Explanation 2.
– In the case of sale by a female of property to which she has succeeded
through her husband , son , brother or father, the word “agnates” in this
section shall mean the agnates of the person through whom she has so succeeded.
Chapter IV of the Act deals with procedure. It
maintains the jurisdictions of the civil courts. but makes careful provision to
prevent pre-emption being used to defeat the objects of the Punjab Alienation
of Land Act, XIII of 1900.(Section 20,21,26 and
27 of Act II of 1905)
22-A.
23. Commissioner’s
sanction to transfers to strangers formerly required.
There used to be an old rule which required the sanction of the Commissioner to
the transfer to a stranger of a share of land in a village community. It was
more a device to ensure that reversions had an opportunity of exercising their
right of pre-emption than an attempt to restrict freedom of contract. Mr. Cust,
in 1860, explained it as follows:” The right of preemption is not to be evaded;
the sanction of the Commissioner must precede all such mutations and. Within a
period of three months from the transfer taking place or being made known to the
parties concerned, the validity of the transfer may be dispute by a regular
revenue suit under paragraph II, part I, Chapter XIII; of the Punjab Civil Code.”(paragraph 13 of Financial Commissioner’s Book Circular No. XLVII
of 1860) The rule was retained in the instructions on
mutation procedure under the first Punjab Land Revenue Act, XXXIII of 1871. But
it was there directed that “if the transferee has obtained possession, and no
suit for pre-emption is brought within the term of limitation, or if such suit,
when brought is dismissed, mutation of names shall be sanctioned.” This may
have had some effect in discouraging transfers to strangers, the tendency being
to regard a transaction of the sort as incomplete till it had been recognized by
an entry in the record of rights.
24. Far-reaching change
effected by
25. Scope of the Act. The
Act came into force on the 8th of
June, 1901. It extends to the whole of the
26. Usufructuary and
collateral mortgages. Mortgages are broadly divided
into usufructuary and collateral mortgages. In the former the mortgagee takes
possessions of the mortgaged land, enjoying the rents and paying the land
revenue, the difference between the rent and the revenue being regarded as
equivalent to the interest on the mortgage debt (This was the almost universal form of usufructuary mortgage in
the
27. “Members of
Agricultural Tribes” And “Agriculturists”. The provisions of
the Act which deal with temporary alienation’s only recognize two classes of
persons,---
(a) Those who are members of agricultural tribes and
(b) Those who are not members of agricultural
tribes.
Upon the latter no restrictions of any kind are
imposed. Those relating to permanent transfer originally introduced a third
class described as,
(c) Agriculturists.
28. “Members of Agricultural Tribes” meaning of term.- The
first class consists of persons belonging to the tribes notified as
“Agricultural” under the powers conferred by section 4 of the Act, and the
second obviously includes all other persons. Subject to the exceptions noted
below, the lists of agricultural bribes which have been gazette(
29. “Agriculturists”;
meaning of term. The first two groups are in the main natural ones,
but the third, or that of “agriculturist” was defined as “a person holding agricultural
land who, either in his own name or in the name of his ancestor in the male line,
was recorded as the owner of land or as an occupancy tenant in any estate at
the first regular settlement; or if the first regular settlement was made in or
since the year 1870, then at the first regular settlement or at such previous
settlement as the local Government may by order in writing, determine.” The
provision was introduced to mitigate what appeared to be the hardship of
preventing acquisition by those who were old landowners. Experience proved that
it was unsuitable and it was repealed in 1907.
30. Cancelled.
31. Restrictions on
sales. There are no restrictions on the purchase of land
but only on its sale. The sale by the member of an agricultural tribe to anyone
not belonging to such a tribe in the same district requires the sanction of the
Deputy Commissioner (Sections 3(1) and
(2)). Sanction may be given either before or after a
deed of sale has been drawn up and possession given . If sanction is refused
the sale takes affect as an usufructuary mortgage in the first of the three
forms described below (See paragraphs 40-42
of this manual)for such term not exceeding twenty years and on such
conditions as the Deputy Commissioner may think reasonable.(Section 14).
32. All agricultural
tribes in each district from a single group. For the present
all the agricultural tribes in each district, with a few exceptions noted
below. Have been notified as forming a single group(Punjab Government notifications No.21-S dated 22nd May 1901 and No. 114, dated 16th July 1902). Members of agricultural
tribes have therefore, with these exceptions, full powers of selling and buying
inter se within the limits of the district in which they own land . Should this
broad system of grouping lead anywhere to the rapid expropriation of one tribe
by another, the formation of small groups of tribes my become necessary.
Brahmans and other agriculturists in some districts have been declared as
separate groups of agricultural tribes within their respective districts from
1909 onwards. (See part B of the
appendix to Financial Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 1)
33. Cancelled.
34. Cancelled.
35. Order sanctioning
sale does not affect rights of reversions. The executive order
by which a Deputy Commissioner sanctions a sale in no way affects any right which
reversion’s or other have to contest the validity of the transfer by legal
proceedings or to claim pre-emption.(Section 5).
36. Exchanges gifts and
wills. All that has been said above of sales applies
equally to exchanges, gifts and wills. Death –bed gifts to Brahmans often known
as dohli, are not usually regarded as subject to the provisions of the Act. But
the amount which can be alienated in this way is limited by custom, and if it
is exceeded. The donor’s heir can sue to have the area reduced to what is
permissible by tribal law.
37. Instructions as to
giving or withholding sanction to sales. The following instructions
have been issued by the financial commissioners with the approval of Government
as to the considerations, which should influence a Deputy Commissioner in giving
or withholding sanction. Subject to the proviso to sub-section (iii) below he
need not concern himself with the possible rights of reversions or pre-emptors.
(i) Sanctions should not be given unless the Deputy
Commissioner is satisfied that the transfer is really advantageous to the
vendor and his family. If a zamindar depends entirely or mainly on his land, no
alienation should ordinarily be allowed which will reduce the land he retains
to less than is required for the support of himself and his family.
(ii) Sanction should be given if the Deputy
Commissioner is satisfied that there is no intention of evading the Act when
the object of the purchase is to obtain,---
(a) A site for a workshop or factory, for building
for the accommodation or welfare of persons to be employed in them, for a power
installation for working industrial enterprise, the health of persons engaged
as laborers or otherwise in connection with such;
(b) A building site close to a town or village site.
(iii) Sanction may be given to an alienation of
land.
(a) by wealthy zamidars owning much land, for
commercial reasons or to improve or consolidate their properties;
(b) by indebted zamindars owning mortgaged land, and
desiring to sell a part of their land, in order to raise money to redeem the
whole or part of the rest only if the Deputy Commissioner is satisfied that the
transfer is really advantageous to the vendor and his family, and that the
vendor is not able to sell the land to a member of an agricultural tribe
included in the same group as the vendor at a price which will enable him to
attain his object;
(c) proposed or effected in favour of zamidars who,
by reason of their insignificant numbers, have not been classed in the
particular district as members of agricultural tribes;
(d) to bonafied artisans who are not professional
money-lenders. It is desirable to encourage thrifty members of the artisan
class to become owners of small plots of land when the alienation is not
disadvantageous to the vendor and his family;
(e) by a member of an agricultural tribe in one
Punjab district to a member of the same tribe or group of tribesi n another
Provided that in cases (a),(b).(c) (d) and (e) no
member of an agricultural tribe included in the same group as the vendor has
offered, or is ready to offer, a fair price for the land.
38. Mortgages by way of
conditional sale abolished. The only restraint on
mortgage which the Act makes generally applicable is contained in its 10th section, which abolishes the form of mortgage by way
of conditional sale. This was a form whereby the mortgagor agreed that if he
failed to redeem by a certain date the mortgage would be changed to sale. All
that the money-lender had to do was to prevent repayment of the debt by any will
or artifice and the rights of the owner became extinguished without recourse to
court.
39. Scope of other
restrictions. The other provisions regarding mortgages apply
only to those made by members of agricultural tribes in favour of persons who
are not members of the same tribe or of a tribe in the same group, or in other
words, as matters at present stand in the same district (Section 6(1)). When hypothecating his land
to such persons, a member of an agricultural tribe must choose between three
kinds of mortgages.
Two of these are usufructuary mortgages, the
mortgagee acquiring for the time being the rights of landlord.
40. Usufructuary
mortgage for limited period, usufruct extinguishing principal and interest. The
first is a mortgage for a limited period not exceeding twenty years, all the
rights of the mortgagor being suspend, and the rents and profits enjoyed by the
mortgagee being taken as extinguishing by the end of the term his claim for
both principal and interest (Section 6(1)(a).
This form of mortgage was rare in the
41. Usufructurary
mortgage for unlimited period with reservation of right of occupancy. In
the second form of usufructurary mortgage the term is subject to no statuary
limitation; the mortgagor reserves the rights of an occupancy tenant at such
cash rent as may be agreed upon consisting of,---
(a) the land revenue, plus,
(b) the rates and cesses, plus
(c) an additional sum of exceeding (a) and this rent
is taken as equipment to interest. The mortgagor tenant can not alienate his
right of cultivation, and he can only be ejected on some ground which would,
under section 39 of the tenancy Act, Justify the ejection of an occupancy
tenant(Section 6(1)(c)). Should
he abandon the land or be ejected from it, the mortgage takes effect as one in
the first form for such term no exceeding twenty years from the date on which
his possessions came to an end, and for such a sum of money as the Deputy
Commissioner may think reasonable(Section 6(2)).
This form of mortgage is very rarely adopted.
42. Collateral
mortgage. The third form of mortgage is a collateral one in
which the mortgagor retains all rights of ownership and cultivation ,a subject
however, to be the condition that if he fails to pay principal and interest in
accordance with the terms of the contract, the mortgagee may apply the Deputy
Commissioner to put him in possession of the land. The mortgage then becomes
converted to a usufructary one of the first form for such reasonable. It is
also his duty to determine what the principal of the debt in the case of the new
mortgage shall be. This will consist of whatever amount he finds to be due on account
of the balance of principal and interest outstanding on the old mortgage. In making
up the account the Deputy commissioner, need not accept the rate of interest contracted
for but may award whatever amount of simple interest the thinks reasonable (Section 6(1)(b).).
43. Conditions which
may be interested in statutory mortgages - In these
statutory mortgages conditions may be inserted limiting the right of a
mortgagor or mortgagee in possession to cut, sell or mortgage trees. Or to do
any act affecting the permanent value of the land(Section 8(b)). The time in the agricultural
year at which a mortgagor who redeems his land may resume possession of it may
also be fixed (Section 8(a)).
Any conditions not permitted by the Act which are inserted in these mortgages
are null and void (Section 8(2)see also
paragraph 47)).
44. Revision of terms
of unauthorized mortgages. If a member of an agricultural tribe
mortgages his land in any unpermitted form, the deputy Commissioner is
authorized to revise the terms so as to bring the transaction into conformity
with whichever of the statutory forms the mortgagee a appears equitably
entitled to claim (Section 9(1)).
In the case of mortgages by way of conditional sale executed by members of
agricultural tribes before the commencement of the Act, the deputy Commissioner
may call on the mortgagee to choose whether he will retain the existing
mortgage with the sale condition struck out, or accept, in lieu of it, a
mortgage in the first of third of the forms described above (Section 9(2)).
45. Procedure in suits
to enforce unauthorized mortgages - If a suit is instituted in a
civil court on a mortgage by way of conditional sale or in a form unauthorized
by the Act executed by a member of an agricultural tribe, the court is bound to
make a reference to the deputy Commissioner so that the court is bound to make
a reference to the deputy commissioner so that he may exercise the powers
referred to in the last two paragraphs.
46. Mortgagor’s right
of redemption unrestricted - The execution of a mortgage in one
of the statutory forms in no way interferes with the mortgagor’s right to
redeem his land at any time on payment of the mortgage debt, or in the case of
a mortgage in the first or third form, of such proportion of the mortgage debt
as the Deputy Commissioner determines to be still due.
47. Question whether
statutory mortgages will come into use - The local Government
has power to permit any therefrom of mortgages to be used by members of agricultural
tribes and to the conditions admissible in the forms permitted by the act. Thirty
years experience has shown that only the first form of mortgage has proved acceptable.
The second form is almost unknown. The conditional sale clause has now practically
disappeared.
48. Leases - As
it would be easy to evade the provisions regarding mortgages by making
transfers for long periods in the form of lease the term of leases made by members
of agricultural tribes in favor of persons who are not members of the same
tribe or a tribe in the same group has been limited to twenty years.
49. Restriction on
extensions of mortgages and leases. The object of the Act would also
benefited if, during the currency of a mortgage or lease for a term limited by
law to twenty years, the mortgagor or lessor were free to extend the period by
executing a fresh transfer. If the alienation already effected is for twenty
years, no further transfer by way either of mortgage or of lease is permitted;
if it is for less, a further mortgage or lease is allowed for such a number of
years as will Bering the whole period of transfer up to twenty years.
50. Restriction on
hypothecation of crops. Another device for evading the
Act had also to be guarded against. Three is little difference in effect
between a mortgage of land and mortgage of its produce. Members of agricultural
tribes are, therefore, forbidden to aliendage or charge the produce or any part
of the produce of their land for a period exceeding a year without the sanction
of the deputy commissioner. There is no interference with borrowing on the
security of the next two harvests. The period of one year will as a rule, cover
contracts made by landowners with the agents of largess firms engaged in the
wheat and oil –seed export trade? Such dealings have been of great benefit to
the zamidars in may parts of the country, and if engagements of the sort for a
period exceeding one year come before a deputy commissioner, he need feel no
hesitation about sanctioning them.
51.
51-A Temporary
alienation’s in execution of decrees. Sale of land belonging to a member
of an agricultural tribe in execution of a decree is forbidden by section 16,
but at one time a learned judge of the High Court held that the land of an
insolvent agriculturist vested in the official receiver who could sell it to
another member of an agricultural tribe in satisfaction of a decree passed by
an insolvency court. Division Bench of the same court subsequently overruled
this interpretation of the law.
It is, however, a settled question that a civil
court can in execution of a decree, orders a temporary alienation of the land
of a judgment –debtor who is not a temporary alienation of such land. (Vide
Full Bench rulings in one
52. Other exemptions in
favor of agriculturists. By section 60(1), (b) and (c)
of the Civil Procedure Code (V of 1908) the following kinds of property
belonging to an agriculturist are exempted from attachments:---
(a) implements of husbandry:
(b) Such cattle and seed grain as may, in the
opinion of the court, be necessary to enable him to earn his livelihood as
such;
(c) The materials of houses and other buildings
owned and occupied by him.
When the agriculturist is person liable for the
payment of land revenue the proviso to section 70 of the land Revenue Act, XVII
of 1887, becomes applicable, and if an order to attach produce is issued, the
court should ask the collector to decide what portion of it should be exempted
as being necessary for seed grain, and for the subsistence until the harvest
next following of the defaulter and his family.”
No revenue court or officer must, except for reasons
of urgency to be recorded, issue any process of arrest against tenant or
against a landowner who cultivates his own land during either of the two
harvesting seasons.
53. Provisions of
Tenancy Act regulating relations of landlords and tenants at will. The
chapter on the Rights of Tenants” in the Settlement Manual treats mainly of the
history of hereditary tenant right in the
54. Proportion of land
cultivated by tenants –at-will. About 43 percent of the land in
the province is tilled by the landowners themselves, 9 percent by occupancy
tenants at will, a few of whom pay no rent, if the five south western districts
of Jhang, Montgomery, Multan Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan are excluded, 44
percent are cultivated by tenants – at will, 47 percent by the landowners and 9
percent by occupancy tenants. The tenants –at –will are for the most part also
landowners in the same village who owns too little land of their own to provide
a decent livelihood.
55. Lien of Landlord on
produce. The rent of a tenant’s holding is a first charge on its
crops. If any other creditor gets the produce attached in execution of a decree
against the tenant, the landlord can insist on the its sale and on being paid
from the proceeds whatever he proves to be due on account of the rent of the
current harvest and of any unpaid rent which fell due within the year
immediately preceding the date of his application to the revenue of fiber on
the subject. The finding of the revenue officer as to the amount to which the
landlord is entitled has theforce of a decree.
56.
Rights and duties of landlords and tenants
as regards produce. Except in the case just
mentioned t, the landlord must not intermeddle with the tending, cutting or harvesting
of his tenants crops. But of course where the rent cossets or a portion of the produce
he has a right to take part in the division, and to remove his own share. The tenant
on his part is bound, where thereunto is taken by division battle or
appraisement (kankut) not to remove any portion of the produce at such a time
or in such a manner as to prevent the due division or appraisement thereof” and
to abstain from dealing with it in a manner contrary to established usage. If
he wrongs his landlord in either of these ways, and a rent suit is the result “
the produce may be deemed to have been as full as the fullest crop of the same
description on similar land in the neighborhood for that harvest.”
57. Division by referee
appointed by Tahsildar. Delay in dividing a garnered
crop may result in very serious loss from the sprouting or rotting of therein.
The landlord or tenant who is injured by the failure of the other party to
attend may apply to the tehsildar for the appointment of a referee to divide or
appraise the produce. The referee may carry out the division or appraisement in
the absence of one. Of the parties, if after due notice he fails to appear. The
result of the referee’s proceedings must be reported to the tehsildar for
confirmation. The same procedure may be adopted when there is an dispute
between the landlord and the tenant about the division or appraisement.
58. Payment of rent
though tahsil. When two or more persons are landlords in respect of
a single tenancy the tenant is not bound to pay part of his rent to one and
part to another. It is their business to appoint one of their numbers to
receive the whole rent. Where rent is payable in cash, the landlord may, for
some reason refuse, to receive it, or to grant a receipt. Their may for
example, be a dispute about the amount and he may refuse to sign an acquttance
unless the tenant will give him all the claims. Again a tenant may occasionally
be in doubt that the person is who is entitled to be paid the rent. In either
case it is open to him to apply to the tahsildar to accept the rent as a
deposit, and pay it to the person whom he considers entitled to receive it.
59. Notice of
relinquishment. Tenants at –will usually hold by the year only,
leases for a term of years being still uncommon. Arrangements are as a rule,
made for the agricultural year (Kharif –rabi) the outgoing tenant giving up the
land after the spring crops have been harvested. The law provides that neither
party to a contract of letting shall be able to put the other in difficulty by
failing to give timely notice of his intentions as regards the next
agricultural year, which means in the tenancy act, the twelve months beginning
on the 16th of
June. A tenant who proposes to quit his holding after the Rabi harvest must
inform his landlord on or before 15 January. If he fails to do so he becomes liable
for the rent of the next agricultural year unless the landlord arranges for the
cultivation of the land by someone else. Except with the consent of the
landlord a notice of relinquishment must apply to the whole of the lease land.
If the tenant thinks it desirable for his own security. He can give notice to
the landlord through the tahsil.
60. Notice of ejectment
of yearly tenants. A landlord who wishes to eject
a tenant at will can apply to a naib tahsildar or tahsidar for the issue of a
notice. The application must be made in time for service to be effected on or
before the 15th of
November. Subject to that qualification, the application can be lodged at anyy
time after the beginning of the agricultural year. The above date is a very
suitable one as it falls before the chart crop has been completely cleared off
the ground and before the winter rains.
The tenant therefore gets notice before ploughing
for the harvests of the next agricultural year begins.
61. Contents of notice.
The notice requires the tenant to give up the landbefore the 1st of May and informs him that if for any reason he
disputes his liability to ejectment, he must bring a revenue suit for that
purpose within two months from the date of service. It also warns him that, in
the event of his having any claim to receive compensation for improvements or
disturbance before ejectment. He must, within two months, present an application
to an Assistant Collector of the first grade. The circumstances under which such
a claim arises will be discussed later. It is enough to say here that if it is
established ejectment must be styed until it is satisfied.
62. Ejectment order. The
tenant may obey the notice and relinquish the land before the 1 May. If without
instituting a suit to contest liability to ejectment or lodging an application
for payment of compensation. He simply remains in possession, the tahsildar, on
being satisfied that the notice has been served passes an ejectment order. If compensation
is claimed the order must be issued by an Assistant Collector of the first grade.
An ejectment order is enforced in the same way as a decree of a civil court for
the possession of land. It can only be executed between the 1 May and 15 June.
Falling execution at the proper time the tenant is entitled to keep the land
for the next agricultural year. Applications for compensation on account of
improvements or disturbance should bedealt with promptly. It is unfair that a
landlord should be kept out of his rights by the dilatoriness of a revenue
officer.
63. Protection of
standing crops. If, when the order is executed. It is found that the
tenant has crops standing on any part of the land he must not be ejected from
that part till they ripen and he has had a reasonable time for harvesting them.
On the landlord’s application, the revenue officer who ordered the ejectment
may fix a fair rent to be paid by the tenant for his extended use of the and or
the may value the crop and allow the landlord to take possession on paying the
amount into his office. Where the tenant has prepared land for sowing but has
not sown it he may ask the revenue officer to determine what amount is due to
him from the landlord on that account. His right to receive anything is
contingent on his having acted conformably with local usage in the method of tillage
adopted.
64. Ejectment of
tenants for a fixed term and occupancy tenants. So
far we have been dealing with the method by which a landlord can get rid of a
yearly tenant. The law as regards the ejectment of occupancy tenants is briefly
described in paragraph 213 of the Settlement Manual but it will be convenient
to state it more fully here in connection with that which governs the case of
tenants for a fixed term exceeding one year under a lease or a decree or order
of a competent authority. A tenant of the latter calls may throw up his holding
at the end of the term without giving any notice to his landlord. Till then he
is like an occupancy tenant protected from ejectment by any summary process. A
landlord seeking to outset him must bring a regular suit against him.
65. Order for ejectment
of occupancy tenant failing to satisfy decree for rent. There
is one case in which summary process can be used against an occupancy tenant
but not apparently against a tenant for a fixed term exceeding one year. An
Assistant Collector of the 1st grade
can order the ejectment of an occupancy tenant when a decree for an arrears of
rent has been passed and remains unsatisfied. But he must first give the tenant
an opportunity or satisfying the landlord’s claim by warning him that ejectment
will be ordered unless within 15 days he pays the amount due into the Assistant
Collector’s Office. These provisions, if worked
mechanically may cause hardship where there is much difference between the
amount of the arrears and the value of the tenant right. It must be borne in
mind that the tenant is often a very ignorant person. A considerate revenue
officer will in such a case summon him to receive the written notice in his
presence and explain to him the result which will follow on failure to pay
within the appointed time. There is no legal objection to granting a short
extension of time for payment for the issue of ejectment order may be deferred
if good cause is shown for so doing. The assistant Collector should also
ascertain whether the tenant has any claim to compensation for improvements or
for disturbances. If he has it must be gone into before any further action is
taken. Where an ejectment order is passed it can as rule as in the case of a
tenant at will only executed between the 1st May
and 15th June. But where this limitation
would be unfair to the landlord, as it might be for example where the tenant had
delayed matters by a basses claim for compensation execution can be allowed at
any time.
66. Remedy of tenant
dispossessed before receipt of compensation due. If
by any accident or mistake a tenant entitled to compensation for improvements
or disturbance or for the value of unharvested crops or the preparation of land
for sowing is ejected before the amount due has been determined he will not be
reinstated but he can within one year from the date of his dispossession, apply
to the court which decreed or to the revenue officer who ordered his ejectment
to fix the sum due and require the landlord to pay it. An order passed on such
application has the same effect as a decree for money.
67. Grounds of action
for ejectment and reinstatement. The grounds on which an action
for ejectment may be brought and the circumstances under which a tenant who considers
that the has been wrongfully dispossessed may sue for reinstatement or for compensation
will be dealt with in the chapter on Revenue courts.
68. Nullity of entries
in records of rights or agreements increasing landlord’s power of ejectment. Any
clause in a record of rights whenever made or in an agreement made after the
passing of Act XVI of 1887 empowering a landlord to eject a tenant otherwise
than in accordance with that enactment is void.
69. Leases current when
new assessment is introduced. Provision is made in section 34
of the Act for the avoiding of leases whose term is still running when the revenue
is altered at a general reassessment, failing a revision of terms made with the
assistance of a revenue court and accepted by the tenant, when the assessment
has been raised and by the landlord when it has been reduced. Leases for the
term of settlement continue in force until a revised assessment actually takes
effect unless a contrary intention clearly appears in the agreement.
70. Improvements - The
question of “Improvements in tenants holdings may occasionally cause some
little difficulty for no very broad line of distinction can be drawn between the
simplest kinds of improvements and some of the operations carried out by tenants
in the ordinary course of tillage. An exhaustive explanation of the terms as applied
to a work executed on an agricultural tenancy is given in section 4(19) of the tenancy
Act. The important point is that the work must be one by which the value of the
tenancy has been and continues to be increased. The term does not embrace every
operations which increases for a time the value of he holding. But only such
are outside the everyday course of husbandry and possess a greater or less
degree of permanency.
The sinking of a masonry well to irrigate a field
hitherto dependent on the rainfall is obviously an “Improvement” So is the
making of a kacha well in stiffest soil for this involves a good deal of labour
and the well will last for several years. But the digging of a shallow kacha
well of the ordinary type which waters a few bighas of crops in the rabi and
falls in the rainy season. Is not improvement.”
71. Improvements by
landlords. In a country of peasant proprietors like the
The Act permits the local Government to issue rules
on the subject of landlords improvements but none have been framed so far.
72. Improvements by
tenant at will - A tenant at will can only make an improvement with
the assent of his landlord but consent may be assumed from circumstances. The courts
have now given a number of ruling which are of value as guides. It must be
remembered that the question of improvements by tenants is only of importance
when compensation is demanded by the tenant.
73. Compensation for
disturbance. In any case every tenant “who has cleared and brought
under cultivation waste land in which he has not a right of occupancy is
entitled to compensation great or small . If he is ejected before he has got a
full return for his expenditure compensation for disturbance must in no case
exceed five years rent of the land and would in many cases probably be far
less. If a substantial and lasting improvements has been made the recant will
receive compensation for it in addition to compensation for disturbance. A
village proprietor tilling part of the common land of the estate or one of
several co-sharers cultivating the joint holding cannot claim compensation for
disturbance on ejectment. Where rent is paid in grain or by a money rate on
crop (Zabti) or by a cash rent consisting only of the land revenue and cesses
the rent for the purpose of calculating compensation may be taken as four time
the land revenue. The same rule applies where no rent at all has been paid. As
the land was exhypothesis waste when the tenant got it will in many cases not
be assessed to land revenue. In such a case the above provision must be
interpreted as meaning that the rent may be assumed to be equal to four times
the land revenue reduced by applying to the holding the rate at which similar
cultivated lands in the same estate are assessed.
74. Improvements by
occupancy tenants. The little of occupancy tenants
to make improvements on their own holding is asserted in the 63rd section of the Act. But, when the
75. Provisions of the
Tenancy Act as to tenants improvements. The first
76. Ejectment and
enhancement of rent barred till tenant has received compensation - A
tenant who starts an improvement after his landlord has used for his ejectment,
or caused a notice of ejectment to be served upon him, does so at his own risk and
has no claim for compensation if he is turned out of holding. But subject to
that reasonable exception a tenant who has improved his holding is protected
both from ejectment and from enhancement of rent till he has received
compensation from his landlord.
77. Calculation of
compensation. In estimating compensation the points for consideration
are---
(a) The amount by which the value or the produce or
the tenancy or the value of that produce is increased by the improvement.
(b) The conditions of the improvement and the
probable duration of its effects;
(c) The labour and capital required for the making
of such an improvement;
(d) Any reduction or remission of rent or other
advantage allowed to the tenant by the landlord in consideration of the
improvements; and
(e) In the case of a reclamation or the conversion
of urinated into irrigated land the length of time during which the tenant has
had the benefit of the improvement.
78. Compensation by
grant of lease or reduction of rate of battle. Compensation
must be assessed and paid in money unless the parties agree that it should be
made in whole or in part by the grant of a beneficial lease of land or in some
other way. It is always open to a landlord and a tenant to settle any claim for
compensation by the offer and acceptance of a twenty years lease at the
existing rent or at any other rent that may mutually agreed upon. Where a well
has been sunk a reduction of the landlord’s batal share in consideration of the
extra expenditure incurred and required is a very suitable from of
compensation. When crops are divided, it is quite common to find the customary rate
for well crops lower than for rain crops.
CHAPTER III
ASSIGNMENTS OF LAND
REVENUE
79. Importance of Land
revenue assignments in the
Eleven years after annexation the Financial
Commissioner estimated the assigned land and revenue at 33 lakhs. Forty years
later its gross amount was still much the same; but owing to the great
expansion of the land revenue of the
80. Assignments under
Native Government - The Government which preceded
our own found it convenient to secure the swords of brave and the prayers of
pious men to pacify deposed chiefs and to reward powerful servants, by
assigning to them the ruler’s share (hakimi hissa) of the produce of the land
in particular villages or tracts. This was an easier mode of payment for the
State than the regular disbursement of salaries or cash pensions and it was
much more gratifying to the recipients. The amount which a jagirdar could take
as the ruler’s share was only limited by his own judgment of the capacity of the
cultivators to withstand oppression by force or to escape from it by detrain,
and he enjoyed in practice most of the rights which we now regard as special
evidences of ownership. Large assignees of land revenue also exercised within
their own estates the power over life and limb, which is sometimes regarded as
the peculiar mark of sovereignty. The system referred to above was too deep
rooted for the new administration to destroy. Prudence dictated its
continuance, but demanded the limitation of the drain on the resources of the
State which it involved, and the removal of the encroachments which the
jagirdars had made on the prerogatives of Government on the one hand and on
what we conceived to be the rights of landholders on the other.
81. Subject must be
tested separately for different tracts - In treating of
the subject it will be convenient to deal separately with.
(a) the territories included in the
(b) The Cis-Sutlej territory the plains portion of
which was taken under our protection in 1809 and the hill tract in 1815. This
includes the present districts of Simla ,Ambala ,
(c) The
82. Assignments under
the Sikh Government. In the first
83. Insecurity of
tenure of assignments under Sikh Government - There
was of course no security of tenure. Each grant was held at the leisure of
Maharaja which usually meant for so long as the recipient was worth
conciliating. More especially every assignment was in practice open to
reconsideration on the death of the holder and when renewed a fine or nazrana
was often exacted which sometimes equaled the collections of several years.
84. Position of
assignees under Sikh Government - Assignees were entitle to the States’
share of the Produce and took it, as the State usually did in kind that is by
actual division of crop or by appraisement. Where the grants consisted of whole
villages the grantee exercised the right of extending cultivation by bringing
in tenants to break up the waste. He sunk wells and planted gardens and if he
was strong enough turned out existing cultivators who fell under his
displeasure. The larger jagirdars also held the powers comprehensively
described as faujdari that is to say they carried out so far as their power of
their disposition led them the rude system for the exaction of fines or the lopping
off of limbs as a penalty for crime or the enforcement of arbitration in civil
cases which then constituted criminal and civil justice. They in their turn
made grants within their own estates to the men who fought for them in the
field or prayed for them at home.
85. Assignments in
districts annexed in 1846. The territory ceded by the
Lahore Darbar in 1946 was known in official literature as the “Trans Sutlej
States”. In the hill tracts the jagirs were held by the Rajput Rajas who had
been deposed by Ranjit Singh and who were not restored to independence when we
took their country. The Rajas of Mandi and Suket were never reduced to the
status of Jagirdars by the Sikhs though the former suffered much at their hands
and their territories continued to be separate chiefdoms under the suzerainty
of the British Government. In the plains the Kapurthala Chief occupied a
similar position for Ranjit Singh’s ally. Sardar Fateh Singh Ahluwalia had managed
with difficulty to maintain his rights. But the other Sikh Sardars between the Beas
and the Sutlej had been reduced to subjection like their brethren to the west
of the
86. Orders issued by
Lord Hardinge - Lord Hardige’s orders regarding the treatment of
revenue free tenures in the Trans-Sutlej States may be reproduced as they were
adopted with some modifications in the instructions given by Lord Dalhousie to
the Board of Administration after the annexation of the rest of the
1st –All
grants for the provision or maintenance of former rulers deposed or former
proprietors dispossessed to be maintained on their present tenures in perpetuity.
“2nd –
All endowments , bonafide made for the maintenance of religious establishments
or buildings or buildings for public accommodation to be maintained as long as
the establishments or buildings are kept up.
“3rd –
All persons holding villages or portions of villages free of rent or money payment
and for which no service was to be reddened by grants made by Maharajas Ranjit
Singh Kharak Singh or Sher Singh to be maintained in their holding free of rent
during their lives each case to be open to the consideration and orders of
Government on the death of holder to be decided according to its merits.
“4th –
All persons holding land or grants as above, subject to a payment of nazrana,
peshkash or the like to hold for their lives subject to the payment of quarter
jama and on the death of the holders the land to be resumed or assessed at full
jama.
“5th –
All persons holding land for which service of any kind was to be rendered to
the Sikh rules including Bedis and Sodhis who were expected to perform religious
services for the benefit of the donors to hold for life subject to a payment of
¼ jama the case of each such tenure to be reported for the consideration of Government
on the death of the holder.
“6th –
Grants made by persons not having authority to alienate the Government revenues
to be resumed.
“7th-
Where no sanad exists a holding for three generations to constitute a title and
entitle the holders to have his case adjudicated by the foregoing rules.”
87. Treatment of Jagirs
in tract between Beas and
“I – That no window shall succeed to a jagir share.
“II – That no descendants in the female line shall
inherit.
“III- That on failure of a direct male heir a
collateral male heir may succeed, if the common ancestor of the deceased and of
the collateral claimant was in possession of the share at or since the year of
primary investigation of the jagir tenure which in theTrans –Sutlej States in
ordinarily 1846.
“IV – That allegation by the Jagirdar of portion of
his holding whether to his relations or strangers shall neither be officially
recognized nor officially recorded.
“V – That one or more sons of a common ancestor in
possession at the period of the first investigation being entitled to the whole
share possessed by such common ancestor shall be held and be declared
responsible for the maintenance of windows left by deceased brothers who had
they lived would have shared with such son or sons.
The Jagirs of the hill Rajas of Kangra were upheld
in perpetuity.
Assignments in territory west of the
88. Treatment of
assignments in territory west of Beas - When the
annexation of the Punjab was proclaimed on the 30th
March, 1849 the members of the newly constituted Board of
Administration were instructed by Lord Dalhousie that “the very first object to
which they should direct their attention was the determination of all questions
affecting the validity of grants to hold land rent free.” It was obvious that
annexation must be followed by a great reduction in land revenue assignments .
The British Government had no need of the military contingents of the Sardars
and it paid its servants by drafts upon the treasury. But it was also a fixed
part of Lord Dalhousie’s policy to lower the position of great Sardars and to
trust to the contentment of the common people and to the presence of a
sufficient military force to secure the peaceful development of the new
province. Of the two great brothers who were the leading members of the Board
of Administration sir Henry Lawrence accepted with reluctance a policy which
differed widely from his own views while Sir John Lawrence welcomed it because
he was himself convinced of its soundness. This is not the place to discuss the
merit’s of the course which was actually followed. It is enough to note that
the settlement made was not in fact an illiberal one. It is also the case that
men’s faith in this , as in some other parts of Lord Dalhousie’s policy was a
good deal shaken by the events of 1857 and that in many cases the original conditions
of the Jagirs grants to leading families in the Punjab have been revised as opportunity
offered in generous spirit.
89. Lord Dalhousie’s
Views. Lord Dalhousie laid down emphatically that by our occupation
of the country after the whole Sikh nation had been in arms against us . We have
acquired the absolute right of conquerors and would be justified in declaring
ever acre of land liable to Government assessment.” He ordered the resumption
without exception of grants held by men who had taken up arms against the
British Government, whether by choice or compulsion . He repeated Lord
Hardinge’s description of the insecurity of the tenure of jagirs under the Sikh
Government and of the increased value which the decision of the British
Government would give to any assignment that was maintained. Every assignee
whose tenure was upheld was to give up all deeds of grant which he held from
former Governments and to receive instead a sanad from the Board declaring that
the assignment was the free gift of the British Government. Except in a few special
cases the Jagirdars were to be deprived of all policy powers and every assigned
estate was to be assessed “so that the jagridars or other holder should not be
allowed to rack rent his tenants or derive more from the land than would be
taken by the Government whose place he occupies.” Where grants held on
condition of service were maintained a cash commutation for the aid which was
no longer required was to be fixed.
90. Rules issued by
Lord Dalhousie - Lord Dalhousie reproduced Lord Hardinge’s seven
rules with some modifications and added one of his own. In the first flue for
the words “on their present tenures in perpetuity” the words “on their present
terms subject to future diminution after the death of incumbents” were
substituted. This alternation was not without significance. To the second rule
a rider was added providing for the reduction of endowments which appeared to
be exorbitant and it was remarked that when grants of great value have been
conferred for the maintenance of the State religion….
They should be restricted to a smaller amount from
obvious motives of political expediency.” An addition was made to rule 3 to the
effect that long occupancy would of course receive the consideration of
Government. The alterations in the other rules were only verbal. The additional
rule was as follows:---
“8. Where chiefs or other hold lands rent free which
were not granted by Maharaja Ranjit Singh or any other ruler but won by their
own swords they will deserve consideration and their cases should be specially
reported to Government with the Board’s Recommendation in each case. Any
particular cases not provided for in the foregoing rules to be reported
separately to government for special orders.
Land Dalhousie added:---
“Should cases of individual hardship arise from a
strict observance of these rules whether from indigence infirmity age or sex
the Governor –General on such being represented will be happy to relax the
severity of the rules or confer a pension upon the object.”
91. Instructions of
Board of Administration - In circulating these
instructions the Board of Administration remarked:---
(a) with reference to (Rule 2) that religious
endowments should be upheld in perpetuity subject to the good behavior of the
grantees and conditional on the income being devoted to the objects originally
proposed by the grantor:
(b) that the third rule should usually be held to
apply to grants made by thethree Maharajas mentioned before their accession or
by other Chiefs before their time:
(c) with reference to the 6th and 7th rules
that assignments unsupported by sanads or held under invalid sanads granted by
kardars nazims and the like should nevertheless be maintained for the lives of
the present occupants where possession was of long standing and that unbroken
occupation of 20, 25 or 30 years whether by one individual or for two or more
generations should entitle the holder to a life interest:
(d) that grants of recent date should when the
occupants were old or infirm or for any other reason objects of charity be
maintained for life:
(e) that there a jagir had been confiscated because
the Jagirdar had borne arms against the British Government all grants made by
him to his dependents should at once be resumed . But in cases of small
assignments of long standing special recommendations to maintain for life might
be made if the holder appeared to be entitled to this indulgence:
(f) that grants of land free of assessment enjoyed
by the headmen of Villages if supported by sanads were to be upheld. If they
had been enjoyed for many years and the amount was not excessive they were to
be maintained for life or at any rate; until the revised settlement even though
no sanad could be produced;
(g) that lands held revenue free by village servants
if the amount was moderate were to be upheld until the revised settlement;
(h) that the tenures under which gardens were held
were to be liberally dealt with and if supported by valid sandals or possessed
by several generations were to be recommended for maintenance in perpetuity .
If resumption was resolved on settlement was to be made with the ex mafidar at
the ordinary village rates and not at garden rates . Where the grant was new
and the garden existed before it was made. It was to be resumed and the land
assessed to the best advantage.
92. Chaudhris inams. Shortly
after the Board directed that inams or money allowances enjoyed by leading
members of village communities before annexatin should be upheld for life
subject to good behavior. On the death of the inamdar the inam was to be
continued to his son or resumed as might seem expedient. The inam was to be considered
as remuneration for service to Government and to the village community and the
possession of it entitled the holder to be called chaudhri.
93. Grants to takiyas -Lord
Dalhousie’s second rule put religious establishments and buildings for public
accommodation on the same footing and directed the maintenance of their
endowments for as along as the establishment or buildings were kept up. In 1853
the question was raised whether these orders applied to Hindu dharamsalas or to
the small roadside takiyas occupied my Muhammadan fakirs. Sir John Lawrence
ruled that except in special cases grants in support of such buildings should
not be released in perpetuity.
The reasons he gave are characteristic and are worth
quoting,---
“5th-
The Chief Commissioner cannot admit that he existence of such grants does not
encourage mendicancy but further considers that the existence of these takiyas has
often a mischievous effect. Doubtless men who’re now fakirs will for the most
part remain such; their idle habits will prevent their taking to any honest or respectable
mode of livelihood. But there will no longer exist the same inducement for the
young and active to Join such people and the number of their disciples will at
once fall off. The abolition of monasteries in Protestant countries caused that
class of men to disappear in a few years and so will a similar system operate
on the commentates of fakirs. In the North – Western Provinces where such
endowments are rare, the number of this class bear no proportion to those existing
in the
“6th –
The people are very zealous, no doubt for the support of such endowments because
they cost them nothing but if their zeal is genuine and sincere they will support
the takiyas themselves Government have sacrificed much revenue in reducing the
land tax, in abolishing customs and giving up vexatious cesses of various kinds
which the people are well aware of. We can there fore afford that they should
murmur a little at the loss of their takiyas.
“7th –
The Chief Commissioner himself has never looked on these places with fervor. He
has had personal experience of their gross abuse. As a magistrate and criminal
judge, he has often known them to be the resort of thieves, robbers and murders.
The whole class of fakirs he believes to be bane to the country.
“8th-
The Chief Commissioner, moreover does not understand how a takiya of the character
of that in Chamyari could afford to feed travelers; eight rupees per annum
would not go far in this way. He believes that the hospitably of the occupant
fakir is almost always lives that the hospitably of the occupant fakir is almost
always limited to the feeding of his own class and that he does not do more for
other travelers than give them a little water or perhaps in special cases a few
whiffs of his hukah. Such being the Chief Commissioner’s deliberate opining he
cannot advocate the release of the land in Chamyari nor agree to reconsider similar
cases of the kind in the Jalandhar Doab.”
94. The Jagir Enquiry. The
enquiry regarding all service grants all Jagirs consisting of one or more
estates was carried out by a special officer Captain Becher. The final order in
these cases were passed by the Governor General. This which politically speaking
was the important part of the in concerning the smaller grants should be conducted
by District and Settle meant Officers and the work was mainly done by the latter.
It proved a lengthy business but was nearly complete except as regards the
frontier districts in 1860.
95. Mafis in Jagir
estates. It was found that in jagir estates there were piots
of land for which revenue was paid neither to the jagirdar not to Government.
The Chief Commissioner ruled in 1854 that all such tenures should be
investigated and orders passed for release or resumption. When any such grant
lapses the benefit accrues to the jagirdar and not to Government. There are
some exceptions top this rule, which will be noticed later.
96. Classification of
Sikh grants. In the first Punjab Administration Report which was
issued in August 1852 the revenue free assignments and cash pensions which had been
enjoyed under the Sikh Government were classified as follows:---
Section 1- Service grants
1. Military
2. Civil
3. Feudal
4. Household
Section II – Personal grants
5. State pensioners
6. Royal Ladies.
7. Family Provision
8. Allowance to influential landholders
Do III – Religious grants
9. Endowments
10. Charitable
11. “Holy men.”
97. Treatment of
different classes of grants. The board described the manner
in which they had dealt with the different classes of cases.
“For those grants which in cash of in land are
allowed in consideration of long service the following rules have been
adopted:---
From twenty –five to thirty years service. Entitles
the party to one fourth of his emolument: thirty to thirty-five years, to
one-third :thirty five years to forty and upwards, to one-half: but the first
named period, viz. Twenty –five to thirty years, has generally been diminished
to fifteen years. In favour of jagirdars “In the classified schedule of grants,
with regard to classes 1 and 2 namely , grant for military and civil service,
it will be remembered that previous to annexation these grants were chiefly in
lieu of salaries: when the late Darbar tropes were disbanded by the British
Government some few of the recipients were taken into British employ and the
remainder were pensioned off on one-fourth, one third or one half the grant as
the case might be. If the grant was found to be superannuating allowance it was
maintained in full. The same principle obtained with the household grants held
by the attendants of the sovereign. The feudal grants (class No. 3), were held
by the great barons and the dignitaries of the State.
These grants are partly feudal and partly personal.
That portion of the grant which was conditional on the furnishing of a
contingent would be resumed and the horsemen would be generally discharged and
pensioned under the rule already given. But a portion of the grant was
generally on allowance personal to the feudal chief and this portion would be
maintained to him for life and a portion to his legitimate male issue in
perpetuity either in virtue of prescriptive possession or of the grantor’s
authority or on special considerations of family influence and antiquity or of individual
character and services. With regard to State pensions (Class 5). The grants
were maintained for life of incumbents subject to diminution after death. In
case of royal ladies, mostly windows of Maharajas Ranjit Singh Kharak Singh and
Sher Singh, the landed grants were not maintained, but a money commutation for
their lives was effected . The family (class No. 7) are allowances to the heirs
or relatives of deceased chiefs. Soldiers or servants of the State granted by
our predecessors and confirmed by ourselves. The y are subject to resumption or
reduction after demise of recipients. Among the grants which come under the
general denomination of personal may be noticed “the inams” (class No. 8) .
This term was under the Sikh rule applied to certain deductions made from the
revenue of an estate in favour of some village chief called a chaudhri who by
local knowledge aided the revenue officers in ascertaining the resources of the
village and in collecting the taxes and also in the preservation of order and
harmony. The agency thus secured and the influence thus enlisted on the side of
the local authorities were important. The grants have been generally maintained
during the life-time of the grantee upon the condition of general service. In
the conducting of the new system of settlement which chiefly works through
popular agency the chaudhris have made themselves most useful and their
services may for the future be turned to good account in the detection and prevention
of crime in the management of disorganized estates in the arrangements for the
public convenience such as the furnishing of supplies and carriage repair of
roads and the construction of useful works.
“The endowments mentioned in class No. 9 are both
secular and religious for the support of tempies mosques places of pilgrimage
and devotion schools village inns for the reception of travelers paupers and
strangers generally of a monastic character. These institutions are ornaments
to the villages: they have some architectural pretension and being embossed in
trees are often the only shady spots in the neighborhood. They add much to the
comfort of rustic life and keep alive a spirit of hospitality and piety among
the agricultural people. The endowments though occasionally reduced in amount
have on the whole been regarded with liberality and in confirming them the
officers have mainly regarded the utility and efficiency of the institution.
Such grants when insignificant in amount have been maintained even though the
original grantor might have been the headman of the village.
The grants to objects of charity or to persons of
sanctity have frequently been paid in cash and in such cases have been brought
under the denomination of pension. In regard to the charitable grants indeed
with regard to all grants the tenor of paragraph 56 of the Government letter
has been observed and the rigous of the rules has been relaxed in favour of
parties who from indigence informally age or sex might be fitting objects of
special indulgence.
98. Social effects of
policy adopted. It is interesting to observe the view taken by Sir John
Lawrence a year and a halter of the social effects of the policy described
above.
“The settlement of the country is by the present
date assuming its solid and permanent proportions; the transition is well high
complete and the country is becoming the
their country seats and villas are comparatively
neglected. But the British Government has done all its consistently could to
mitigate their reverses and render their decadence gradual . They receive
handsome pensions or they retain for their lives a moiety of their landed
grants when any of them have been judged to possess hereditary claims a fair
share of their landed fields has been guaranteed to them and their posterity in
perpetuity. The are treated with considerate respect by the servants of the
Government; they swell public processions and attend at ceremonial darbars .
The sons of this nobility and of the gentry are seeking Government employee and
acquiring a liberal education. Their retainers similarly enjoy the bounty of
the Government. The numerous dependents of the late regime are also provided
for. Not only are the royal widows and their attendants being cared for but
also office- beares of the Court the chamberlains the mace bearers, the
soothsayers the physicians , the servants , the musicales, the men –in-waiting are
all borne on the pension rolls of the British State. All these classes
naturally sink into obscurity and though everything’s like spiendour has
vanished yet it has not been succeeded by poverty ; and the multitude which
surrounded and supported the throne of Ranjit Singh and his successors exists
in substantial comfort.
“The priestly classes have also every reason to
bless their new masters. The Sikh holy places have been rested . The shrines
Dera Nanak Amritsar , Tarn Taran, Anadpur, retain a large portion of the
endowments which a sikh Government had lavished on them. Liberality has indeed
been extended to all religious characters even to mendicant fraise and village
ascetics. The thousands have allowed these people to retain their petty landed
grants on a life tenure. There is hardly a village mosque or a rustic temple or
a shaded tomb of which the service is not supported by a few fields of rent
free cultivation. These classes, though they will not become extinct will yet
greatly fall below their present numbers when the existing generation shall
have passed away. In the meantime they are kept contended and their indirect
influence on the mass of the population is enlisted on the side of the Government.
“Among the agriculturists the influence of the
chaudhris is on the decline. They are a species of local chiefs or principal
resident gentry who under the Sikh regime aided in collecting the revenue and
enjoyed many privileges and immunities. Many of their privileges are maintained
to them but as their services are no longer required their power is on the
wane. The undue power of the headmen also over the village communities has been
curtailed but their legitimate position as representatives of the brotherhood
has been strengthened and defined.
99. Grants in
perpetuity provided for continuance to “male heirs”. In
1852 the Governor –General ruled that when a grant was assigned in perpetuity
it lapsed to Government on the failure of legitimate male issue in the line of
the original grantee that is of the person to whom the British Government had
confirmed the grant . Unfortunately the original orders releasing these jagirs provided
for their continuance in favor of “male issue” or male heirs” or “lineal
heirs”. The fact the this might involve the frittering away among numerous
shareholders of a revenue which undivided might have sufficed to uphold the
dignity of the head of great family was either unnoticed or disregarded. The efforts
which were subsequently made to correct this mistake concern all large jagirs thought
the province and before referring to them it will be convenient to describe the
origin and peculiar features of the jargirs of the Cis-Sutlej and
Assignments in Cis-Sutlej States.
100. History of Jagir
of Cis-Sutlej peculiar. The Jagirs tenures of the
districts formerly known as the Cis-Sutlej States have a history of their own.
No. better account of their origin can be found than that given by Mr.
Kensigton in the “Ambala Gazetteer”, which is reproduced in the following
paragraphs:---
The Sikh Conquest - The
storm burst at Las in 1763 . The Sikhs of the Manjha Country * * * * * combined
their forces at Sirhind routed and killed the Afghan Governor Zain Khan and * *
* * * occupied the whole country to the Jamna without further opposition.
‘Tradition still describes how the Sikhs dispersed as soon as battle was won
and how riding day and night each horseman would throw his belt and scabbard
his articles of dress and accouterment until he was almost naked into
successive villages to mark them as his. The chiefs hastily divided up among
themselves and their followers the whole country to the Jamna and asserted
themselves as rules of the people. I a very few cases such as those of the
Saiyyid Mir of Kotaha and the Raipur and Ramgarh Rajput sardars of Naraingarh
and the Baidwan Jat sardars of Kharar the indigenous leaders of the country
were strong enough to hold their own after a fashion and to assimilate their
position to that of their conquerors. Elsewhere the Sikh rule was supreme and
the experience undergone by the people of the district at the hands of these
merciless invaders has left its mark on the country to the present day.
State of country before the Chiefs were taken under
British protection. “The history of the next forty years is made up of the
endless petty warfare of these independent Sikh Chiefs among themselves except
when a common danger banded them to resist the encroachments of the more
powerful States of Patiala and Manimajra on the north and Ladwa, Kaithal and
Thanesar on the south. Each separate family and each group of feudatories
strong enough to standout family and each group of feudatories strong enough to
stand alone built itself a strong fort as a center from which it could harry
the whole neighborhood. Many of these are still in existence and a marked
feature of the district recalling the extraordinary lawlessness of period when
literally every man’s hand was turned against his brother. No attention was
paid to the country by the British Government , which had fixed the Jamna as
the furthest limit for political enterprise and it is believed that profoundest
ignorance prevailed both as to the constitution. The rights and the political
strength of the supposed rulers.
“From 1806 to 1808 the position rapidly changed . On
the one had the Cis-Sutlej chiefs themselves were panic struck at the sudden
danger threatened to them by the rise of Ranjit Singh’s Power from beyond the
The proclamation beginning with the quaint wording
that it was clearer than the sun and better proved than the existence of
yesterday that the British action was prompted by the chiefs themselves is
given in full * * * at page 122 of the Punjab rajas. It includes seven short
articles only of which No’s 1 to 5 are important Nos. 1 to 3 limited Ranjit
Singh’s power and declared the Cis-Sutlej Chiefs sole owners of their
possessions free of money tribute to the British ; while Nos. 4 and 5 required
them in return on their side to furnish suppliers for the army and to assist
the British by arms against enemies from any quarter as occasion might hereafter
arise.
“It is impossible to read the history of these
transactions without seeing that the Government were reality taking a most
important step almost in the dark. Instead of finding the Ambala territory
under the control of a few central States they soon realized that they had
given it over forever to hordes of adventures with no powers of cohesion who
aimed only at mutual aggression and whose sole idea of government was to grind
down the people of the country to the utmost limit of oppression. The first
point was easily settled by a sharp reminder given in a supplementary
proclamation of 1811 that every man would have to be content with what he held
in 1809 and that the British Government would tolerate no fighting among
themselves . It was however found that as a fact the so-called Cis-Sutlej
Sovereign States were represented as far as Ambala was concerned by some thirty
petty rulers with estates ranging from 20 to over 100 villages and by a host of
small fraternities comprising many hundreds of the rank and the file among the
followers of the original conquerors who had been quartered over the country
with separate villages for their maintenance and who were all alike now vested
with authority as independent rulers by the vague terms of the proclamation of
1809. Published works have nowhere every clearly recognized how sorely the
Government repented of its mistake but there seems no doubt as to the facts and
it is not be wondered at that Sir David Ochteriony should have privately
admitted to the Governor General in 1818 that the proclamation of 1809 had been
based on an erroneous idea.
From 1809 to 1847 persistent efforts were made to
enforce good Government through the Political Agency at Ambala Among the
endless semi-independent State. The records of the time bear witness to the
hopeless nature of the undertaking. They teem with references to the difficult
enquiries necessitated by the frequent disputes among the principalities by
their preposterous attempts to evade control and by acts of extortion and
violent crime in their dealings with villages. Year by year Government was
driven in self-defense to tighten the reins and every opportunity was taken to
strengthen its hold on the country by enforcing its claims to lapse by escheat
on the death without lineal heirs of the possessors of 1809 or their
descendants . It was thus that the British district of Ambala gradually grew up
each successive lapse being made the occasion for regular settlements of the
village revenues and the introduction of direct British rule. At the same time
Government scrupulously observed the engagements of 1809 and with the exception
of the prohibition of internal war by the proclamation of 1811. The powers and
privileges of the Chiefs remained untouched. Each Chief great and small alike
had within his own territory absolute civil criminal and fiscal jurisdiction
subject only to the general authority of the Agent to the Governor General. No
tribute was taken from them and though they were required in the case of war to
aid the Government. Yet no special contingent was fixed. The right of escheats
was the sole return for its protection which the Government demanded .
Throughout a long period of peace during which while north of the
“In 1846-47 a fresh step had to be taken owing to
passive obstruction for open hostility on the part of the chiefs when called on
the assist the Government with supplies and men during its campaign against the
Trans-Sutlej Sikhs in 1845. No occasion had occurred for testing their
gratitude for the benefits secured to them until the declaration of the first
Sikh war and the
“Having thus already lost the confidence of the
Government, the Sikh Chiefs in the
A proposal was therefore, made for a regular
settlement of the land revenue. But before final orders had been passes upon
this point the second Sikh War commenced. It ended in the annexation of the
Thereafter the chiefs have ceased to retain any refits
of their former powers. They have sunk to the position of jagirdars but as such
retain a right to the revenue assigned to them in perpetuity”.
Commentary
The Cis-Sutlej Jagir is not abolished by land
revenue payable on small holdings. The State Government is liable to pay
compensation to Jagirdars.
101. Commutation for
military service. The Commutation for military service required by the
5th clause of the proclamation of 3rd May , 1809 was fixed at Rs. 16 per mensem for every
horseman and Rs. 6 mensem for every footman. This however was changed in 1852
into a drawback of 2 annas per rupee of revenue in jagir estates. This is the
general rate but in some cases 4 annas and 8 annas are taken and in a few
jagirs the commutation was reduced to one anna on account of service rendered
in the Mutiny.
102. Peculiar status of
Cis-Sutlej Jagirdars. The jagirs in the Cis –Sutlej
States are not the gift of the British Government as are those in the part of
103. Classification of
Cis-Sutlej Jagirs - Their Jagirs are of three
classes:---
(a) Large estates
(b) Pattidari Jagirs
(c) Zaildari Jagirs
There is no difficulty as to the general meaning of
these terms though questions have arisen as to whether a particular Jagir
should be put in the second or third class an no authoritative list of large
estates has ever been drawn up.
104. Meaning of large
estates pattidari jagir and zaildari jagirs. Large estates are
Jagirs possessed by individual Sardars of their descendants and include a large
or smaller number of villages. The pattidari and Zaildari Jagirs are held by
fraternities consisting of the descendants of bodies of horsemen who overran the
country when it was first conquered or who were called in later to help of
original conquerors to hold it. These fraternities divided amongst themselves
the villages which they seized in horseman’s shares.
Where they maintained or acquired a position independent
of the great Sardars their tenures are known as pattidari jagirs. Where their
holdings were subordinate to those of the Sardars who claimed the right to
lapses of heiress shares they were called zaildari jagris.
105. Customary law
emulating the succession to tenures of Cis-Sutlej Chiefs before 1851. The
best source of information as to the rules governing the succession to the
estates acquired by the Sikh conquerors of the Cis-Setlej territory before we
reduced them to the status of jagirdars is sir lepel Griffin’s Law of
Inheritance of Chief ships as observed by the Sikhs previous to annexation of
the Punjab” Published in 1869. IN the stormy years before 1809 individual
ambitions sometimes made short work of hereditary titles. But the conclusion to
be drawn from the facts which sir Lepel Griffin recorded is that the real rule
of succession was identical with that prescribed by the customary law regulating
the descent of landed property in the
106. Pattidari Jagir
rules to be first described. The pattidari rules will first
be explained and the matters in which the tenures of zaildars and of the
holders of “large estates differ from that of pattidars will then be noticed.
107. Succession to
pattidari Jagirs. In 1851 the Government of India laid down the three
following rules to regulate successions to horsemen’s shares in pattidari
jagirs:---
(1) That no widow shall succeed.
(2) That no descendants in the female line shall
inherit
(3) That on failure of direct male heir a collateral
male heir may succeed if the common ancestor of the decease’s and the
collateral claimant was In possession of the share at or since the period
1808-09 when our connection with the Cis-Sutlej territory first commenced.
Lord Dalhousie added “Though the rule now laid down
may be at variance with the course which has been actually taken in many cases
, The Governor General would by no means disturb the decisions which have been
given. All parties who have received possessions from a British Officer should
retain it for their lives, except females who should receive pensions instead.”
This referred to a proposal by the Board that widows and daughters should be
given money pensions not exceeding half their husbands’ or father’s share in
1853. The government of
108. Rules not
applicable to part of
109. Remarks on the
rules. The first of the rules of 1851 was seemingly not in accordance
with custom which would have given a sonless widow a life interest in her husband’s
share. But if any injustice was done, it was redressed by the Board of
Directors who in 1854 ordered that widows who had been dispossessed should have
their pensions raised so as to equal in value the jagirs which they had lost,
and that widows still in possession should not be disturbed unless they agreed
to take pensions in lieu of their jagirs. The second rule in quite consonant
with customary law. It appears that political officers had in some cases
contrary to that law recognized the succession of daughters and daughters sons.
The third rule was that proposed by two of the three members of the board Sir
John Lawrence and Mr. Mansel. The President, Sir Henry Lawrence preferred the
principle which had been followed in deciding the succession to the large
estates of Jind and Kaithal namely that without any reference to the state of
possession in 1808-09 a male descendant of the first conqueror or occupant
should inherit all that had been acquired by the head of the family before the
collateral branch split off from the main stock and became master of a separate
estate.
110. Family custom
upheld when not inconsistent with the rules. Family custom is unhealed
as regards succession when it does not conflict with these rules. The custom regulating
division between sons by different mothers known as chundavand will for example,
be followed where it is shown to prevail in the particular family concerned.
111. Subsidiary rule
sanctioned in 1852. As the enquiry proceeded it
Became evident that the three rules sanctioned in 1851 did not completely cover
the ground and eight subsidiary rules proposed by Mr. Edmonton the Commissioner
of the Cis-sutlej States were sanctioned by the Board in 1852. These are
reproduced in Appendix III to Barkley’s Directions for Settlements Officers. It
is only necessary to quote four of them here:---
(a) That a specific order of a Government even
though opposed to the principles and rules now prescribed shall avail in fervor
of the party concerned and his lineal male heirs.
(b) That the official and recorded declaration of
the Political Agent as to the person in possession 1808-09 shall be accepted
without questions and succession continued accordingly.
(c) That allegations by a Jagirdar or pattidar of
portions of his holding whether to his relations or strangers shall neither be
officially recognized nor officially recorded.
(d) That one or more sons of a common ancestor in
1808-09 being entitled to the whole share possessed by such common ancestor
shall be held and be declared responsible for the maintenance of widows left by
deceased brothers who had they lived would have shared with such son or sons.
112. Investigation of
pattidari jagirs at 1st
regular settlement of Cis-Sutlej States. To
ensure the carrying out of the third of Lord Dalhousie’s rules the settlement
officer of the Cis-Sutlej States was ordered to investigate the state of
possession in 1808-09 and to draw up a genealogical tree of every family in
occupation of a share of a pattidari Jagir tracing the descent of existing
holders from the persons in possession at that period “Family” when used in
connection with a Cis-Sutlej Jagir means a group consisting of the male
descendants of the holder of the Jagir in 1808-09.
113. Revision of Jagir
registers of Ambala and Karnal at revised settlements.
At the revised settlements of Ambala and tahsils . Thanesar and Kalthal and
pargana indri of Karnal made by Mr. Kensington and Mr. Duie the jagir register
of these two districts were scrutinized and new registers in a more compact and
convenient form were drawn up . These include all the three classes of
Cis-Sutlej Jagirs the conditions of each jagir with a reference to the order
determining them and the rate of the commutation paid to Government were noted.
A genealogical tree of each family showing all existing descendants of the
person in possession in 1808-09 or other date which determines the right of
succession and a list giving the name of each of the shareholders of 1888 with
the fraction representing his share and the value of that fraction in money are
included in the registers and a simple method of regarding successions and
lapses has been provided.
The rule of succession followed where there are sons
by two or more wives will be found recorded in the registers.
114. Rules regarding
Zaildari jagirs - As already indicated the only real difference between
a pattidari and a zaildari jagir is that lapses in the former benefit
Government, while lapses in the latter accrue to the holder of a “large
estate”. It was ruled in 1852 at Mr. Edmonstone’s suggestion:---
(a) That the inquiry then being made into pattidars
jagir tenures should not extend to the possessions of the zaildars or
dependants of an individual Sardar during the lifetime of such Sardar.
(b) That on the estate of that Sardar lapsing the
possession of his zaildars should be enquired into ascertained and recorded and
that from and after the date of the lapse of the Sardar’s estate lapses of the
zaildars shares and successions to the same should follow the first and second
of the rules prescribed by the orders of Government No. 461, dated 12th February 1851.
115. Meaning of
second-rule. The wording of the second of these rules is not very
explicit but it seems clear that Mr. Edmonstone’s meaning was that in the case
of zaildari jagirs dependent on a large estate” the enquiry should only go back
to possession as it stood at the time when the large estate lapsed and extend
to successions which had taken place since. This was the course actually
adopted in the case of the zaildars of the
116. Status of 1847
given to zaildars of large estates in existence in 1854. In
1854 , the Chief Commissioner at the suggestion of Mr. Edmonstone who had
become Financial Commissioner modified the two rules relating to zaildari
tenures quoted above and decided that 1847, the year in which the Sardars were
deprived of their sovereign powers should be assumed as the basis of
adjudication in all disputes between Jagirdars and zaildars as to the shares of
the latter. It is clear from the correspondence which took place at the time
that the reason for taking the date 1847 instead of 1809 was to protect the zaildars
from harsh claims on the part of the Sardars. It was felt that endless disputes
and claims would arise if the status of 1808-09 were taken as defining the
tenure of the former. It was soon seen that the new rule cut both ways and
would in the further be prejudicial to the zaildars and in 1856 the
Commissioner of the Cis-Sutlej States tried to have the rule modified but
without success. All zaildars of “large estates” still in existence in 1854
have therefore the status of 1847.
117. Peculiar rules
regulating succession in case of Jagirs of Maharaja in Ferozepur. The
numerous peasant jagirdars of Maharaj and Bhucho in Ferozepore who claim
kinship with the great Phulkian houses own the jagir holdings and have peculiar
rules of their own Government has given up it right to lapses in consideration
of a petty increase in the rate of commutation payable and succession follows
the law of inheritance applicable to the landed estate. Hence widows enjoy
their husband’s shares so long as they refrain from a second marriage.
118. No absolute rule
prescribed to regulate succession in large estates. In
the orders passed in 1`851 Lord Dahousie stated that he did “not see any
necessity for establishing an absolute rule in the case of large estates. Each
case may without any difficulty and with great advantage be determined upon it
own merits as it arises. His Lordship would however remark genially that
consideration of the custom of families should have a preponderating influence
in the decision of such cases. Such estates were therefore excluded from the
enquiry which the Settlement Officer was directed to make regarding pattidari
jagirs and the Board ordered that each demise should be reported with a
statement of the custom of the family.
119. Meaning of Large
estate Some difficulty was felt in determining what was and what was not a
large estate. Mr. Emonstone wrote to the Board:---
“Presume that the
term large estate was meant to comprehend such estates as Buria, Shahzadpur,
Manimajra, Sialba, and others which are held not by fraternitites of pattidars
as the pattidars of Bilaspur, Sadhara, Thirwa, Ambala an Boh, for instance in fractional
horsemen’s shares but by an individual Sardar, as the sardar of Buria or by the
descendants of one or more Sardars as the Singhs purias. I find it difficult to
propose any definition of the term large estate and am compelled therefore to
exemplify my meaning. If the Board concur with me in thinking that the term is
not exclusively applicable to the nine sovereign states, it might be sufficient
to declare generally that the orders communicated with your letter above
referred to are applicable only to estates which are held by fraternities of
pattidars and in which the distribution of the holding according to horsemen’s
shares is recognized leaving any cases which may admit of doubt after the
declaration of this principle to be specially reported. Under this rule the
estates of Buria and
The Board accepted as correct Mr. Edmonstone’s view.
120. Status of 1808-09
how far applicable in case of large estates. It is stated in
Mr. Barkley’s Directions to Settlement Officers:---
“In practice the status of 1808-09 though not
absolutely prescribed for guidance by Government, has almost invariably been
referred to as governing claims of collateral’s to succeed to rage estates the
custom of the family being referred to only to determine whether the estate
shuld descend integrally or be divided among the nearest heirs. Either unequal
or unequal shares, what provisions should be made for windows and other points
of the like nature.”
121. Fe precedents
available. As early as 1859, we find the commissioner of the
Cis-Sutlej states in a letter dealing specially with large estates writing that
we have taken the status of 1809 A.D. and have declared all jargirs separately
held at that date as separate fields inheritable only in a direct male line.
But it seems doubtful if the question whether the status of 1808-09. Does or
does not govern succession to large estates has often been discussed. Very few
“large estates have lapsed in default to direct heirs” though it is notorious
that in some cases the present jagirdars are unrelated either to the original conqueror
or to the sardar in possession in 1808-09. No shame has been felt in foisting
on Government suppositious heirs when the succession to a jagir was endangered
by want of issue.
122. Date to be adopted
in deciding question who was in possession in 1808-09. No
question in likely to arise in the case of pattidari Jagirs as to the exact
date referred to in the phrase-“ the status of 1808-09” . The record of the
persons in possession in `1808-09 made at the first regular settlement would be
treated as finally deciding from whom a claimant must trace descent in order to
inherit a share. But large estates were exempted from enquiry in 1851 an if the
status of 1808-09 is taken as determining the succession to a large estate it
may be necessary to decide who was in possession at a particular date in the
period loosely described as 1808-09. In such a case the best date to adopt in
March 1808 that being the month in which some of the principal Cis-Sutlej
Chiefs formally applied for the protection of the British Government.
123. Family custom
governs succession in case of large estates. In dealing with
the succession to a large estate. Lord Dalhousie directed that special
attention should be given to family custom. Primogeniture will be follwed where
it is the established custom as it is in the case of the Pathan Nawabs of
Kunjpura and in the Rajput jargirdar family of
The issue of a ayah or sacramental marriage with a
virgin and of a karewa or informal marriage by chadar-andazi with a window are
equally legitimate and when the rule of division between sons prevails stand on
the same footing. It was ruled in the case of Kheri Jagir in
Whether illegitimacy as we understand the term is a
bar to succession when there is no legitimate offspring is a question to be
decided if possible by the custom of the family concerned . The sons of
handmaids (khwas) have succeeded to independent Rajput Chiefships in the
absence of children by wedded wives, and if a similar custom is pleaded in
connection with any Cis-Sutlej jagir, the claim can not be set aside at once as
preposterous for the customs of Jats of the Punjab as regards marriage and
legitimacy resemble those of a primitive Eastern Society as depicted in the
books of Genesis and Ruth rather than the law of European countries in the case
of the Sohana Jagir which belongs to a Jat Sikh family indigenous to the Ambala
district, it was lately held that the Sardar’s son by a Jat window of good
family living in his house and whom he could have espoused, but with whom no
ceremony of chadarandazi had been performed, is entitled to inherit . The
reason given was that a similar case had occurred in the family years before.
The issue of an adulterous connection with a married woman would of the course be
excluded.
124. Maintenance to
widows and others. The amount of the maintenance
to be given to widows of deceased holders should be decided mainly with
reference to past practice and this also applies to the allowances to male
members of a family in which primogeniture has been established by custom or
agreement.
125. Jagirs shared by
Jat Sikhs from the Manjha and influential local chiefs or families. When
the Sikhs overran the country between the Sutlej and the
126. Chaharami tenures
in tahsil Thanesar of the Karnal district. There is a strong
analogy between these mixed jagirs and the chaharmi tenures in the Thansesar
tahsil of Karnal described in the 96th paragraph
of the Karnal –Ambala Settlement Report. But they have not been treated in
quite the same way. The chaharami knows are for the most part full owners or
have superior proprietary rights in the lands of which they enjoy a share
usually half but sometimes one–fourth or one fifth of the land revenue. The
shares are often extremely small and lands subject to the chaharami right have
not infrequently been sold or mortgaged the chaharami passing with the land to
the transferee. No final decision as to these tenures was arrived at the first
regular settlement and the conditions on which these peculiar assignments are
held were only finally settled in 1889. There was it was allowed no real
analogy between chaharamis and zaildari jagirs but Sir James Lyall considered
that it had been the intention of the Settlement Officer at the first regular settlement
to treat them as on the same footing. He accordingly gave the following ruling.
“According to this view the chaharami holding in
each village will be treated as zaildari holding created by the original sikh
Jagirdar conquerors of the village and so long as in each village a part of the
Sikh Jagir remains un resumed so long these holdings will not be resumed .
Whenever in any village the whole of the Sikh Jagir has lapsed The whole of the
Chaharami grants will be resumed at once.
Till then in accordance with the analogy of Rule
12(V) of the supplementary rule for jagirdars alienations will not be treated
as a good ground for resuming part of a chaharami grant.
The contingency of the whole of the shares held by
Sikh Jagirdars in the chaharami estates lapsing is probably a very remote one
but it may be pointed out that it is not a feature of the zaildari tenure that
the shares of zaildars should lapse to Government when the major jagir escheats
of which they are dependents.
127. Mafis Cis-Sutlej
khalsa estates. Ordinary mafls in khalsa estates in the cis-sutlej territory
are governed by the same rules as those in the
Assignments in
128. Mr. Barkley’s
remarks on assignments in the
129. Regulations XXXI
and CCCVI of 1803. Regulation XXXI of 1803
declared what grants other than “royal” or “badshahi” grants should be
considered valid in the “ceded provinces and provided for their registration
and for adjudication upon them in the courts of law. Regulation XXXVI of 1803
enacted similar provisions for “royal grants” i.e, all grants made by the
supreme power for the time being . The full definition of royal grants includes
assignments made by several authorities who were only nominally subject to the
Delhi Emperor, but probably all royal grants in the
130. Assignments
confirmed under the regulations regarded as private property and therefore
transferable. The theory of the nature of a land revenue
assignment embodied in these two regulations is wholly opposed to that has
always been held regarding such grants in the
131. The regulation law
not strictly applicable to the
132. Orders passed in
1880. The question of the conditions on which as
signments in the Delhi territory made before its annexation to the Punjab was
carefully gone into in connection with the revenue free tenures of tahsil
Panipat and Pargana Karnal of the Karnal district, a report on which was furnished
by Mr. Ibbetson in 1880. It was then held.
(a) that the regulations were never actually in
force in the Delhi territory, while therefore any orders which the revenue
authorities of the day passed in accordance with the regulation law should be
upheld Government was also free to maintain orders, if any, passed by them in
special cases which were not in accordance with that laws;
(b) that “hereditary” grants were alienable as
similar grants under the regulation law were, but that they lapsed to
Government on entire failure of heirs of the original grantee notwithstanding
any intermediate alienation;
(c) that the condition “continued until further
orders” found to be attached to some of the assignments was analogous to he
condition during the pleasure of Government “ common in the case of grants in
the Punjab , It was not equivalent to a grant in perpetuity though the
contingency of the grant being really a perpetual one was not definitely
excluded in the case of an order sanctioning an assignment during the pleasure
of Government which implies an absolute decision that a perpetuity title has
not been made out;
(d) that it was the intention that orders passed by
a Settlement Officer confirming assignments of less than ten bighas as an
endowment for temples or other religious or charitable purposes should be final
and that the assignments should be released in perpetuity;
(e) that the Board of Revenue of the North –Western
Provinces had no power to sanction release in perpetuity. Where an order of the
Board is the only sanction for such a release, the confirmation of the Punjab
Government is required. Final sanction not having been given in the case of
such assignments before 1858, they are not transferable.
133. Succession to
perpetuity grants. Being regarded as private
property assignments made before 1858 in the
134. Istamrar grants- The
revenues free tenure known as istamrar is not wholly confined to the
135. Sukhlambari grants
in Hissar. The sukhlambari grants in the Hissar district are grants
of land revenue free for three generations made to troopers and officers of regiments
of irregular cavalry disbanded after the conclusion of the pindari campaign in 1818
or 1819. As revenue free assignments they are now nearly extinct and are only interesting
as an early experiment in the colonization of waste lands.(For details see paragraphs
259-61 of Mr. Willsons Sirsa Settlement Report and Hissar Gazetteer, Pages 160-161.
136. Inams of Biloch
Tumandars 136 . The history of the jagirs or inams of the Biloch
tumandars of the Dera Ghazi Khan district present some peculiar features and is
also deserving of notice on account of the emphatic way in which the principle
that jagris involve an obligations of service has been asserted and enforced.
An excellent account of it is given in the 98th
paragraph of Mr. Diack’s Settlement Report, from which the following
extracts are taken:---
“ The greater part of the assigned land revenue is
enjoyed by the chiefs of Biloch tribes and is well repaid by the important administrative
and magisterial functions which they discharge. It was not until the last
settlement that any considerable amount of revenue was assigned to them. From
annexation up till then they occupied the position of mustajirs that is to say,
they collected in kind from their tribes the share of the produce varying from
one-seventh to one-third which was under native rule taken by Government and
they paid into the treasury the cash land revenue assessed upon the villages of
their tribe. At the regular settlement of the district it was decided that assignnments
of land revenue should take the place of the profits which, owing to mild cash
assessment increase of cultivation and rise of prices, they derived from this arrangement.
The cash value of the assignment to each Chief was fixed with reference to his
previous income from this source to his expectations and to his
responsibilities.
But although the value of the assignment was
calculated in cash the power of collecting in kind was not withdrawn but was merely
limited to selected villages whose cash assessment made up the sanctioned
amount of the chiefs inam. The power of collecting assigned revenue in kind was
legalized by Frontier Regulations No. VII of 1874, the custom of collecting in
kind had fallen into abeyance in two tribes. Those of Kasranis and the Khosas
and was not revived in the former tribe but was in the latter to the extent of
one-fourth of the revenue. The share of the produce to be taken by the Chief
was to be fixed so as not to exceed that portion of the produce which might be
deemed fairly to represent the Government demand.
All the grants were conditional upon good and loyal
service to be rendered by the tumandars on occasions of importance whenever
called upon by the district officer and in connection with this condition it
was stipulated that sowars should be supplied by each Chief to a certain value
, the sowar’s pay being fixed at 4 annas a day any sowars required in addition
to the number making up the fixed value to be paid by Government. The
assignments were made for term of settlement and subject to reconsideration on
its expiration The grants have had an excellent effect in improving the
condition of the Chiefs and through them of their tribes which are generally in
excellent control, and there was no question at this settlement of discontinuing
the allowances to the Chiefs. The working of the system by which they are
allowed power to collect in kind was however considered very carefully with reference
to the provisions which had been made at the regular settlement that the power
would be enjoyed only during the pleasure of Government and would be liable to
be withdrawn should such as course be deemed to be expedient. The conclusion arrived
at was that the system should be continued except in the Khosa tribe. (Punjab Government
letter No. 40, dated March 1897.)
• * * * * *
The decision to continue the privilege in the case
of the other Chiefs who had hitherto enjoyed it necessitated a reconsideration
of the cash value in the inams for in villages which have improved during the
period of the late settlement the share of the produce taken by the tumandar is
the equivalent of the cash assessment as now enhanced and while the amount
received by the tumandars is the same as in recent years his inanam expressed
in terms of the Government cash revenue is greater than it was.”
In sanctioning the inams for the term of the new
settlement the supreme Government remarked(Government of India , Foreign
Department No. 2847-F dated 31st October
1899):---
The Government of India cordially endorsee the views
of the lieutenant Governor as to the importance of maintaining the position and
influence of these Chiefs. * * * * * The inams are subject to the same
conditions of loyalty and service as hereto fore**** The Government of
136 –A . Abolition of
batia jagir system in Dera Ghazi Khan district -The
revision of settlement in the Dera Ghazi Khan district was begun in 1916 and
was concluded in 1920. Fresh sanction then became necessary to the continuance
of these inams which had been sanctioned for the term of settlement.
There was during the course of settlement operations
a vigorous agitation against the continuance of the batal jagir system and it
lost none of its force after the conclusion of the settlement. After full
consideration of the advantages and disadvantes of the system. Government gave
an undertaking in the Legislative Council in 1925 to abolish it within the next
five years. In fulfillment of that undertaking Government reported early in 1928
(Punjab Government letter No. 527-R dated 8th January
1928.) to the Government of India its proposals for the substitution of cash
inams to the turmandars in place of the old batal inams. The latter Government
gave their general assent (Government of India letter No. 117-F-28 dated 10th September, 1928 .) to the proposal but declined to contribute
anything towards the extra expenditure involved by conversion.
The system was consequently abolished (Punjab
Government letter No. 5844-R dated 4th December,
1928. )with effect from kharif The old batal inams were translated into cash
inams for the term of settlement.
Strictly according to terms of 1899, there was no
obligation devolving on Government to supplement the old batal inams on their
translation into cash. Nevertheless, the outstanding liberality with which the
tumandars had been treated in the past made it undesirable that the abolition
of collections in kind should bring about any substantial loss in their
emoluments. The Governor in Council accordingly decided as an act of grace to
award supplementary cash inams to the tumandars in addition to the cash value of
their batal inams for the term of settlement or for life whichever period may
be shorter.
Both the converted and supplementary inams are
grants for services rendered and to be rendered both in the plains and in the
tuman areas within the hills and are conditional on loyalty and active
assistance to Government as well as on the maintenance of the traditional
hospitality expected from the Chiefs. Government retains the right of reducing
or confiscating the inams at any time. If it is of opinion that the conditions
are not being satisfactorily fulfilled.
137. Kasuras in Dera
Ghazi Khan. The “Kasur” Assignments of the Dera Ghazi Khan
district are identical in origin with the “chahanams” referred to in paragraph
82. The principal “kasurs” are in the territory held by the Mazari tribe about
half the revenue of which is releases in this form They are held by the family
of the Chief of the Mazari tribe of Blotches and by the other leading families
of the Balachani section of the tribe to which section the Chief belongs. Those
Balachants hld among them assignments of land revenue in all the villages of
the most Mazari Country though they are not landowners in all of them. Most of
the assignments are of half the Government share of the produce though some are
of a smaller fraction and it is from their being of a fractional nature that
they have derived the name kasur (the Arabic plural of kasur) by which they are
locally known. The appear to have been granted from time to time by the rulers
who established their authority in this neighborhood. The Nahrs of Sitpur the
Makhdums who succeeded them and the Amirs of Sindh and were a proof of the
strength and turbulence of the tribes and the weakness of the rulers control.
(Punjab Government No. 62 dated 7th August
1900.) Consequent on the abolition of the batoi jagir system the question of
kasurs which were bound up with collections in kind was reconsidered. It was
decided (Punjab Government letter No. 3018-R dated 11th November 1930.)that the ‘A’ class kasurs (i.e., remission
of half land revenue) of the Mazri , Karmani, Mistakeni and Gulsherani families
should be continued on their ancestral proprietary lands, subjects as before to
the condition of loyalty and good service. The kasurs are inalienable and
liable to resumption under orders of Government. The other kasures in the
Mazari tuman were converted into forty –three cash inams of Rs. 40 each per
annum to be paid out of the treasury. The grantee is to be selected by the
Deputy Commissioner in consultation with the tumandar and the tenure of the
inam is ordinarily to be five years.
138. Military rewards
grants. A very common way of rewarding Indian officers for distinguished
war services has been to gave them grants of Government waste land revenue
–free for a certain number of years, with a promise of ownership when the lands
had been brought under cultivation. Many such grants were made in the
(Government of India resolution No. 867-B dated 17th February, 1893) (a) (a) The land to be held subject
to payment of revenue assessed upon it or (if it is not assessed to the payment
of revenue subject to the payment of revenue at the rates at which land in the
immediate vacinity is assessed provided that if the land is waste land
requiring clearance the grantee will be allowed the ordinary concession which
would be allowed to vendees at public auctions of Government land of two
harvests frees of land revenue.
(b) Canal rates and cesses to be paid in full by the
grantee from the beginning of the lease. He shall also pay malikana at the rate
in force in the tract concerned provided that no malikana will be charged in
the case of grant which does not exceed one square or rectangle.
(c) The grant to be leasehold for the first ten
years and proprietary rights to be given after the end of the that term if the
land has been properly brought under cultivation and the grantee has made good
use of his grant.
(d) All grants are subject to the loyalty and good
behaviour of the grantee. (e) (e) When a grant of irrigable land is under
contemplation reference must be made to Irrigation Department before any
promises of irrigation are given to the grantee. If the Irrigation Department
decide that irrigation is not possible the grantee should be informed and an
acknowledgement obtained from him that he agrees to take the land on the
understanding that irrigation cannot be extended to it.
139. Jagirs may be
substituted for grants of waste land. The matter was reconsidered in
1893, and it was settled that where it was inconvenient to make grants of waste
land the reward might take the form of a jagir . At the same time the maximum
value of a grant of land was fixed at Rs. 400 per annum clear of all
deductions.
“When the Local Government is prepared to provide a
grant of land and the grantee accepts this form of reward it will be open to
the Local Government to arrange for the bestowal of the privileges connected
with the grant in such a way that the difference between the value of the grant
on the terms given and the market value may amount approximately to 25 times
the annual value specified in the orders of the Government of India on each
case, such value being limited to the maximum of Rs. 400 as noted above. Should
the Local Government not be prepared to give land or the grantee be unwilling
to accept his reward in this form, the grantee will be given an assignment of
revenue from any village or estate that may be selected . If an assignment of
revenue be given such assignments will be for three lives only , the maximum
amount of revenue assigned to the original grantee being Rs. 600 to the first
heir Rs. 300 and to the next heir in succession Rs. 150. The method in which
the assigned revenues are to be paid, i.e., whether from the state treasury or
by the land owners direct will be left to Local Governments to decide but the
amount should be flexed in cash and not in terms of the land revenue. When the
grantee is a landholder the assignment may take the form of remission of a
specified amount of the revenue due from himself.
(Government of
(a) When the jagridar is owner of the land of which
the revenue is as signed:
(b) When he stands in the tribal relation to the
revenue payers and the recognition of his status is in accordance with their
ideas:
(c) In the absence of the above conditions , when he
has nothing to do with the collection of the revenue , which is paid to him
through the tahsil. (Financial Commissioner’s No. 11-C, dated 25th May 1893.
The Local Government acquiresed in these
views.(Punjab Government Nos. 343-S., dated 1st
July 1893, and 758, dated 24th August,
1902.) In practice no difficulty has arisen for in all jagirs of this class
hitherto created in the
The rule of decent in the case of these military
jagirs is as follows:---
On the death of the original holder one-half of the
grant should descend integrally to a single heir. The heir will be selected by
the district officer , but will ordinarily be the eldest male heir in the
eldest branch of the deceased’s descendants. On the death of the selected heir
one quarter of the original grant will descend integrally to one of his heirs similarly
chosen by the district officer. The selection made by the Commissioner of the division”.
(Government of
Note :- The rule that grant should descend
integrally to a single heir may be relaxed at the discretion of the local
Government and the reduced grant, i.e., the grant after the death of the
original grantee may be distributed among several heirs in such proportional as
may seem most suitable, provided that the proper proportion of the original
grant is not exceeded. (Dispatch from His Majesty’s Secretary of State for
139. A Substitution of
cash payment in place of jagir or special pension. Towards
the close of 1930, the Government of India. Army Department, decided (Army instruction
(
139-B. Scheme for
giving retired Indian Officers the option of taking an assignment of land
revenue in lieu of pension - A scheme approved(Government of
India Army Department letter No. 17869-1 (A.G. 10)dated 9th February 1914. and introduced by the Local
Government in 1914, whereby retired Indian Officers of the Indian Army when they
belong to the agricultural classes have the option of taking an assignment of
land revenue in lieu of pension , is also in operation. 139 –C Special Jagirs .
In 1917 a scheme for the creation of new jagirs was sanctioned (Government of
India, Department of Revenue and Agriculture letter No. 887-205-2 dated 30th October, 1916.) by the Secretary of state in
accordance with which jagirs are granted by the Punjab Government for the life
of the original holder, half of the sum assigned being continued for the next generation.
Only a single descendant in the mainline of descent of the original jagirdar living
at the time of his death can be selected as his successor and the orders of the
Governor in Council are required in each case. Attached to all such grants is a
definite condition of “Continued good conduct and steadfast loyalty to His
Majesty the King Emperor and active good service to the public or to the
Government established by law in British Indian rendered to the best of the
Jagirdar’s ability and power.”
140. Jagirs granted
after 25th November, 1859 heritable by a single heir – As
already stated a marked change of feeling is observable after the mutiny as to
the value to the State of a class of men holding a privileged position and
fitted thereby to act as leaders of the people. In 1859 the Lieutenant
–Governor, Sir Robert Montgomery proposed that as a rule the heirs of jagirs
enjoyed by families of importance should be declared subject to selection by
Government.”(Punjab Government No. 678 dated 4th
Oct. 1859) Lord Canning replied that he did not see how such a
declaration could be made in regard to existing jagirs. He added, however:---
“With regard to jagirs which may hereafter be
granted His Excellency has no objection to impose the general condition that
the estate shall be inherited integrally. * * * As to the one single heir His
Excellency is disposed to think that it will be quite enough for the Government
to require that his inheritance shall need confirmation or recognition by
Government before it is considered complete and to make it known that this
recognition may if cause should arise be withheld.”
The letter containing this order was dated 25th November, 1859 and all jagirs subsequently granted
are unless the contrary is clearly expressed in the grant, heritable by a
single heir whose succession required to be confirmed by Government.” (Government
of India No. 476, dated 25th November
1859.
141. Proposal to
introduce primogeniture in case of the principal jagirs – Before
these orders were issued the Lieutenant-Governor had proposed to consult the
principal Sardars in the Cis-Sutlej and Trans-Sutlej divisions as to the
propriety of abolishing chundavand where it existed and also marking
primogeniture the rule of decent for their jagirs. In advocating primogeniture
the Cis-Sutlej Commissioner , Mr. Barnes had written:---
“I should desire in all feasible cases to institute
the law of primogeniture as was recently done in the case of ramgarh and
thereby to secure a powerful and influential aristocracy who with such
guarantees would doubtless be as loyal and as useful to Government as they proved
to be during the recent rebellion.”
142. Proposal agreed to
by Lord Canning. Chundavand and been denounced as immoral and as
encouraging polygamy. Lord canning wisely brushed that argument aside. But as
regards primogeniture his reply was encouraging. The proposal to consult the
leading Sardars regarding it was approved but anything like arbitrary
legislation on the subject was deprecated and it was laid down that “no
alternation in the rule of inheritance should be made in a family unless with
the consent of its head and of the chief members interested.( Government of
India. No. 1718 , dated May 1860. Paragraphs 2,4,5,6 of circular letter No.
246-252, dated 6th April
1861.)
143. His reasons - The
reasons given by Lord canning for his decision are worth quoting:--- “It is
politically desirable that primogeniture should be encouraged. The governor-general
believes that a more unfortunate prospect cannot be before a people, especially
a people amongst whom society is of a feudal form, than that of the gradual
dissolution of all their wealthy and influential families into numerous poor
and proud descendants. His excellency also believes that the task of governing
such a people in contentment becomes more and more difficult as this change
progresses.
144. Instructions
issued in 1861. The enquiry which followed seemed to show that a number
of the larger Jagirdars were ready to elect for primogeniture and in April 1861
the following instructions were given to Cis-Indus Commissioners:---
“Those jagirdars holding in perpetuity whose revenue
exceeds Rs. 250 per annum and who wish the succession of their jagirs to be
regulated in future by the rule of primogeniture must executor a deed to that
effect . You will explain to them that this deed when confirmed by Government
will hereafter he binding on their successors in the jagirs for all generations
. Where such a deed has already been taken it need only be reviewed with
reference to the instructions now conveyed.
“4. The deed will regulate the succession only to
jagir lands not to malguzari lands or other real and personal property. “5. The
jagirdar executing the deed should be invited to record separately the nature
and amount of the maintenance which he would propose to assign to the younger
branches of his family. The custom regulating such maintenance in the case of
the younger brothers of chiefs in whose families the rule of primogeniture has
been long established will serve as a guide for other jagirdars.
“6. It should be explained that the rights of
collateral’s are in no respect affected by the introduction of the rule of
primogeniture.”
Informing the Government of India of the action that
had been taken the Lieutenant- Governor remark:---
“One important point only remains to be adverted to
namely the force of the deed executed by the jagirdars declaring that
primogeniture shall be the rule of succession to their jagirs.
This point however will be discussed at length when
the reports of the several Commissioners and the deeds themselves shall have
been transmitted to this office.”
145. Negotiations prove
abortive - The number of deeds executed was forty seven. Many
of these declared that primogeniture should thereafter be the rule of
succession and fixed a rate of maintenance for younger sons. Others provided
for division among sons, but allotted a larger share to the eldest of fittest
son. By some mischance these deeds were never confirmed by Government but
several have since been accepted and where the circumstances of each case were
consistent with the provisions of sections 7(1)(b) of the Punjab Jagirs Act, V
of 1941 mentioned in paragraph 157 a rule of primogeniture has been notified.
146. Reasons why evil
results have no been worse - The failure to carry the negotiations
with the leading jagirdars to a successful conclusion is much to e regretted. The
matter was not dealt with again comprehensively for whole generation during
which sub-division went on unchecked . The resultant evils would be even more
apparent than they are but for the fact that many of the large jagirdars at
least in the Cis –
147. Remedy applied in
case of Hazara Jagirs. In Hazara the jagirs granted at
annexation were made subject to certain limitations of the successions proposed
by Major James Abbott. Further jagirs were granted for service in 1857 without
any similar reservation. Among the Hazara settlement rules to which legal force
was given by Regulation XIII of 1872 were two dealing with assignments of land
revenue.
“18. The settlement Officer shall ascertain for each
class of revenue assignments granted for more than one life or for the period
of settlement or for each of such cases where necessary what rule is best
calculated to secure to Government the attainment of the object for which the
grant was given. The result of his enquires shall be submitted for the sanction
of Government.
“19. All cases in which orders of succession
contrary to the orders to be laid down under Rule 18 have been passes shall be
reported to the Commissioner who is hereby empowered to revise the previous
orders in the spirit rule 18, or in such modified way as the peculiar
circumstances of such cases may call for.”
Under the first of these rules the Lieutenant-
Governor passed the following general order:---
“All jagirs and political pensions released for more
than one life or for term of settlement shall devolve integrally ordinarily to
the eldest son.
“the succession shall not necessarily be maintained
in the direct course should the immediate heir be devoid of merit or deficient
in the necessary qualifications of character, Influence control over his tribe
and family or good disposition towards the British Government. ( Punjab
Government No. 1706, dated 22nd December
1873.
In the case of certain jagirs Government reserved
the option of dealing with the succession in the above manner, or dividing the
jagirs among the male issue of a deceased grantee(For list of these see page
282 of Captain Wace’s Settlement Report of Hazara. . In Hazara, therefore , the
matter of succession to jagirs has been put on a thoroughly satisfactory
footing.
148. Section 8 of
“In all cases in which Government has declared any
rule of descent to prevail in any family or families of assignees of land
revenue such rule of descent shall be held to prevail and to have prevailed
amongst them from the time when the declaration was made”.
In 1890 the Government of India refused to make use
of this section in connection with a proposal to declare the rule of succession
in the Raipur Jagir family in the Ambala District to be primogeniture on the
ground that it had no retrospective effect. (Government of
149.
Attitude of Government of
150. Primogeniture
introduced in case of Ramgarh jagir. In a letter No. 1490, dated 1st April 1859, Lord Canning sanctioned primogeniture as
regulating in future the succession of the jagir enjoyed by one branch of the
Ramgarh family in Ambala “as this proposal has emanated from the younger sons
themselves.” The family is a Rajput one connected with the Raja of Bliaspur.
151. Case of the Chachi
Jagir. In 1862 the Government of India declined to sanction
a deed respecting the devolution of his jagir executed by Sir Nihal Singh,
Chachi on the ground that as the Sardar has more than one son Government has no
power to fetter or unfetter the Dardar as to his old estates , his power over
which must be decided should any dispute arise by the ordinary law applicable
to such estates in the Punjab.”
In 1874, however Sir Henry Davies then Lieutenant
–Governor of the
152. Succession of a
single heir in case of (a) jagir of Shahzada Jamhur - The
jagir of Shahzada Jamhur, Saddozai, in the Kohat district was originally
released in favour of the grantee and his male issue in perpetuity.” In 1877,
the Government of India agreed to a modification of the terms providing for its
devolution on “the heir, being a descendant of the original grantee, whom
Government might select.” ( Government of
153. (b) The Makhad
Jagir - In the case of Makhad jagir in Rawalpindi where the grant
provided for descent to “legitimate male issue, “but the Financial Commissioner
held that a quasi- custom of primogeniture had been proved to exist , the
Government of India in 1881 sanctioned the succession of the eldest of four
sons subject to the condition of fitness. This ruling also applied to the
Shakardarra jagir in Kohat held by the same family.
154. (c) Jagir of Raja
Sir Sahib Dial - In 1882 the Government of India allowed one of Raja
Sir Sahibdial’s Jagirs released in 1854 in favour of himself and “his
legitimate male issue for two generations” to descend to his grandson, his sons
being passed over for reasons stated in the correspondence. (Government of
India No. 256, dated 22nd November 1882.
155. Proposal of
151. Case of the Chachi
Jagir. In 1862 the Government of India declined to sanction
a deed respecting the devolution of his jagir executed by Sir Nihal Singh,
Chachi on the ground that as the Sardar has more than one son Government has no
power to fetter or unfetter the Dardar as to his old estates , his power over
which must be decided should any dispute arise by the ordinary law applicable
to such estates in the Punjab.”
In 1874, however Sir Henry Davies then Lieutenant
–Governor of the
152. Succession of a
single heir in case of (a) jagir of Shahzada Jamhur - The
jagir of Shahzada Jamhur, Saddozai, in the Kohat district was originally
released in favour of the grantee and his male issue in perpetuity.” In 1877,
the Government of India agreed to a modification of the terms providing for its
devolution on “the heir, being a descendant of the original grantee, whom
Government might select.” ( Government of
153. (b) The Makhad
Jagir - In the case of Makhad jagir in
154. (c) Jagir of Raja
Sir Sahib Dial - In 1882 the Government of India allowed one of Raja
Sir Sahibdial’s Jagirs released in 1854 in favour of himself and “his
legitimate male issue for two generations” to descend to his grandson, his sons
being passed over for reasons stated in the correspondence. (Government of
India No. 256, dated 22nd November 1882.
155. Proposal of
156. Proposal modified
by Government of
The Governor- General in Council is in entire accord
with His Honour the Lieutenant Governor as to the political expediency of
preventing the larger jagirs from being parceled our though a recurring process
of sub –division . But having given the most careful attention to the subject
he is satisfied that the decision come to in 1860 by lord canning that though
jagridars might very properly be consent of the head to any family in which it
has not hitherto prevailed is correct and should be substantially maintained .
That the Government when granting or confirming an assignment of land revenue
possess an absolute power of regulating the succession at the time of such
grant or confirmation is undoubted. But when once the conditions of a grant
have been prescribed and the grant has actually been made this absolute power
is lost . This is the well –recognized rule of English law governing grants
from the Crown and is founded on principles of equity and common justice.
There no doubt exists a distinction in kind between
an estate in land an assignment of land revenue. But taking an assignment of
land revenue as analogous to a pension. The State by the principles of English
law has no inherent right to regulate or vary at its pleasure, after the
assignment or the pension has been granted the order of succession in either
the one case or the other . Nor is the Governor-General in Council satisfied that
if such powers were assumed they would meet with the hearty approval of the
jagridars.
“An examination of the various orders passed between
1850 and 1860 by the governor –General shows that great care was taken to
protect decision already given. Thus, in 1851 when a certain rule as to
collateral descent was laid down decisions already given in particular cases to
a contrary effect were allowed to stand. Again at a later date in the case of
the Ramgarh jagir, substitution of succession according to primogeniture for
division among the heirs was only sanctioned because the younger sons of the
jagirdar themselves applied for it.
“In paragraph 13 of your letter other instances are
cited in which the Government of
157.
“(7(1) Where Government has heretofore declared or
at any time hereafter declares that any rule of descent in respect of
succession to any jagir shall prevail in the family of jagirdars, such rule of
descent shall be deemed to prevail in the family of jagirdars, such rule of
descent shall be deemed to prevail , and to have prevailed from the time when
the declaration was made anything in any law or contract to the contrary
notwithstanding:---
Providing that no such declaration shall here after
be made unless and until,---
(a) Government is satisfied that the rule of descent
to be so declared actually prevails in the family and has been continuously and
without breach , or observed in all succession (if any) to the jagir since it
was made; or
(b) The jagirdar or his successor in interest for
time being has by written instrument duly executed by him either before or
after the passing of this Act, signified on behalf of himself and his family
acceptance of the rule of descent to be so declared and either no succession
has taken place since such acceptance the jagir has in fact not devolved
otherwise than it would have devolved had the said rule of descent been in
force.
(2) Any declaration made under sub-section(1) may be
amended, varied or rescinded by Government , but always subject to the proviso
thereto”.
Where the rule of descent declared to prevail
involves the devolution of the assignment of land revenue to a single person as
impartible property, it cannot be attached by order of Court (section 11). In
declaring the rule of decent Government may attach to it the following
conditions:-
(a) that each successor to the jagir shall be
approved and accepted as such by government, and (b) (b) that he shall ,if
required by Government, make such provision as Government deem suitable for the
maintenance of the widows and other members of the family of the last or any
previous holders of the jagir [section 8(a) and (b)].
The Government is bound approving of a successor to
accept the nearest their according to the declared rule who is not unfit
(proviso to section 8).”
157-A. Principles to be
observed in fixing maintenance allowances out of the assignment - The
main object of the Punjab Descent of Jagirs Act is to maintain the importance
of the family through the principles of primogeniture and impartiality. Grant of
allowances should therefore, be permitted to defeat this object. The following principles
should be borne in mind when making recommendations:---
(1) Section 8-A (b) of Act IV of 1872 gives to
Government the power of enforcing on a succession to a jagir which comes within
the scope of the provision, suitable maintenance for the widow or windows (if
any ) and other members of the family of any previous holder of the assignment
. The direct descendant of any previous holder is included in the term ‘member
of the family.’
(2) At the same, Government have full discretion in
the matter, and exercise of its powers must depend on the circumstances of each
which include inter alia the allowances already in existence. As a general
rule, and subject to principle No. (5) below, no allowance should be made to a
member of the family who is not in need of it, having due regard to the
standard of living which he may be expected to maintain.
(3) No hard and fast rule can be laid down in regard
to adults , in particular where previous practice is in their favour.
(4) As a general rule, subject , of course, to
exceptions , there should be good reasons for stopping or reducing , on a new
succession , allowances already in existence . A ground for reduction, which
would however, require careful consideration, might be the fact that a new
succession involved additional allowances constituting serious encroachment on
the total value of the jagir, if existing ones were maintained at their full
amount.
(5) Government would be reluctant to intervene where
family arrangements are proposed and are not clearly unsuitable.
158. Interpretation of
successions to heirs male - An important ruling is
contained in Punjab Government letter No. 108, dated 13 December, 1893,
determining the interpretation of the conventional expression “Succession to
heirs male” when used in the original order conveying sanction to grant. Sir
Dennis Fitzpatrick held that “the rule applicable to grant of this sort in the
Several subsequent decisions have been based on this
view and the grants notified under section 7(a) of the Punjab Jagirs Act, No. V
of 1941” accordingly.
For the purpose of this ruling the term “male issue”
may be taken to be the equivalent of “heirs males”.
This ruling applies only to cases which under the
general orders of 1859 (see paragraph 140) are inheritable by a single heir.
159. Succession of
single heirs prescribed in case of small grants for service to be performed - To
prevent the splitting up of small grants made in consideration of service to be
rendered to village communities, it was ruled in 1865 that small grants given
in lieu of service to be performed or responsibilities to be fulfilled should
be held from generation to generation by one individual only . * * * *
Ordinarily this individual should be the eldest heir of the deceased incumbent,
but where special reasons exist for superseding him, it will be within the
discretion of the local authorities so to arrange, provided this be in
accordance with the wishes of those interest in the service to be rendered.”(Punjab
Government No. 414 dated 30th May
1868.)
The occupation of existing holders was not be
disturbed but advantage was to be taken of future successions to get rid of the
joint enjoyment. (Financial Commissioner Book Circular No. 13 of 1865.)
160. Grant of right of
adoption to ruling chiefs - In some parts of the
Rajas of the
161. Grants of adoption
sanads to selected jagirdars - In 1862 adoption Sanads were
conferred on two important jagirdars, Raja Tej Singh and Sardar Shamsher Singh,
Sindhawalia who before the annexation of the
“it would be necessary to make a very careful
selection of the jagirdars deemed worthy of the right of adoption . Each case
would be weighted on its own merits, and the concession would be allowed as an
honour and a reward. In the work of selection regard would be had to the
influence, position, history, and services of the family; to its loyalty and activity
in the cause of good government in times of peace; and the reputation of the jagirdars
for kindness towards dependents and to the landholders and other living on the jagir.
In this way, the Government would always have in its hands a powerful incentive
to good and loyal services; and those not granted the concession in the first
instance might hope in time to win it by proved deserts. It might further be
provided that the privilege should be liable to forfeiture for disloyalty or
other misconduct which might be defined.
“It may be asked what would be the advantages of the
concession to the public and private but of such a nature that the Government,
acting in the public interests, could fairly take them into view? It is well
known that the grant of adoption sanads to Chiefs has not operated to increase
the number of adoptions, but to allay disquietude of mind. Many cases that have
come before the Lieutenant- Governor have convinced him that the practice of
declining to consider grants till the death of grantees gives the grantees much
unnecessary anxiety in their decline in years. It is natural and laudable on
the part of heads of families to desire before they die to know that heir
houses will survive them and their relations will be provided for. The
lieutenant – Governor knows that much anxiety prevails in this matter which it
is within our power to remove and one measure which would tend to set these
painful uncertainties at rest would be the grant of adoption sanads to selected
jagirdars holding in perpetuity.
“It may be admitted, however that the purely public
advances would be much more important. The measure in contemplation would give
great political strength to the Government. In the Punjab in particular the
boon would be a proper recognition of the loyal and faithful services, in peace
and war of the most prominent men in the British territories of this part of
The Government of India accepted the views put
forward by the Lieutenant-Governor, but considered that the objects aimed at
would “be best attained by selecting from time to time in individual cases the
jagridars to whom it is proposed to give the privilege of adoption.”
162. Grants of adoption
sanads - This opinion, however has since been reconsidered.
It was represented that the grant of merely personal sanads of adoption went
but a little way towards furthering the policy of the Punjab Government in
regard to the maintenance of their jagirdars as source of real political
strength. It was urged that the need for men of good family who have influence
in the country and are ready to use it on our side certainly had not diminished
in the yards which and elapsed since Sir Charles Aitchison put forward his
views in the official pronouncement quoted above that on this ground alone it
was to our interest to preserve the old families whose influence was naturally
greater than that of new grantees could be ; and that, this being admitted, it
was on the assumption that suitable adoptions could be made a matter of no
consequence to us whether the successor was an adopted son or a son of the
body.
“We have in fact an aristocracy of high traditions,
and sentiment apart, we ought to uphold it in our own interests…… We wish to
preserve the families of our great jagirdars in order that they may be useful
to us : that they may help us in ordinary times in the suppression of crime and
support us with their own strength in the country in times of trouble….. What
they want and may well have, if I rightly apprehend the policy is an assurance
that Government does not desire the lapse of their Jagirs. The present
concession rather suggests that Government is not prepared to forego the fiscal
gain of occasional lapses.
Extract from a note by Hon’ble Mr. C.L. Tupper,
C.S.I. Financial Commissioner dated 9th December
1900, forwarded to the Government of India with Punjab Government letter No.
17, dated 26th February
1901.These arguments were supported by the Government of India and accepted by
His Majesty’s Secretary of State, the rules(Financial Commissioner’s circular
No. 4951, dated 22nd September
1902.
(1) The privilege contained in the grant of an
adoption sanad shall be an heritable one.
(2) Such a Sanad shall only be granted to jagirdars
who are found specially worthy of the honour, and they shall be selected with
reference to their possession of the qualifications already laid down as
necessary by Sir Charles Aitchison in the passage already quoted in paragraph
160 above.
(3) Its grant shall be subject to the following
conditions: (a) The acceptance by the jagirdar of the maintenance conditions
specified in section 88 of the Punjab Jagirs Act, No V of 1941 and (b) the
sanctions of the Government of India.
(4) An improper or unsuitable adoption may be vetoed
by the Local Government.
(5) The succession shall be regulated by a rule of
integral descent to a signal heir usually the rule of primogeniture.
163. Use of adoption
sanad in connection with Descent of Jagirs Act.-
It will thus be seen that the grant of an adoption sanad while conferring a
valuable privilege upon the grantee is also useful as furthering the policy
enunciated in the Punjab Jairs Act, No. V of 1941 limiting succession to a
single heir and of preventing the minute sub-division of jagirs with its
consequent loss of prestige and influence to the Jagirdar.
164. Perpetual Jagris
declared inalienable - Unless assignments of land
revenue are incapable of transfer by the grantees and of attachment by order of
Court their public uses may easily be destroyed . In 1852 the Government of
India ordered the insertion in sanads relating to perpetual grants of a clause
prohibiting allegation. (Government of India No. 2990, dated 27th August 1852. The letter refers to jagirs in the
Punjab north and west of the
“We should have supposed that there could be no
necessity for notifying this as a rule since it follows from the very nature of
a jagir, which cannot be alienated and can only be attached for the life of the
holder”. (Dispatch, Political Department No. 51 dated 30th August 1858, quoted in Financial Commissioner’s Book
Circular No. XXXVII of 1858.)
165. Mr. Cust’s Revenue
Manual declares all jagirs and mafis to be inalienable-
Probably the Directions only referred to grants for more than one life. But in
his consolidated circular on “Jagirdars and M’afidars” issued in 1860 and again
in his revenue Manual published in 1866, the Financial Commissioner, Mr. Cust
wrote,---
It is scarcely necessary to remark that the jagirdar
or m’afidar has no power of sale mortgage , gift or sub-lease of his revenue
assignment , except under special circumstances which must be proved. Contracts
of this kind will not be recognized by the revenue Courts, and the parties in
possession on those pleas will be considered only the private agents of the
holders with no legal rights.”(Cust’s Revenue Manual , Page 15)
166. Assignment may be
treated as inalienable except in
167. Early authorities
declare assignments to be capable of attachment.
The law regarding the attachment of assignments by decree of court is in a
somewhat doubtful state. In the dispatch quoted in paragraph 164 the Court of
Directions wrote that Jagirs can only be attached for the life of the holder “
Mr. Cust remarked:---
Jagir and m’afi holding are liable to attachment
under decree of the civil and Revenue Courts. The revenue will be collected by
the tahsildar and paid to the parties holding the decrees. With the death of
the life holder all claim of the creditor expires. Grants to institutions are
not liable for the personal debts of the manager. (Cust’s Revenue Manual, Page
15)
This practically assumes that assignments are
private property in which the existing holders have life interests. It ignores
the view that the possession of them involves public duties.
168. Doubtful state of
the law. Section 11 of Act XXIII of 1871 provides that “no pension
granted or continued by Government on political considerations, or on account
of past services, or as a compassionate allowance shall be liable to
…..attachment….. in satisfaction of a decree or order of any…. Court. Political
pensions are exempted from attachment by section 266(g) of the Civil Procedure
Code. In one case (C.R. 137 P.R.,1890) the Chief Court of the
“These cases are sufficient to show that while some
jagir income may be liable to attachment, other jagir income may not.”
169. Duties of
Collector in connection with attachment of assignments. Assigned
revenue is an “interest in land” and an order or its attachment made by any
Civil or Criminal Court must be addressed to the Collector. (Section 141, Act
XVII of 1887) and must direct the person by whom the revenue is payable to pay
it to the Collector and the Collector to hold it subject to the further orders
of the Court."”(Section 142 Act XVII of 1887) IN execution proceedings the
Collectors is the agent of the Court and must obey its order without demur. But
after the attachment has been made , he would be justified in pointing out to
the Court any reasons why in his opinion it should be withdrawn . It is for the
Court to decide whether the reasons are valid. If the matter were properly
represented, it seems probable that a Civil Court would hold that revenue
granted for the support of an institution should not be attached in execution
of a decree on account of the private debts of the manager.
170. Provisions of
section 8(3) of Punjab Act, IV of 1900. In 1898 the Punjab Government
proposed the amendment of section 11 of Act XXIII of 1871 so as to protect all
assignments of land revenue from attachment. ( Punjab Government No. 86, dated
24th August 1989.) The government of
171. Questions regarding
successions. Questions of succession do not as a rule cause much
trouble . The terms of truant usually indicate clearly who the successor or successors
must be.
172. Registration of
heirs to jagirs. Every shareholder in a Cis-Sutlej Jagir is required
to report the birth of a sons within a week of its occurrence in order that the
necessary entry may be made in the genealogical tree. No Investigation, public
or private, should be instituted into the truth of the relationship of the
child to his reputed father, when there are kinsmen in the line of succession
to the jagir unless they have moved in the matter in their own interest. If
there are no such kinsmen it may become necessary to make some private enquiry,
but only if rumours of fraud have reached the ears of the collector. If private
enquiry seems needful, the Collector must obtain the sanction of the
Commissioner before making it, and report the result for orders. Alleged posthumous
births will usually require verification, especially if the Collector has received
no notice that the widow declares herself to be pregnant. Such declarations are
often not to be trusted and enquiry to be effectual must be made before the
birth takes place or is, according to the widow’s statement, due. In such
access it may be advisable with the Commissioner’s sanction to arrangement due.
In such cases it may be advisable with the Commissioner’s sanction to arrange
if possible, for the service of a competent lady doctor for the personal
examination of the widow.
173. Succession to
small grants for service. The rule limiting the
succession to a single heir in the case of small grants for service to be
performed has already been noticed (paragraph 159).
174. Succession to
small grants assigned to several persons for their lives- When
the revenue of a plot has been assigned to two or more individual’s
collectively without specifying that the share of each shall lapse on his death
of the last of them the whole will lapse. This rule only refers to petty
grants. (Punjab Government notification No. 1386 dated 27th October 1873.)
175. Successions to
grants for religious institutions. The cases of succession which
cause most difficulty are those relating to endowments for the support of
religious institutions . Unfortunately the death of the head of a monastery or
of the guardian of a tomb or shrine is often followed by a dispute among his
disciples as to who shall occupy the vacant seat. It is no part of Collector’s
duty to settle such matters. It is the policy of Government , as laid down in
Act XX of 1863, to abstain from interference in the management of religious
institutions and five years before that Act was passed the same principle was
clearly stated in Chief Commissioner’s Circular No. 23 dated 25th August , 1858. If the succession is contested the
Collector should either pay the revenue to the claimant who is actually in
possession , or suspend payment altogether till the dispute is settled. He
should adopt the latter course when litigation is protracted and it is clear
that funds intended for religious or charitable purpose are being diverted into
the pockets of lawyers.
176. Resumption for
breach of conditions. An assignment may be resumed
when the conditions attached to it are broken. These conditions may be either
expressed or implied.
177. Breach in case of
assignments for support of religious institutions.
Fishing inquiries as to the disposal of the income of grants made for the
support of religious or charitable institutions are unwise. But if the building
is falling into ruins or has been deserted, or if the endowment is clearly
being misapplied, interference is necessary. It is equally so if the guardian
notoriously a man of bad character, and complaints reach the Collector’s ears
that a house of prayer has become a den of thieves or gamblers, or that respectable
women can no longer visit it for purposes of worship. A time can set within which
the persons interest in the institution must arrange for the repair of the
building or the remedy of the abuses, which have infected its management
failing which resumption will be proposed.
178. The condition of
loyalty and good conduct - Many grants are by their terms expressly
conditional on loyalty and good conduct. The form of a sanad sanctioned for perpetual
assignments in 1870 declares that the grant is held on the above conditions during
the pleasure of Government. This as an expression of the policy of Government announced
to the grantees when they received their sanads is important. But in deciding what
the terms of old grants are it is necessary to look to the original order of
release rather than to the wording of a general form of sand prescribed many
years later.
179. Every assignment
really liable to forfeiture for flagrant misconduct –
But whether the original grant stipulates for good conduct on the part of the
grantee or not, Government is justified in holding that there is a point in the
case of every assignment at which the misbehavior of the assignee will justify
an order of forfeiture. What that point is must depend largely on the history
of the grant. Considering the origin, for example of may of the jagirs in the
Cis-Sutlej and Delhi territories it would be wrong to mete out the same measure
to them as to assignments which have sprung simply from the bounty of the
British Government.
180. Assignment
forfeited if grantee is guilty of treason’s or of a capital offence. The
title of any person to hold or to inherit a jagir or a share in a jagir is
forfeited when he is convicted of a crime involving a death sentence. If he is
in possession, the jagir will lapse entirely. If his interest in the jagir is
contingent, it will cease as regards himself, but survive as regards his
children or other heirs. The Government of India ruled in 1856 that the share
which the criminal would in ordinary course have inherited should be confiscated
entirely when the jagirdar whose heir he was died.(Government of India No. 4170,
dated 8th August
1856) but the court of Directions refused to accept a ruling which involved the
doctrine of corruption of blood”
They remarked:---
“Forfeiture of the whole property of a convicted
felon is one of the punishment prescribed by law, and for this there may be
sufficient reasons, no with standing the hardship which results to his innocent
offspring. But in the present case you have pronounced a prospective
confiscation of landed rights which have never vested in the offenders, but
which would have legally descended to them on the death of their father who
still survives, thus adopting the principle of corruption of blood, own to the
ancient law or this country, but long stigmatized by the best authorities and condemned
by the opinion of the present age. We cannot sanction this principle and we
direct that the children of Nihal succeed to their father’s share on the death
of their grandfather in the same manner as if their father had died in the
course of nature.”
(Dispatch No. 44m dated 18th August 1858.)
A grant is also forfeited by the commissioner of any
act of treason or disloyalty.
(Financial Commissioner’s Book Circular No, L III of
1860.)
181. Ruling of
182. Later attitude of
183. Lapses in favour
of Jagridars - In some cases the benefit of a lapse accrues to a jagirdar
and not to Government. The circumstances under which this takes place are described
in paragraph 23-25 of financial commissioner’s Standing Order No. 7.
184. Settlement made in
some cases with ex-mafidars or their heirs. When an assignment
lapses the person entered in there cord of rights as landowner usually becomes
responsible for the payment of the land revenue to Government. In technical phrase
“ the settlement is made with him” But it may be found that the connection of
the late mafidar with the land really amounted to a proprietary or
sub-proprietary or subproprietary tenure and in that case he or his heirs is
entitled to claim the settlement. This subject, which in practice is somewhat
difficult one, is dealt with a paragraphs 182-185 of the Settlement Manual.
185. Treatment of
assignments at settlement - When a general re-assessment of
district takes place it is the business of the Settlement Officer to examine
and attest all existing assignments of land revenue. Some remarks on the
subject will be found in paragraphs 568-575 of the Settlement Manual.
186. Duties of
Collector in connection with assignments. The main duties
of the collector of a district in connection with revenue-free grants are:---
(1) as regards term –expired grants to see that laps
are enforced without delay or a recommendation made for a reconsideration of
the original order should resumption appear undesirable;
(2) as
regards other assignments-
(a) on the death of the existing holder to pass
order promptly about the succession
(b) to satisfy himself that the conditions of the
substantially fulfilled by the assignee.
The discretion of the Collector to resume of his own
authority assignments of which the term has expired is not unfettered. In a few
cases he has been forbidden to do so and as regards other lines of policy have
been laid down to which the must conform. These duties are discharged by the
Collector even when the district is under settlement; but all cases should be
reported to him for orders by the settlement Officer, to whom also the orders
should be communicated in order that proper effect may be given to them in the
records, and that Settlement Officer may be able to carry out the duty imposed
on him by paragraphs 568 et seq. Of the Settlement Manual.
187. Grants for service
in 1843 and during the Mutiny. Grants on account of services
rendered in 1848 or during the mutiny originally made for a term may not be resumed
without reference to the Financial Commissioner. (Punjab Government Nos. 104 dated
30th August 1889 and 141 dated 6th December 1889) there are strong reasons for showing
liberality in such cases , which are well explained in the following remarks by
Sir James Lyall”(Punjab Government No. 192-S dated 6th July 1889).
“4. In certain cases which came before him as
Financial Commissioner Sir James Lyall recorded an opinion that it was good
policy to maintain in perpetuity grans for services rendered at the mutiny on
the ground that such grants remain as evidence of the result of loyalty and
have a considerable political effect. To these views Sir James Lyall still
adhere and is strongly of opinion that in the case of the small jagir or m’afi
grants , which were made to the best of the Sikh and Punjabi Muhammadan native
Officers in 1859 and 1860 in recognition of their having obeyed our call and
joined our standard at a critical time and distinguished themselves as
soldiers, it would generally be good policy and well worth the money to
continued to show itself loyal and well disposed and ready to do service. The money
value of these grants is small , but the value put on them is great as in this country
of peasant proprietors they give the family which holds them a high social status
in the eyes of the rural population ,and mark it out for recognition by the Officers
of Government.
It is these land holding families better off though
they be than the mass of peasantry, but still only what may be termed yeomen
proprietors, which furnish the men who are the flower of the present cavalry
and infantry of the Indian Army and who make the best Native Officers, They
have some ancestral military traditions and feelings of gentility and also a
certain small amount of capital. They serve more for the love of the thing than
for profit and eventually retire and live on their lands.
It is in Sir James Lyall’s opinion a great object to
keep alive the spirit which induces men of this class to serve in our Army, and
which might die out any day.
The continuance of small grants in their villages to
the heirs of the men who joined our standard in 1857 and then much
distinguished themselves will be one way of keeping alive this sprit and of
encouraging future generations to follow the example if similar critical times
ever occur again.”
188. Bedi and sodhi
grants - One of the rules prescribed by Lord Hardinge and
Lord Dalhousie provided for the re-consideration on the death of the holders of
assignments conferred for service of any kind to be rendered to Sikh rulers,
including grants of Bedis and Sodhis which were originally confirmed only for
the service of any kind to be rendered to Sikh rulers, including grants to
Bedis and Sodhi’s, which were originally confirmed only for the lives of the
incumbents. This instruction was reproduced in the rules under the first Punjab
Land Revenue Act, XXXIII of 1871. Definite directions have since been given for
heresumption of Bedi and Sodhi revenue – free grants on the deaths of existing
holders and grant of cash pensions to their male descendants, windows and daughters.
These directions make the following rules, which were originally drawn up for the
case of deceased Bedi and Sodhi pensioners. Applicable also to the cases of
deceased holders of revenue free grants who are members of those two clans. In
applying the rules in the first instance on the decease of such free grant
holders the words “pensioner” and “pension” are to be treated , where necessary
as including the deceased holder or a revenue –free grant and the amount of
that grant, respectively . Except as so applied to such deceased or to his
grant, the words must be interpreted in their strictly literal sense.
Thus the heirs of a deceased revenue – free grant
holder are pensioners in the strict sense of the word and their heirs after
them. The pensions go on diminishing generation by generation till they lapse
by commutation or by death or by marriage. The directions also lay down that
Collectors can dispose of these cases in accordance with the rules without
reference to higher authorities.(Punjab Government Nos. 197 dated 5th December 1884 and 87 dated 4th July , 1889 and Punjab Government letter No. 5
(revenue) dated 8th January
1914.)
“(1) On the death of any male pensioner one –half of
his pension will be continued to his direct male heirs, and divided among them
according to the ordinary custom of inheritance; provided that all pensions of
not more than Rs. 50 per annum climbable under this rule shall be compulsorily
commuted at the ordinary rates.
“(2) On the death of any male pensioner, one half of
his pension will be continued to his window (if any) or (if there are several
widows) divided among his widows in equal shares ; provided that , if the
deceased pensioner leaves motherless and unmarried daughter or daughters, the
share of his pension to be allotted to his widows or widow shall be calculated
as if the mother or mother’s of such daughters or daughters were alive.
“(3) On the death of any male pensioner, other than
the head of the house for the time being , leaving motherless and unmarried
daughters , the said daughters of each mother shall receive in equal shares
one-half of the pension to which their mother would have been entitled under
rule-2, in case she had survived her husband.
“(4) On the death of any widow in receipt of a
pension under rule 2, one-half of such pension shall be continued to her unmarried
daughters (if any) upon equal shares.
(“5) Pensions to widows under rule 2 are life
pensions. Pensions of daughters under rule 3 and 4 cease upon death or marriage
of the pensioners; but when they cease for the latter reason the pensioners are
eligible or dowries under the ordinary rules.
(“6) All pensions are held during the pleasure of
Government and subject to the usual conditions of good behavior, loyalty and
service. The local Government may refuse to grant any pension climbable under
these rules, if the claimant appears to be an unfit recipient of Government
bounty.”
189. Pensions of
Anadpur Sodhis. These rules are applicable to the pensions of the well-known
Sodhi family of Anadpur, in Hoshiarpur, for which indeed they were originally
framed. (Government of
190. Powers of
collections with reference to Bedi and Sodhi grants.
Collections will accordingly be able to dispose on their own authority of all
cases of lapsing Bedi and Sodhi pensions and jagirs and mafis, only reporting
for order of higher authority cases in which they consider that pensions should
be refused or that more liberal pensions should be allowed, or in which for
special reasons they think that a lapsing grant in the form of a jagir or mafi
should be continued in that form. Cases in which more liberal pensions than the
rules allow can properly be recommended will be extremely rare. But it is
probable that some cases will occur in which it may be advisable to propose
continuance, in its original form of a lapsing life tenure Sodhi or Bedi jagir
or mafi grant. Such a proposal should not however be made unless the release of
the grant can be recommended for some term other than life, such as during the
pleasure of Government, in the case of a very ancient grant held by a family of
some distinction, or during maintenance of a religious or charitable building
or institution , or a roadside garden where such building or garden is found to
exist in connection with the grant and to be worthy of support. (For further
instructions see paragraph 8 of Financial Commissioner’s Standing order No. 7).
191.Policy of Government with
reference to grants in favour of religious and charitable institutions.
It has always been the policy of Government to be especially liberal in
maintaining the grants made by native rulers for the support of religious and
charitable institutions. The orders of Lord Hardinge and Lord Dalhousie on the subject
are given in paragraph 86 and 93, and the rule in force in the
These injunction were repeated in more general form
in the rules under the Land Revenue Act, XXXIII of 1871, and in 1881 Settlement
Officers were told that grants to religious institutions released originally
for the term of the first regular settlement should be continued for that the
revised settlement, if there were no new or special reasons to the country.
(Punjab Government No. 447 dated 13 april 1881, and Financial Commissioner’s
circular No. 251 of 1st August
1881. The same policy is embodied in the more detail in the more detailed
instructions drawn up by Mr. Lyall as Financial commissioner in 1883 quoted
below. These related in the first instance to the treatment of land- revenue
assignments in the Una tahsil of Hoshiarpur which was under settlement, but
they were reproduced in a circular of the Settlement Commissioner.
192.192.Instructions issued by
Mr. Lyall in 1883. The principles laid down by Mr. Lyall were as
follows:---
(i) Where the grant is attached to a dharmsala or
takiya which still exists, and is served in the same fashion as at least
settlement, the grant should be maintained subjected to revision by Deputy
Commissioner on the death of present holders, notwithstanding that the building
may be only kacha, and that the grant in value or area may be very petty and
may have originally been granted by the villagers only.
(ii) Where the grant is attached to a thakurdwara,
shiwala or khankah consisting of a mosque or tomb containing a chapel for
prayers it should be maintained for another term of settlement, if the building
be a real religious edifice still kept up as place of worship, whether in the
same village or district or not.
(iii) If the thakurdwara to which the grant is
attached is merely the residence of a Brahmin with a Thakur in some room of it,
it should generally be resumed if the grantee of last settlement is dead and
the present holder is not a fit object of charity.
(iv) Where the grant is not supposed to be attached
to any building which worshipers can enter, but to small erections of the
nature of Muhammadan graves, Hindu cenotaphs , Sarwar Sultan makans, platforms
of pirs or devis, & c., the grant should generally be resumed.
(v) Where the grant was given by the villagers to
Brahmins for service as pandit , pandha , parohit, or acharaj, or to artisans
and amins for village service it should be resumed or at most be only continued
for life to old men or women out of charity.
(vi) If such a grant as that last described was made
by a Raja or ruler to a respectable family of Brahmin parohits as a subsistence
grant, it may be maintained for another term of settlement, if the family is
still respected and engaged in religious offices.
(vii) If the grant was made either by a ruler or by
the villagers to men for keeping a school or for supplying water on a public
road to travelers, it should be treated as a grant for public rather than for
village service, and should be maintained, unless it appears that the original
purpose is not fulfilled.”
Where grants were resumed the villagers we to be
given an opportunity of excluding the land from assessment in distributing the
revenue of the estate over holding.
193.193.Proposal to adopt a
less liberal policy as regards petty village mafis.
In 1886 the Financial Commissioner represented that these instructions were too
liberal as regards “petty village muafis”. They wished to draw a broad
distinction between institutions, which benefited only the village in which
they were situated and those, which were places of general, resort. The
proposed to resume assignments in favour of the former so far as Government was
concerned, leaving it to the landowners to continue them, if they pleased, as
grants from themselves in the way described above. They therefore, drafted a
circular on “petty village muafis, of which the second paragraph may be
quoted:---
“In general such grants when made for the term of
settlement or for some period not precisely defined (but not for a life or lives)
should be resumed from the date of the introduction of a new assessment except
in cases in which some distinctly public convenience is secured by their
existence. Thus grants to the more important takiyas and dharamsalas which are
situated on roads frequently used by travelers would in most cases be
maintained. The same remarks apply to all schools which are fairly well
managed, even though their pupils may be drawn from single villages. But grants
attached to Muhammadan graves, Hindu cenotaphs, makans of Sarwar sultan, platforms
of pirs and devis and other similar objects are useless so far as the public good
is concerned and should as a general rule be withdrawn. Similarly grants made to
village priests or religious teachers, or to village menials and artisans
should not be continued, nor should grants to mosques and temples, which are
not places of general resort. In fine, the principle to be borne in mind is the
grants in connections with purposes of general public utility, whether material
social or moral should be maintained but grants in connection with purposes
which are either useless or benefit individual villages only should be resumed
the former recipients being left to the beneficence of those interest in the
performance of their functions.
194.Rejection of proposal
by Mr. Lyall. 195. Mr. Lyall who was now Lieutenant Governor objected
strongly to the change of policy suggested and refused to sanction the draft
circular in which it was explained. He remarked(Punjab Government No. 70, dated
20th July 1887) “His Honor sees no
reason for any change of policy and considers a change in the direction of less
liberality very inexpedient. Any change now-a-days should be in the opposite
direction, as the work reducing the inordinate amount of revenue assignments in
the province has been accomplished and the amount left is not very great. Mr.
Lyall thinks that Settlement Officers and Deputy Commissioners are apt to be
influenced somewhat unduly towards the resumption of petty grants because they give
trouble and because they are, so to speak, anomalies and awkward exceptions from
general revenue rules. But we ought not be led to adopt a severe and unpopular line
of policy by such considerations. It is well known that m’afis are valued much beyond
their worth by the people , and sympathy with this feeling should be shown when
the money value involved is not serious. “The general principle stated in
paragraph 2 of the draft circular that petty village m’afis should as a rule be
resumed from the date of introduction of new assessment, except in case in
which some distinct public convenience is secured by their existence, appears
to His honour to be wrong in itself, a departure from past practice, and
politically very in expedient; and Mr. Lyall thinks that the proposal to extend
this principle to grants made to village priests and religious teachers, or to
village menials and artisans, and to mosques and temples which are not places
of general resort, is far too sweeping . The rule given in paragraph 34 of
appendix III to Barkley’s Directions to Settlement Officers, page 38 is still
substantially in force as indicating the right policy that is to say it is
expedient that all endowments bona fide made for the maintenance of religious
establishments or buildings are kept up, provided that when such grants are of
great value they should be restricted to such smaller amounts as it may be
thought politically expedient to grant. Where the terms of the original orders
were release during maintenance or during the pleasure of Government. “The settlement
Officer or Deputy Commissioner can only propose an alteration if he finds the
establishments or buildings not kept up for their original purposes. When however,
the original order was for release for the term of settlement, the case is different.
Such cases are provided for by paragraph 2 of this office letter No. 447, dated
13th April 1881, published with
Financial Commissioner’s circular No. S.IX/25-S of 1st August, 1881.
“in the case of all grants for life or lives, except
Bedi and Sodhi grants, the Deputy Commissioner or Settlement Officer can resume
in the ordinary course in accordance with the original terms of release. But
the case of grants for the term of settlement is peculiar as the meaning of
these orders was not that the grants should be resumed at the end of the term
of settlement , but merely that they might be reconsidered at the end of that
term , and the intention was no doubt that expressed in paragraph 2 of the letter
of the Punjab Government above referred to viz, that in default of special reasons
or new orders such grants would ordinarily be continued if no material change
in character had occurred.
“As regards resumption of life m’afis on lapse, no
new orders are necessary in the case of purely personal grants, which do not
purport to benefit other persons than the holders; but it is advisable that the
Settlement Officer should take the opportunity of the settlement to review the
case of all life m’afis which appear to have been granted in return for service
of any kind to the public or to the people of the village, or to be connected
with any institution such as a school, temple, mosque dharamsala, or takiya.
The original orders sanctioning for life only were very hurriedly made, and in many
cases were treated differently in different districts; in some the release was ordinarily
allowed for life of the holder; in other s for the term of settlement. Hence it
has been the practice to permit and encourage reconsideration’s in such cases
on lapse. But this is very troublesome and inconvenient and tends to very
unequal treatment. Hence it is advisable that the Settlement Officer should
generally review such cases, whether lapse had occurred or not and if he thinks
the grant should be continued for a longer term that the life of the incumbent,
he should enter the case in a register for report, and should generally propose
to release for the term of settlement as that is safest and allows
reconsideration’s.
“In respect to purely village service or village
institution m’afis, of which the sanctioned term is for the period of
settlement or for life, the Settlement Officer should be empowered in the case
of petty grants of not more than 3 acres in extent to practically resume at
settlement , so far as Government is concerned (without, however, actual
imposing any assessment or bringing the land into calculation in fixing the
jama of the village) by recording orders in the m’afimisl and the fard lakhiraj
that the grant shall be struck off the fard lakhiraj and the registers, and the
land be included at the bachh in the maiguizari area, with permission, however,
to the azmindars if the majority so wish to exclude the land from the bachh
during their pleasure. In such cases, if the zamindars decide to exclude the
fact will be noted in the bachh rubkar and the land will be held revenue free
from the azmindars only but as far as Government is concerned, will be
considered as khalsa. The adoption of this procedure will place a number of
these petty grants in their proper position of grants held from the zamindars.
They were originally allowed by the Government at the request of the zamindars
but by granting them independently of the zamindars wishes and authority we
have altered their character in an undesirable way, the exclusions of the
grants from there gestures will save much trouble at a very slight loss to
Government , which loss will only be for the term of the settlement. But this procedure
should not be followed where there are clearly no grounds for continued.
In life tenure m’afis of this kind, where the term
has not yet lapsed, the case cannot, of course be so treated , but the order
may be passed that at the death of the holder the m’afi will be assessed and
the revenue will go to the village malba.”
195. Special treatment of
village grants of an annual value not exceeding Rs. 20. The
special treatment sanctioned for village m’afis of not more than three acres really
met the wishes of the Financial Commissioners to a large extent, for may of the
grants with which their circular dealt were very petty, the limit has since
been raised from “three acres “ to “an annual value of Rs. 20 must be extremely
small.
196. Existing orders as to small village grants the
orders of Sir James Lyall quoted in paragraph 194 had later been interpreted by
Government as involving a distinction between (a) m’afis for the maintenance of
“religious establishments or buildings for public accommodation” and (b) m’afis
of the annual value of Rs. 20 or less for the maintenance or other institutions
or for village services, and the collector’s power to enforce the lapse of
term-expired grants of the former class had been withdrawn. A decisions whether
an establishment is really religious or not will often be facilitated by
application of the principles contained in sections (ii), (iii) and (iv) of
paragraph All grants of class (a) should on expiry of the term of release be reported
for the orders of the Financial Commissioner. If the establishment or building
concerned is properly maintained, the m’afi should usually be recommended for
continuation for another term of settlement under paragraph 51 of standing
Order No. 7 If it is proposed to enforce the lapse of the assignment the grounds
for resuming e.g., failure to maintain the establishment or building should be
reported and the orders of the Financial Commissioner obtained. In case of
grants of class (b) the existing order are:---
“The Settlement Officer is empowered to adopt either
of three courses;-
(1) In the case of unexpired life m’afis he may either
record that on expiry they should be resumed and assessed in the ordinary way
or he may report them to Financial Commissioner for sanction to maintain them
for the term of the new settlement , should that be longer than the life term
already sanctioned;
(2) In the case of m’afis for term of settlement
only , he may either resume and assess in the ordinary way; or
(3) He may resume as a grant from government but
leave the land assessed for one period of settlement in order to see whether
the zamindars will agree to continue the m’afis as a grant from themselves by
kharij parta arrangement.
In the letter case orders will be recored in the
m’afi misl and the fard lakhiraj that the grant shall be struck off the fard
lakhiraj and there glisters and the land be included at the bachh in the
maiguzari area, with permission, however, to the zamindars, if the majority so
wish to exclude the land from the batch during their pleasure. The object of these
instructions is to put these small m’afis on their original footing of lands
released by the zamindars. In order to effect this change more smoothly and
with as few resumption’s as possible on the part of the villagers , the
Government agrees to give up for one settlement the revenue which might have
been assessed on these resumed m’afis.
By this procedure it costs the villagers nothing to
continue the grant as one from themselves and they are therefore more likely to
adopt this course. At the same time if they do elect to assess these plots it
becomes clear that the assessment is their work and not ours.
It is of course open to the Collector of a district
to propose that a life m’afi for village service or in favour of a village
institution the term of which has expired by the death of the holder should be
continued for the period of the current settlement of the district.
197.Assessment of lands of
which the revenue is assigned. The law and practice as regards
the assessment of lands of which the revenue is assigned are explained in paragraphs
180-81 of the Settlement Manual. It is rarely necessary for the Collector to
make a new assessment when a grant is resumed. The following orders which were
previously Land Revenue rules 214 and 215 and issued under section 59 of the
Land Revenue Act provide that:---
(a) When in any district or tahsil an assignment of
land revenue’s is resumed, if that land revenue was assessed in the same from
and by the same method as that in and by which land revenue paid to government
on the same estate or on adjacent estates was assessed at the last general
assessment, no new assessment of the resumed assignment shall be made until a
general re-assessment of the district or tahsil is undertaken.
(b) If the land revenue enjoyed by the assignee was
not so assessed , or if where the assignee was himself the landowner no
assessment of his land has hitherto been made the Collector shall assess land
revenue on the land of which the revenue has been resumed in conformity with
the principles and Instructions on which the current assessment of the tahsil
or district was made.”
“Care should however, be taken that the land revenue
imposed on such land does not raise the total assessment of the circle in which
it is situated to more than one fourth of the net assets of the circle. If the
land forms parts of an estate and is not excluded from the provisions of
section 51(3) by section 51(4) of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, this
object can in most cases be secured for all practical purposes by providing
that the average rate of incidence on such land does not exceed the average
rate of the estate in which it is included. Any case in which this is not
suitable, as for example of specially valuable land should be referred for
orders. If however, the land consists of a fresh estate, the rate of incidence
of the assessment imposed thereon should not be such as to raise the existing
average rate of incidence of the assessment circle beyond the limit prescribed
in section 51(3).
198. Revisions of
assessment and suspensions and remission. The owners of
land of which the revenue is assigned are entitled to exactly the same
treatment as regards revision of assessment and suspensions and remissions on
account of calamities of season, as the proprietors khalsa lands. (Financial
Commissioner’s Book circular No. LIII of 1860. Special vigilance is required in
enforcing this principle where a jagridar is still allowed to collect the
revenue direct from the landowners.
199. Jurisdiction of
civil courts as regards assignments barred between annexation and 1867.
Lord Dalhousie’s declaration that “by our occupation of the country, after the whole
Sikh nation had been in arms against us we have acquired the absolute right of conquers
and would be justified in declaring every acre of land liable to Government assessment”
has already been quoted (paragraph 89) Commenting on this in the case of sardar
Bhagwan Singh versus . The Secretary of State (Punjab Record, 1875, No. 1), the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council observed,---
It appears to their Lordships that by these
directions to the Board it was contemplated by the Governor –General to make
what may be called a tabula Rasa of tenures of this kind and to re-grant them
on terms entirely at the discretion of the British government the Government no
doubt intending to act with allfairness and consideration, especially to those
who appear to have been not unfaithful to them , but at the same time in a
manner which appeared right and just to themselves and which they did not
intend to be inquired into or questioned by any Municipal Courts.”
The Board of Administration ruled in 1853 that the
civil courts should not take orgnizance of claims of relatives to participation
under the general laws cognizance of claims of relatives to participation under
the general laws of inheritance in rent free holdings which have been conferred
on particular individual by orders of government. (Board circular No 5 of
1853.) . And by sections 1 –10 of first part of the Punjab Civil Code, punished
in 1854 , the jurisdiction of these courts was barred as regards “any matter
relating to jagir rent-free tenures , or tenures of other grants made by
Government * * * * * or to the succession thereto , or to the shares , rights
and interest theirin * * * **but, if the jagirdars or m’afidars shall have
farmed those rents or revenues to a third party, possessing no proprietary
rights in the estate, then suits between the jagirdar or m’afidar and such
third party may be entertained by the courts.
The first Code of Civil Procedure was extended to
the
200. Provisions of the
pensions Act, XXIII of 1871. The matter has been finally settled
by sections 4 to 6 Act XXIII of 1871 which provide that:---
“4. Except as hereinafter provided, no civil court
shall entertain any suit relating to any pensions or grant of money or land
revenue conferred or made by the British or any former Government, whatever may
have been consideration for any such pension or grants and whatever may have
the nature of the payment, claim or right, for which such pension or grant may
have been substituted.
“5. Any person having a claim relating to any such
pension or grant may prefer such claim to the Collector of the district *** or
other officer authorized in this behalf by the Local Government and such
Collector ** * * *or other officer shall dispose of such claim in accordance
with such rules as the Chief Revenue Authority may subject to the general
control of the Local government from time to time prescribed in this behalf.
“6. A civil court, otherwise competent to try the
same shall take cognizance of any such claim upon receiving a certificate from
such Collector * * * or other officer authorized in that behalf that the case
may be so tried, but shall not make any order or decree in any suit whatever by
which the liability or Government to pay any such pension or grants as
aforesaid is affected directly or indirectly.”
201. 201. Cases in which a
certificate may be granted. Rules 8 and 9 issued under section 14 of Act XXIII
of 1871 (Financial Commissioners notification No. 22 dated 3rd February , 1910 , and
8. When a claim relating to a hereditary pension or
grant of money or land revenue is preferred to a Deputy Commissioner under
section 5 of the Act, and the inheritance of any other property or of a share
in the property of a Hindu joint family is in dispute between he parties, the
Deputy Commissioner may with the sanction of the Financial Commissioner certify
that such may be tried by a civil court. Such certificate shall be forward by a
civil court having jurisdiction in regard to the other property in dispute.
“9. When a claim relating to a hereditary pension or
grant of money or land revenue which is according to law or by the terms of the
grant , transferable, is preferred to a Deputy Commissioner under section 5 of
the Act. The Deputy Commissioner may certify that such claim may be tried by a
civil court.” The second rule refers to assignments in the
202. Recovery of cost of assessment from jagirdars.
The rules regarding the recovery from jagirdars of the cost of the assessment
of 2nd of which the revenue is assigned will be found in appendix XIX of the
Settlement Manual.
BOOK
II
ORGANIZATION
FOR PURPOSES OF LAND ADMINISTRATION
CHAPTER
IV
SCHEME
OF REVENUE ADMINISTRATION
203. Revenue divisions,
districts and tahsils. For the purposes of revenue management,
the
They are known as assistant commissioners if they
are members of the Indian Civil service, and as Extra Assistant Commissioners
if they belong to the
In such cases the one who possesses the larger
experience sometimes has a definite part of the tahsil assigned to him as a
sub-tahsil within the limits of which he resides. In the saw way in some
districts one or more thrills are formed into an outpost or sub-division, and
put in special charge of a resident Assistant or Extra Assistant Commissioner.
Within his own sub-division such an officer performs all the duties usually
entrusted to a Revenue Assistant.
205. patwaris’ and
kanungos’ circles. But there is also an official
chain connecting the village which the tehsil for the purpose of the maintains
of revenue records and agricultural statistics, estates are grouped into small
circles to each of which a patwari or village register is appointed. About
twenty of these circles form the charge of a field kanungo, whose duty it is to
supervise the work of the patwaris. Kanungos are servants of Government.
206 The director of land
records. To aid deputy commissioners and commissioners in
the maintenance of records of rights and revenue registers, and to advise the
Financial commissioners and Government on these matters and on measures for the
promotion of agricultural efficiency, an officer known as the director of land Records,
is appointed. He has no administrative functions; his business is to inspect, advise,
record or lesson the powers and responsibilities belonging to Deputy commissioners
and commissioners and to the financial commissioners in connection with every
batch of revenue administration.
207. Duties of Director
of land Records. Among the principle duties of the director of land
Records are,---
(a) the supervision of the patwari and kanungo
agency and the inspection of the records of rights and statistical records
compiled through its means. The posting of settlement kanungos and maps. His
duties with regard to settlements and defined in appendix vi-B of the
Settlement Manual;
(b) the control of the income and expenditure of
mutation fees and of all expenditure on contingencies connected with the
kanungo and patwari establishment and with the revenue records;
(c) crop, price and weather reports, return of wages
and of agricultural statistics, crop experiments by district officers and
cattle census;
(d) rain-gauges
The director of land records brings to the notice of
the deputy commissioner or commissioner any failure to carry out properly the
provisions regarding these matters contained on the land revenue Act and rules
or in administrative instructions issued by the Financial commissioners. On
points of detail his recommendations should usually be accepted as those of an
expert charged with duties of a technical character. But all doubtful and
important questions should be referred by the director for the orders of the Financial
commissioner. when a districts under settlement., or when special measures adopting
taken for the bringing of maps and records up to date as preliminary to
reassessment, the Director will make this reports to the Financial
commissioner. He must not himself issue instructions to the officer on charge.
Any orders which the Financial commissioner may issues will be sent through the
commissioner. In other cases reports by the Director of Land Records on his
inspections of the land records if any distract are submitted to the
commissioner of the division. The Director of Land Records is also inspector-General
of Registration.
208. Duties of Director
of agriculture. In order to promote the technical efficiency of Agriculture
a separate department has been consisted under a director. The director of agriculture
has charge of the following subjects.
(a) agricultural education and research at the
Punjab agriculture college and research institute,
(b) Experimental seed and demonstration farms.
(c) Agricultural engineering, including well- boring
lift irrigation, implements etc.
(d) Measures for encouraging the adoption of
improved seed, implements methods of cultivation, and for controlling plant
diseased, insects pests etc.
(e) Agricultural associations , competitions,
exhibitions and produce shows.
(f) Rural industries , silk, bees, lac and poultry.
(g) (g) Crop experiments when carried out by
officers of the department.
(h) The
(i) Administration of the cotton ginning and
pressing factories act of 1925.
(j) Crop forecasts.
208-A. Development of
agriculture Department. The need for more attention
being paid to the application of science to agriculture was repeatedly brought
to the notice of the Government of India , and in 1871 a department of revenue,
agriculture and commerce was established. In the provinces the subject of
agricultural improvement was similarly allotted to the revenue department, but
little was done beyond the organization of a system of agricultural statistics
and few attempts at the introduction of implements and seeds from abroad. The
famine commission of 1880 made a through review of the whole agricultural
situation and recommended, amongst other matters, the constitution of an
agricultural department each province with a director at its head; this
departments main functions were to be agricultural enquiry and improvement and
famine relief. The next ten years saw many conferences and the position in the
provinces was carefully investments to the royal agricultural society , to
advise as to the best methods of applying to Indian agriculture the teaching of
agricultural chemistry and his recommendations were later embodied in his book
“ the improvement of Indian agriculture .” shortly after the government of
India began to recruit of its first experts, but little progress in this direction
was made in the provinces until the famine commission of 1901 recommended the
strengthening of the expert stead in the provinces; Lord curzon’s government
took speedy action on these recommendations, and the dispatch to the secretary
of state of 1905 led to the inauguration of a separate department of
agriculture in 1906. Previous to this, the only attempt at experiment on modern
lines had been confined to the farm of 56 acres opened at
The dispatch to the secretary of state above
mentioned(no. 16, dated 12th jan.1905)enunciated the following policy:---
“in a country s largely agricultural as
In the same year the government of
With the inauguration of the reforms scheme in 1921,
agriculture became a transferred department under the charge of a minister. The
functions of the department are divided into three main heads:---
(1) education;
(2) research and investigation;
(3) demonstration and propaganda.
Education:- the Punjab agricultural college,
In 1917 the institution was affiliated to the
The chemical section undertakes analytic work on
soils, manure’s, fodders, etc. the determination of the nutritive value of
crops and other animal foods work on the reclamation of bara lands;
bacteriological research, including seed inoculation, etc.
The entomological section conducts researches on
insect and other animal pests, and studies means to combat them. It also deals
with sericulture apiculture and lacculture. The engineering section so engaged
on the preparation of schemes for lift irrigation, the augmentation of water
from ordinary wells and the installation of tube wells. it also conducts
research work on well boring machines strainers, agricultural implements etc.
Investigations conducted outside the Lyallpur
institution –there are experimental farms at Gurdaspur, Hansi, Sirsa, Lyallpur,
They also afford demonstrations to the zamindars who
visit them. Demonstration and propaganda – this work is conducted by means of demonstration
plots established on cultivators fields throughout the provide, also by demonstrations
of implements and exhibition of crop produce at fairs and other gatherings of
farmers, sale of seed from department, district lectures, ploughing matches, campaigns
for the eradication of crop pests, agriculture; association, department publications
etc.
209.
Duties of the director of veterinary
services. In order to encourage all possible measures for the
prevention of cattle disease, the cure of sick or injured animals and for the
improvement of the breeds, a separate veterinary department has been
constituted under a director of veterinary services, the director, veterinary
services has charge of the following subjects;-
(a) veterinary education at the Punjab veterinary
college
(b) Veterinary research.
(c) Treatment of cattle disease throughout the
province , and of equine disease in the “non selected” districts.
(d) Cattle breeding throughout the province, and
horse breeding in the “non selected districts.
(e) Supervision of horse and cattle fairs and shows.
(f) Control of the veterinary arrangements in
(g) General control of veterinary dispensaries and
buildings.
209-A. General
development of the civil veterinary department. Cattle
–breeding far at Hissar has an area of 42,000 acres, and is thus the largest of
Liberal grants are given annually for the improvements
of the Dhanni and Hariana breeds of cattle to the following district boards on
suitable conditions:---
Attock,
Hissar, rohtak and gurgaon district boards, for the
improvements of the Hariana breed. In accordance with the policy of the
department to concentrate attention on certain areas best suited for cattle-
breeding, the above system of grants was introduced for the dhanni cattle tract
in 1919-20 and for the hariana cattle tract in 1924-25.
Five cattle farms of a total area about 15,300 areas
have been allotted to grantees in the lower Bari Doab Canel Colony. Out of
these, 2 are intended for pure-breed
209-B. Erosion.
Erosion is the collector’s worst enemy. It occurs in both cultivated and in
uncultivated land and an instance of the disastrous effects it can have. Will
be seen in chapter vi (728 and following paragraphs).
(1) Cultivated land-
When rain falls on sloping land, it will, unless checked. Flow away down hill
carrying with it part of the top-soil and leaching out valuable chemicals form
the rest of the top-soil. In addition so much water which might have soaked
into the ground to reinforce the sub-soil moisture and so keep the field moist
till the next shower, is utterly lost. The top-soil contains most of the
fertility to the soil and as both manure and rain are all too limited in many
parts of the
The next stage is “gully erosion” the surface of
sloping cultivation is generally uneven and is characterized by longitudinal
depressions which even if they are barely perceptible, draw off water from the
land on the both sides of them. Water flow from the higher ground into these
drainage lines increasing the volume and speed. The result is increased erosion
align the depressions : the water cuts downwards and backwards into the fields,
forming gullies which increase in size according to the steeples of the slope and
area and promote desiccation by acceleration the drying out of the sub-soil
moisture.
This form of damage, called gully erosion, is
fortunately obvious to everyone. Practically all land in the
Land well terraced and embanked does not erode, and
wherever the slope is appreciable fields must be labeled and embanked. The
principle is that where rain falls there it must stay until it has either
soaked in or the cultivator has done with it there is ordinarily no harm in
bringing sloping ground under cultivation if this observed; but the indiscriminate
breaking up of slopes means the rapid destruction of their value and must be
resisted by all means possible.
The hard surface of follow land resist the
absorption of rain water and contributes largely to the amount of run off from
a given area. Recently ploughed land will absorb rainfall and therefore the
breaking up of stubble’s by dry proughing if necessary, as soon s possible
after harvest, should be given every encouragement.
Unassored storm water standing for long in terraced
fields with clay soils is, however, harmful to certain crops, and where
conditions indicate the necessity for it the field system should be such as to
ensure the draining await harmlessly of the surplus water.
Water gathering volume and force as to flows and
soon becomes uncontrollable, making it offer impossible for the landowners
lower down the slopes to protect their fields till the water has been brought
under control higher up. This implies collective action on the part of the
zamindars, and soil conservation, therefore, requires organization and is
eminently suited to co-operative enterprise; but all cases the attention of the
revenue staff will make it easier to accomplish and to maintain.
Consolidation of holdings can often be of great
assistance giving each landholders control of as much as possible of the
catchment area of his fields, sitting the boundaries of the holdings along the
contours and enabling drains to be provided for surplus storm water.
Where holdings are large, the fields at a distance
from the abide are often very much neglected, and being in the hands of
temporary tenants with no interest in improving the soil, they suffer most from
erosion.
(2) Uncultivated land:-
it is unusual to terrace and embank uncultivated land and therefore it must be
protected from sheet and gully erosion by adequate cover or mat of vegetation,
either grail, bushes or trees or a mixture of all there. If left to itself,
nature will maintain a balance and there will be no serious erosion, but if
grazing, browning, and the feeling and lopping of trees are uncontrolled, both
sheet and gully erosion will start causing all the harm described above. The
technique of erosion is simple. The removal of vegetation exposes the soil, the
feet of the animals break it up and the rain washes it away. The top soil goes,
the good grasses die out, the trees are unable to reproduce themselves , the
hillside becomes dry and unstable. Landslides start, and those who depend on
the hillsides, both man and beast, find their livelihood reduced. Storm water, no
longer impeded and restrained by vegetation, rushes down the slopes to the
streams and fails to percolate into the soil, with the result that the sub-soil
water level sinks both in the hills and in the plains below, the violence of
the floods in the plains is increased fertile land is covered with sand, fields
and villages are cut away, vast quantities of silt choke the canals and river
beds, the hillsides and hill streams quickly dry up after the monsoon, and the
run –off of the rivers during the dry seasons is seriously reduced.
There are several ways of dealing with uncultivated
land. Where there is no valuable tree crop the shamilat may be partitioned with
advantage, when every owner puts a dry stone wall or a thorn fence round his
share and protects it from outside men and beasts. Panchayats of co-operative
societies with expert supervision may organize the preservation and utilization
of common grazing grounds and forests or government may use the chos act of the
forest act to exercise control through its own servants. A hillside yields most
grass, timber and other produce when there is no gracing or browing , when the
grail is cut with a sickle the trees felled when mature and the fodder trees are
lopped in rotation, and timber cut no faster than it can be replaced by fresh
growth. The interest of both government and villager, therefore, are best
served by strict preservation of the hillsides and the stall-feeding of cattle.
In certain circumstances, however and under strict control, grassing and
browsing are harmless but they can only be safety done under the guidance of
experts and where the fertility of the locality is such that the rate of
recovery of the grass and bushes equals or exceeds the rate of their
consumption by animals.
Where erosion is serious, whether in cultivated of
uncultivated land, the result is the formation of board sandy nullahs, which
are continually widening at the expense of the cultivated lands on both banks,
and cause increasing devastation throughout their course. Although these
torrents-such a torrent is called a chain the siwaliks and a has in the salt
range-often take their rise in the hills, they usually get most of their water
from cultivated lands. Once counter erosion measures have begun to take effect
in the catchment area of a kas of cho, reclamation of the cho-bed itself can
start and the cooperative method is particularly helpful in this work.
The people themselves have a shrewd knowledge both
of the evil and of its cure. Good cattle are never driven on to a hillside to
graze. They are tied up and stall-fed. When shamlat land has been partitioned,
may owners carefully protect their own share. In general however, the people
are disorganized and what is every men’s care is no one’s moreover, the people
treatment of hillsides and grazing grounds involves a complete changing of the
whole routine of work and life and in what country will villagers adopt new
methods willingly? The menace, however is insistent. The top-soil of an
agricultural country is its principal capital asset and those who left it be
washed away are not only losing their own livelihood but are robbing posterity
and the nation. Nothing therefore must be left undone to enable the best use to
be made of the rain to preserve the soil and to increase its fertility. The
revenue staff is expected to do everything possible to ensure that methods of
cultivation and pastoral habits and practices shall be such as to secure the stability
of the soil both in fields and pastures. It is the duty of the collector to
study the land fr which he is responsible, to in list the goodwill and
co-operation of the villagers, and with the assistance of the forest and other
departments to apply whatever methods are best suited to the people and the
locality for the checking of erosion and the conservation of the soil both in
cultivated and in uncultivated land.”
CHAPTER V
The
210. Revenue officers
under the land revenue and tenancy acts. The Deputy commissioner
as the head of the revenue administration of his district is known as the collector,
and his assistants, including tahsildars and nain-tehsildars as assistant
collectors of the first of second grade. Under the land revenue and tenancy
acts there are the sane classes of revenue officers, and a revenue officer of
any grade so deemed to be a revenue court of the same grade. The powers of the
collector and assistant collectors as revenue officers are described in the
next chapter, and their jurisdiction as revenue courts in chapter XXIII On
first appointment , assistant commissioners and extra assistant commissioner,
exercise ex-officio the powers of assistant collectors of the second grade.
As soon as they have been invested with second class
magisterial and civil powers, they become ipso facto assistant collectors of
the first grade. Tehsidars and naib-tehsildars, as such are assistant
collectors of the second grade but the former may be appointed assistant
collector of the first grade. The deputy commissioner is a collector by virtue
of his office, under the acts and so it is not necessary to gazette him such
powers but the local government nay confer all of any of the powers of a
collector on any other revenue officer in the district. When a general
reassessment is in progress, it is usual to give to the settlement officer all
the powers of a collector under the land revenue act, except those which relate
to the collection of revenue. Instruction as to the division of work between the
deputy commissioner and the settlement officer will be found in appendix vi of
the settlement manual.
211. Revenue officers
also magistrates. The collectors and his assistant’s are also magistrates.
This concentration in a single hand of executive and judicial functions has been
a subject of controversy. The advantages resulting from it were thus set forth
by Thomason the influence and the opportunity of beneficial exertion which
result from this are great . it is essential to the advancement of the public interests,
entrusted the collector that complete security of life and property should
exist throughout the district. It is essential to the development of industry
that all lawless violence should be repressed, and so repressed as least to
interfere with the comfort and welfare of the peaceful and well disposed. The
strong establishments in the revenue department may be made the efficient
agents for strengthening and regulating the police, and the magistrate, in the
discharge of his duties as collector, will have opened out to him channels of
information and sources of influence which when duly improved, cannot fail to
exercise a most beneficial effect.”
212. Relations of
deputy commissioner with officers of other departments. Thomson’s
remarks on the many-sided character of a deputy commissioner’s work are also
worth quoting-
“nothing can pass the district of which it is not
the duty of the collector to keep himself informed and to watch the operation.
The vicissitudes if trade, the administration of civil justice, the progress of
public works, must all affect materially the interests of the classes of whom
he is the constituted guardian. Officers interference in matters beyond his
immediate control must be avoided, but temperate and intelligent remonstrance against
anything which he sees to be wrong so one of his most important duties.” !
if he shows tact and discretion, and cultivates
personal relates with officers of other departments employed in his district,
he will usually find that they are ready to attend carefully to any
representations which he finds it his duty to make to them. The administration
of civil justice is no longer within his orbit, but even here it is his duty to
report to his commissioner matters affecting the welfare and contentment of the people.
213. Cancelled.
214. Qualification required for successful district
administration. To manage a district successfully require qualities rarely found
united in a single person. No man can properly represent government to the
people who is lacking in sympathy or in the power of conversing with them
easily in their own tongue. But to these qualities must be added patience and
promptitude, tact and firmness, accessibility without familiarity, a Sherwood
appreciation of knowledge of the details of all branches of his duty and great
capacity for personal exertion, with a willingness to hand over to trustworthy
subordinates a large share of the work, while maintaining complete control over
the machinery of administration. One great secret of success is the power of
making full use of assistants in all grades. The collector who insists on doing
everything himself is sure to leave many things undone and to fritter away on
small details time that should be devoted to more important matters. At the
same time ,he is responsible for and bound to control, all the doings of his subordinates
,and there is nothing they more readily believe then that this or that
official, whose duties bring him much in contact with his master has an unique
influence over him. The work should be carefully laid out the part of it which
is entrusted to each officer and the limits within which he may act in his own
authority being explained to him. No one can do this who has not himself a
thorough acquaintance with every branch of district work and of the powers and
capacities of his establishment it may be said that much of the success of
district administration depends on accuracy of judging of how much may
suitability be left to others and how much must be done by the deputy
commissioner himself.
215. Aids to rapid acquisition of knowledge of a district. Every deputy commissioner is
bound, when making over charge, to hand to his successor a confidential
memorandum calling his attention to the most important features
of the district administration and supplying him with notes as to the chief
matters which are pending and as to the character and capabilities if his
principal subordinates. Much information regarding the district lies ready to
hand in the gazetteer and on settlement and assessment reports. If these
sources of information are supplemented by diligent personal enquiry and
systematic touring, it is possible to obtain a real grasp of the work in a
comparatively short space of time.
216 216 Cancelled
217. Extra assistant
commissioners and tahsildars. The efficiency of a collector’s
administration depends greatly on the extent to which he can get good work out
of his colleagues and subordinates and this in turn depends to large extent on
his own conduct towards them. Under the peculiar social difficulties of the
country, the accurate estimate of character obtainable from the confidences of
private intercourse is difficult to secure, and it becomes ass the more
important to give free access to them in all official matters and to take every
step to inspire them with confidence in his judgement , rectitude and impartiality.
Unwarranted suspicion may be as fatal as unwarranted confidence. These officers
are the expectants of the collector’s orders, they must be in great measure,
the exponents of his will, and should be to some degree his confidential
advisers in cases of difficulty. It will be found good policy to consult these
who are best able to give advice, and to weight their expressed opinions
impartially and dispassionately.
218. Clerks and
readers. The sympathetic treatment of clerks and readers is
usually well repaid by better quality of work; forcing upon them irregular
hours, keeping them waiting at the officer’s house, or insisting upon their
standing for long stretches of time is apt to interfere with the rendering of
full reduced.
219. Training of
assistant commissioners. The responsibility of deputy
commissioners towards assistant commissioners under them is if a very special
character in view of the fact that they may themselves in a few years be placed
in charge of districts. It is of great importance that they should receive a
thorough training in the different branches of district administration, and the
following orders have recently been issued on the subject:---
During his first year the newly joined officer
should,---
(a) pass the departmental examinations in all
subjects, including urdu and Punjabi;
(b) familiarize himself with the people os the
(c) do enough magi’s magisterial work to be able
that a fairly early date after passing his examinations to perform the duties
of ill was magistrate, or even sub-divisional officer, with confidence;
(d) acquire a working knowledge of elementary
revenue work, both as a revenue officer and as a revenue court; and
(e) undergo training in treasury, office work and
general administration.
It is a mistake to give newly joined officer routine
executive work during their first six months of service. The average assistant
commissioner arrives without any experience of essentials. He hopes and expects
to be given work at once, and is only too pleased to take over a “subject” such
as passports of the licensing of motor vehicles. His request for work is
sometimes difficult to resist, but if it is acceded to, he is almost certain to
be deceived by his clerks and may learn habits of inaccuracy which he will
later regret.
It should be recognized that newly joined officers
are for at least six months merely pupils in executive matters and should have
no independent responsibility.
2. The following considerations should be borne in
mind with regard to the matters mentioned in the preceding paragraph:---
(a) Departmental Examinations- the learner must read
booked in his own time. The main difficulty is with the languages. A pass in
the examination does not always mean that a candidate is intelligible in the
field. Assistant commissioners under training should speak nothing but undue to
the tahsildars and revenue assistants with whom they tour, and these officers
should have orders to correct their mistakes. Urdu and Punjabi are best learned
from selected court readers, who are less prone to “talk down” to their pupis
than the illqualified professional teacher usually available in small stations.
Urdu should be passed in may and
To fulfil the language test so far as that relates
to judicial work, officers should make a practice of reading through an easy petition
or other simple vernacular record every day from the time they commence to
study the language with a munshi, and should seek to acquire as quickly as
possible a knowledge of the translation of the translation of the commoner
terms used in the principal acts which they have to take up, and in rules under
them, particularly those under the land revenue and tenancy acts. Parts of
these should be read with the court reader and a careful record should be made
of the translation of all terms as they are met. As soon as a knowledge of
these has been acquired, officers should commence to practice themselves in
re-writing translations of as judgements, etc, which they will translate from
the vernacular as explained above.
Junior officers should take every opportunity of
mixing and talking with all classes of Indians, and especially the agricultural
classes. No one should ever be discouraged at slow progress in speaking the
language. Even in the case of those who find special difficulty in picking up a
language colloquially, experience shows that if only one struggles on
persistently, fluency is bound to come in the long run. It is a good plan to note
under various heads for ready reference all new words that one heads, and it is
an excellent plan for acquiring the accent and run of the language to repeat
over to oneself the words spoken by others as exactly as possible whether they
intend to go in for language reward examinations or not, all junior officers
should make a point of carefully reading through a certain number of good urdu
books vocabulary. Those offices, who, while studying the language , will take
the trouble to acquire some facility in oriental penmanship will find that they
will never regret the spent on this accomplishment.
(b) Contract with the people—a
knowledge of the people and their ways can be acquired only by systematic
touring. Newly joined officers should be told to keep their eyes open on tour
and to add questions about everything that they do not understand.
Administration matters such as crime, medical relief, education, the
cooperative movement, communications, agricultural improvement and public
health should be borne in mind and studied.
(c) Magisterial work—as
regards training in judicial work, the best plan at first if for a junior officer
to sit some hours daily in the court of another magistrate or judge for a week
or two, and with his codes in his hand learn for by observation something of
the actual practice of procedure and get a flair for the method of reasoning
which an intelligent magistrate employs in arriving at his decisions. In
learning this he will probably also pick up a number of the terms of procedure.
He should at the same time begin to work through evidence and the proceedings
as he does so, and afterwards using these translations for re-translation into
the vernacular. After two weeks of such work an officer will probably have
gained sufficient experience to enable him to try very simple cases which the
district magistrate into ordinary matters. Every officers should continue for
some methods to translate his English judgements into the vernacular so as to
acquire increased facility in this respect.
(d) Revenue work—a
properly arranged program should give the assistant commissioner a general
outline of the routine revenue work of a district. Form his third month the
learner will do 2nd grade
revenue court work. From his seventh or eighth month he should be given the
work of one or two kanungo’s circles. He should propose the mode of partition
in a few partition grade work in the circle selected including revenue court
work.
(e) Training in treasury,
office work, and general administration—treasury training
is best done in the summer, whether in the plains of hills. The outlines of office
organization should be taught early-say, in the second month; no independent office
work should be given to a pupil until about the eighth month. The best” subject”
to be entrusted to him then are local bodies and or exercise. Both these subjects
involve the application of acts and rules; vernacular correspondence with subordinate
authorities; and formal English correspondence with superiors. By “general
administration” is meant those administrative matters which cannot be grouped
under any one head, but which occupy much of a depute commissioner’s time, e.g.
crime, the activities of the beneficent departments, elections, political
unrest and the like. The learner can best inform himself on these matters by
discussions with his deputy commissioner. He should also spend some days in the
office of the district board, which, when the deputy commissioner is chairman,
is not under the officer-incharge of local bodies. These several matter require
attention on tour and the assistant commissioner should be instructed
accordingly when orders for each tour are given to him.
220. Tahsil may be made
over to assistant commissioner. After a time it is a good plan
to put an assistant commissioner in charge of a particular tahsil, and to make
him spend in it a large part of the cold weather. If this is done, he will take
an interest in the welfare of his charge, and exert himself to become fully
acquainted with all that concerns it and to prevent the occurrence of anything
that is wrong. He will have an opportunity of gaining a knowledge of every
branch of his duty which will fit him to manage a subdivision or a district
when entrusted to him. An assistant in charge of a tahsilhas an excellent
opportunity, while refraining from any undue interference with the tahsildar,
of making himself familiar with the daily routine of the work of a tahsil
office, which is sure to be of great use to him in the future.
221. Assistant
commission not to assume authority. An assistant commissioner is subject
to the control of the deputy commissioner in all his work and should not,
without his permission, issue orders making important changes, lying down rules
of practice or censuring or punishing officials but he may recommend such
measures to the deputy commissioner. He should not correspond with the deputy
commissioner by official letter or robber, as through his office were separate
and distinct, but by demi-official letter and personal conference, or by
sending up the vernacular file which leads to the reference, usually with an
English memorandum prefixed.
222. Settlement training
of assistant commissioner. A certain number of assistant commissioner
are deputed, as opportunity offers, for a four months course of training in tracts
in which a general reassessment of land revenue is in progress. Rightly
employed, this period is long enough to give an intelligent man a competent
knowledge of survey and record work, and also of the board features of
assessment work. If a newly-joined assistant is sent for settlement training,
it is usual to give him two months training in his fist cold weather and two in
a later year. The instructions as to the nature of the training ti be given
will be found in standing order no.8. as the opportunity for settlement
training is now less frequently available, officers are being sent to a revenue
training class in the cold weather.
223. Appointment of
extra assistant commissioners. Extra assistant commissioners are
appointed partly by selection by selection of men who have done approved
service in lower appointments, partly by competitive examination and partly by
the direct appointment of young men of good family. The rules on the subject
will be bond in the punjab government notification no.9490, dated 19th 1930. Candidates who obtain the post of extra
assistant commissioner by competition or by direct appointment are on probation
for two years. For the first nine months of this period they receive training
in a district under settlement or they may be sent to the revenue training
class.
224. Revenue assistant.
An assistant or extra assistant commissioner is posted to every
district, except shimla, as revenue assistant. An officer in charge of an
outpost or the revenue assistant for his own sub-division, and during a general
reassessment the extra assistant settlement officer is generally considered to
be the revenue assistant of the district.
225. Duties of revenue
assistant. The revenue assistant disposes of whatever share of magisterial
work the district magistrate thinks fit to allot to him. But the bulk of his
time must be given to the revenue business of the district, that is to say
speaking broadly to the classes of work subscribed in this book. He is not
available for the duties of treasury officer or subordinate be judge, and
should never be given any share of civil judicial work.
CAUTION ! Read separate
para for
226. Tours of deputy
commissioners. Obviously a deputy commissioners cannot manage with
success the great committed to his care without an intimate personal knowledge
of every part of it. Much of the work, moreover, that is carried on can only be
effective supervised by him on the spot. Above all it is impossible to keep in
touch with the people unless he seeks frequent opportunities of that informal
and frank intercourse with them which is only possible in camp. A deputy
commissioner is therefore expected to pass a considerable part of each cold
season on tour and to visit as far as possible, every part of his charge no. 67
nights. The work which must be performed at the headquarters of the district
should be so arranged as to make this feasible.
227. Tours of deputy
commissioners. Obviously a deputy commissioners cannot manage with
success the great committed to his care without an intimate personal knowledge
of every part of it. Much of the work, moreover, that is carried on can only be
effective supervised by him on the spot. Above all it is impossible to keep in
touch with the people unless he seeks frequent opportunities of that informal
and frank intercourse with them which is only possible in camp. A deputy commissioner
is therefore expected to pass a considerable part of each cold season on tour
and to visit as far as possible, every part of his charge no. 67 nights. The
work which must be performed at the headquarters of the district should be so
arranged as to make this feasible.
228. Tour of assistant
and extra assistant commissioners. During each touring season every
assistant commissioner should be sit into camp in turn ,and as far as possible,
extra assistant commissioners should be given opportunities of going into camp.
The revenue assistant must spend the greater part of the cold weather in moving
through the different tahsils, and it is essential that he should be on tour in
the months during which the crop inspections of the spring and autumn harvests
are in progress. Unless there are special reasons to the contrary, he should
normally spent at least 120 days(including 90 nights) away from the
headquarters during the year, of which 84 days should ordinary be between 1st October to 31st march
and 36 days between 1st April
to 30th September.
229.Tour of assistant and
extra assistant commissioners. During each touring season
every assistant commissioner should be sit into camp in turn and as far as possible,
extra assistant commissioners should be given opportunities of going into camp.
The revenue assistant must spend the greater part of the cold weather in moving
through the different tahsils, and it is essential that he should be on tour in
the months during which the crop inspections of the spring and autumn harvests
are in progress. Unless there are special reasons to the contrary, he should
normally spent at least 100 days(including 50 nights)away from the headquarters
during the year, of which 63 days should ordinary be between 1st October and 31st march
and 27 days between 1st April
and 30th September.
230. Instructions to be
given to assistant going on tour. It rests with the deputy commissioner
to arrange what parts of the district an assistant or extra assistant commissioner
should visit, and to indicate the subjects, to which he should specially direct
his attention. Before he starts he should be given a good detailed map of the tact
through which he is to pass with a skeleton map on which to mark the line of
his route, and a written memorandum of instructions. The last may be very
brief, except in the case of a newly-joined assistant. It should contain among
other things, a detail of the expenditure on public works and takavi had of
wells, the assessment of which has been remitted under the rules given in
paragraph 558 of this manual, during the past year in the tract to be visited
so that the works which have been constructed, or repaired or fallen out of use
may be inspected. The first tour of a young assistant commissioner is the best
in the company of the deputy commissioner himself and later he should be sent
on short tours with the revenue assistant and tahsildar and then alone.
231. Chief object of
tour. The chief object be to kept in view by an officer
when in camp s to become acquainted with the people himself, and to give them
an opportunity of becoming acquainted with him. For this purposes it is
necessary to see the people in their own villages, to encourage their visits
and talk with them frankly so as to ascertain their thoughts ans. feelings, the
matters in which they are chiefly interested and the manner in which they
regard them.
232. Advantage of local
enquiry in revenue cases. It is generally adjustable to
decide many revenue cases on the spot. When these are mere matters of the
routine, and present no difficulty, they are perhaps better settled in office
then elsewhere. But there are many cases, for example contested partitions,
which for their right decision nay depend almost entirely on local
peculiarities, and these can obviously be investigated better on the spot then
elsewhere. As regards disputes about land and rent, while it is difficult,
owing to local feuds, to get at the truth anywhere there is most hope of doing
so in the village than in the district court house.
233. Inspection of
alluvian and dilution returns and of village records. The
inspection of alluvion and diluvion returns, and of the village records
prepared by petwards and kanungos should be done locally. Attention should be
directed to the questions weather the prescribed paper and registers ave been
prepared in accordance with the rules and circular orders on the subject,
whether they are complete to the date and whether the entries correctly
represent the facts to which they relate.
234. Enquiry into
management of government forests. Where there are government forests,
their condition should be ascertained, the methods of management should be enquired
into and attention should be paid to the relations between the forests establishment
and the people.
235. Ascertainment of
characters of Indian subordinates. It is a matter of great importance
to learn what character is borne by the tahsildar and naib-tahsildar and by the
subordinate Indian officials in the tahsil. As regards subordinate officials,
there is usually no harm in making direct enquiries from respectable persons.
But great care must be taken to preserve the dignity of an official of the rank
of a tahsildar, and to question the people of his own tahsil as to his conduct
would generally be indiscreet. But, if an officer is freely accessible to
people of all classes, hints will be dropped and matters will be brought to his
notice from which he can gradually form a very good idea of the estimation in
which the tahsildar is held.
236. Enquiry into
general state of tract visited. The general condition of the
tract should come under review. The principal points for enquiry are the
following:---
(a) crop-are
those on the fraud and good condition? What has been the history of previous
three or four harvests ?have any new varieties been introduced.
(b) cultivation and irrigation- are they
contracting of expanding? Is takavi freely taken for the construction of wells?
(c) People-
is the population increasing of falling off? What is its conditions as regards
health? are owners holding becoming unduly small by sub-division? Is much land
changing hands? if so, what is the reason? and who are the principal purchasers
and mortgagees?
(d) Lives stock –
is it increasing of diminishing? and what is its condition? how are the well
cattle proured? and what do they usually cost if not home-bred? is there any
sale of surplus stock?
(e) Land revenue-what
proportion does the assessment bear to the value of the produce? is its
distribution over estates and holdings equitable ? are collections easily made
or are coercive processes necessary? have there been any large remission and
suspensions? and, if so, why? what is the prospect of recovering the land
revenue under suspension?
237. There
are many other matters which an officer has to look into when on tour which do
not fall within the scope of this manual, such for example as education,
cooperation, sanitary measures, vaccination, the state of crime and the conduct
of the people, the exercise arrangements and the extent to which smuggling and
illicit distillation prevail. All than as, dispensaries and schools should be
carefully inspected, and roads, rest-houses, sarais and encamping-grounds
should be examined, and their condition noted. If there are co-operative
societies their working should be enquired into.
CAUTION : Read separate para for
238. Inspection of
tahsil officers. When an officer halts at the headquarters of a
tahsil, he should inspect the tahsildar’s office. Every tahsil office should be
thoroughly overhauled every six months. The deputy commissioner should himself
inspect it at least once a year. If he cannot make the second inspection
himself, he should direct the revenue assistant, or some other experienced
assistant or extra assistant commissioners, to make it for him. The scrutiny
should include all branches of work-judicial treasury, stamps, excise, takavi,
land revenue and the kanungo’s record. Special attention should be given to the
examination of the records of rights and the agricultural registers and of the
accounts relating to the deferent branches of revenue. As to the latter, the
inspecting officer should ascertain whether they are regularly kept up and
without any unnecessary resort to coercive processes. The causes of all
outstanding balances should be traced.
Particular attention should always be paid to the
running register of miscellaneous revenue. A searching scrutiny of tehsil accounts
on the spot os far more likely to detect irregularities and prevent their
recurrence than fifty calls for written explanations from the district office.
Even if an officer had no other duties to perform, it would be difficult for
him to overhaul the work of a tehsil thoroughly in a single day. A perfunctory inspection
is worse than useless and will merely encourage the establishment of continued
irregularities and malpractice’s which have escaped detection. A tour should therefore
be so arranged as to allow of a halt of several days at the headquarters of a tehsil.
If this is not possible, it is best to take up one or more branches of work and
examine them thoroughly, and to leave the rest for a future occasion. Tehsil in
section can sometimes be done most thoroughly in the hot season. Through
ordinary camping is out of the question, there is nothing to prevent an officer
from spending some time at each tahsil headquarters.
239. Inspection of
tehsil officers halts at the headquarters of a tahsil, he should inspect the
Tehsildar’s office. Every tahsil office should be
thoroughly overhauled every six months. The sub divisional officer(civil)will
cinduct inspetion of the tehsil office under his charge after close of Kharif
harvest while that of the other tahsil of the same dialect after the close of
Rabi harvest of the same year. The Deputy commissioner should himself inspect
to at least once a year. If he cannot make the second inspection himself, he
should direct the Revenue assistant, or some other experienced Assistant pr Extra
Assistant Commissioner to make it for him. The scrotum should include all branches
of work-judicial treasury, stamps, excise, takavi land revenue and the kanungo’s
record of rights and the agricultural registers and of the accounts relating to
the different branches of revenue. As to the latter the inspecting officer
should ascertain whether they are regularly kept up and whether the amounts due
to Government are punctually realized, and without any unnecessary resort to
coercive processes. The causes of all outstanding balances should be traced.
Particular attention should always be paid to the running register of
miscellaneous revenue. A searching scrutiny of tehsil accounts on the spot os
far more likely to detect irregularities and prevent their recurrence then fifty
calls for written explanations from the district office. Even of an officer had
no other duties to perform ,it would no difficult for him to overhaul the work
of a tehsil thoroughly in a single say. A perfunctory inspection is worse than
useless and will merely encourage the establishment of continued irregularities
and malpractice which have escaped detection. A tour should therefore be so
arranged as to allow of halt of several day sat the headquarters of a tahsil. If
this is not possible, it is best to take up in or more branches of work and
examine them thoroughly and to leave the rest for a future occasion. Tahsil
inspection can sometimes be done mone thoroughly in the hot season. Though
ordinary camping from spending some time at each tahsil headquarters.
240. Diaries of
assistant and extra assistant commissioners. Assistant
commissioners, European Extra assistants and Indian Extra Assistants under
training who know English sufficiently well, while on tour, are required to
keep a diary. It must be written up in the spot from day to day, or every short
intervals during the tour, and must not take the shape of a report or narrative
prepared at the and of the tour. The order will be chronological and not by Subject.
The diary should be written on half-margin, and attention should be paid to the
legibility of the writing. In order that it may be really useful, and that my
practical suggestions contained in it may receive due attentions, it should be
as concise as possible, and all unnecessary discussions on the theoretical
subjects and remarks on the ordinary incidents of travelling should be avoided.
Marginal references starting the subject matter of each paragraph should be
inserted. The dairy should be forwarded weekly to the collector of inspection
and remarks. At the close of the tour the memorandum furnished by the collector
should be attached to it, and a rough sketch map of the route taken should also
be appended. The conclusions drawn from the materials collected should be embodied
in a brief general note on the state of the tracts visited, which should be
form an appendix to the diary. The papers, thus put together, and submitted to
the commissioner, who forward, for the perusal of the financial commissioners,
and diaries which he considered deserving of special notice, and the financial
commissioners lay before government those which in their opinion are worthy of
special commendation. The commissioner is empowered to exempt senior
assistants, who have held charge of a district, and assistant commissioner in
charge of sub-divisions, from keeping up a diary while tour, but this exemption
should rarely be made in the case of young officers as the necessity of writing
a dear develops powers of observation. Indian extra assistant commissioner not
under training should keep such notes of the work done while on tour as the
deputy commissioner may prescribe.
241. Time-scale pay of
tahsildars and naib-tahsildars. The time scale pay of tahsildars
is RS. 200-10-270-10-350, with an efficiency bar at Rs. 270. There is also a
selection grade of tour posts at Rs. 400 and of eight posts at Rs. 375 per
mensem each. The time-scale pay of naib-tahdsildars is rs.80-5-140—7 ½-185 with
an efficiency bar at Rs. 140.
242. Appointment,
etc., of tahsilders and naib-tahsildes, Tahsildera are appointed by the
financial commissioner and naib-tehsildars by the commissioner of the division.
Tahsildars may be dismissed by the Financial commissioner and naib-tahsildar by
the commissioner. For full instructions as to the qualifications required, the
examinations which canidares muster pass, promotions, etc. the Financial
commissioner standing order No.12 may be consulted. The local Government may
direct to the financial commissioner to appoint a person not eligible under the
rules to be either a tahsildar or naib-tahsildar, but it is a concision of such
an appointment that the haled shall, within two years, pass the prescribed
examination.
243. Settlement
training of naib-tahsildars and naib-tahsildar can-didates. Any
naib-tahsildar who has passed the tahsildar’s examination may be sent by the commissioner
of the division for a year’s training in a district under reassessment. The
commissioner may also require any candidate for the past of naib-tahsildatr to undergo
the practical training in revenue work prescribed by paragraph 7 of financial commissioners
standing order No 12 in a district under settlement.
244.Duties of
tahsildar. The duties of the tahsildar within his tahsil are
almost manifold as those of the Deputy commissioner within his district. He is
not expected to hear any civil suits, but his magisterial work is important. In
all matters of administration he must be, within his own charge ,the Deputy
commissioner’s principal agent and his power for good or evil is very great.
His revenue duties are so important that there has occasionally been a tendency
to make them all in all. But it must be admitted that his efficiency, more than
that of am other affaire in the district, except the Revenue assistant, depends
on capacity for revenue work. No degree of excellence in other respects can
alone for failure properly to direct and control the patwari and kanungo
agency, to collect the revenue punctually where the people are climate of
season, which renders suspensions of remissions necessary, and to carry out,
within his own sphere the other duties connected with land administration which
are described in this book.
245.Division of tahsil
for inspection work. For inspection work and the
attestation of mutations in records, the estates of each tahsil are divided
yearly between the tahsil date and the naib-tahsildar. The portions if the
tahsil allotted should be changed every year on October 1st so that the responsibility of the tehsildar for the whole
of his charge may not be impaired. It is within the direction of the deputy commissioner
to postpone redistribution for special reasons, such as the prompt disposal of
pending revenue work.
246. Extra
naib-tahsildars for mutation work. In the cold weather extra
niabtahsildars are sometimes posted to districts where mutation work is very
heavy. These men should not be employed as general assistants to the tahsildar,
but should be required to devote the whole of their time to the attestation of
mutations. At the same time, the tahsildar and the naib-tahsildar should not be
relieved of all their mutation work. The best plan is to transfer the whole
mutation work of certain zails or kanugo’s circles to the extra naib-tahsildar.
247. Tours of
tahsildars and naib-tahsildars. Tahsildars and naib-tahsildars
should spend alternate fort nights in camp during the seven months from the
beginning of October to the end of April. During the rest of year systematic
touring is impossible, but an active tahsildar will take opportunities
management of his charge cannot be efficient unless he has a through knowledge
of his village.
248. Plan of tours
should be drawn up. A plan of cold –weather
inspection work should be drawn up, through the duties of a tahsildar are so
multifarious and he is liable to so many unexpected calls upon his time that it
is impossible to adhere to it strictly. If the work is properly laid out
beforehand, the tahsildar and the naibtahsildar should be able in the seven
months of camping to make between them a through security of every kanungo’s
and patwari’s work and to visit most of the estates in the tahsil. Deputy
commissioner should impress on their subordinates that perfunctory inspections
are worse than useless, and that a man who has done his best will not be blamed
because he has failed to see every village. A task which in many cases, is
impossible. The tahsildar or naib-tahsildar, when on tour, should always carry
with him a small-scale sketch map of his charge, showing village boundaries and
sites, main roads, and canals, and the limits of zails and of kanungos and patwaris
circles. He should also have with him a list of all takavi loans grante in the tract
to be visited.
249.Inspection of
estate. On visiting on estate the tahsildar should attest the
mutations. He should also inspect the village site and lands, if he is not
already familiar with them, and should examine the village revenue registers
and note points for enquiry. He should then discuss the condition and
circumstances of the estate with the land owners, the village officers, the
zaildar and the kangungo paying special attention special attention to the
cause of any large amount of alienation and the reasons for any difficulty
experienced in collecting the revenue. He should take the opportunity of seeing
any works for which takavi has been given. The tahsildar’s hairiest inspection
work is referred to in chapter ix.
250.Revenue work to be
dealt with in village to which it legates. In order to avoid
taking agriculturists away from their homes, all revenue work, especially
disputed partition, lambardari and muafi cases should, as far as possible, be
dealt with at the village to which they relate. By this means the attendance of
all the parties will be secured, and the facts of each case will be easily
ascertained. In the case of estates for which a detailed jamalndi is to be
drawn up during the agricultural year mutation work must be disposed of in the
village itself. In there cases, the naib-tahsildar or tahsildar, if he cannot
conveniently visit the estate, may pass orders on its mutations at any other
place within the patwari’s circle.
“Revenue officers should attest mutations according
to priority based on the date of try of report in the patwari’s diary. In cases
where a mutation cannot be attested interim orders must in variably be
recorded.”
CHAPTER
VI
Powers of revenue officers
251.Powers of revenue
officers. There are five classes of revenue officers: the financial
commissioner, the commissioner, the collector, the assistant collector of the 1st grade, and the assistant collector of the 2nd grade. The deputy commissioner of a district is by
virtue of his office its collector a revenue officer who is transferred from one
district to another retains the powers with which he was invested in the former
district.
252. Powers of
financial commissioner. There are many matters on which
the financial commissioner is empowered by the land revenue and tenancy acts to
make rules, but these do not take effect till they have been sanctioned by the
local government. There are also a number of executive proceedings regarding
which his special orders required. For example he fixes the amounts and dates
of the installments by which land revenue is paid, and if, to recover an error,
the extreme step of annulling the assessment of an estate or holding, or of
selling it outright has to be taken his sanction must first be obtained.
253. Power of
commissioner. While the land revenue and tendency acts confer ample
powers of general control on commissioners, there is practically no particular matter
which they can legally deal with on their own initiative, or for the very few exception
is that sales of immovable property for the recovery of arrears are not complete
will they have received their confirmation.
254. Powers of
collector and assistant collection. The land revenue act declares
that certain things must be done and certain orders must be passed by the
collector and that other things may be done, and other orders may be passed, by
“a revenue officer” there are but two cases in which any difference between the
powers of the two grades of assistant collectors is mentioned in the act.
Section 126 provides that proceedings relating to the partition of land must be
taken an assistant collectors of the 2nd grade
do not of compelling parties before them to submit certain matters to arbitration.
But by section 10 the local government has power where the act does not
expressly by what class of revenue officers any function to be discharged, to determine
the matter by notification, and this was done soon after the enactment came
into force. The class of revenue officer which can dispose of the enactment came
into force. The class of revenue officer which can dispose of the various applications
and proceedings which arise under the tenancy act is stated in its 76th section. It will
be observed that in the distribution of business, there is given no distinction
made between the powers of a collector and those if an assistant collector of
the 1st grade. But the application of a
landlord for leave to take an improvement on the holding of a tenant with a
right of occupancy must be presented to the collector, and he alone can enhance
the rent after the improvement has been made and reduce it again after it has
ceased to exist.
255. Enquiries
by subordinate officers. It would be absolutely impossible for superior revenue
officers, and especially for the deputy commissioner, to dispose of the numerous
matters on which their orders are required, if the proceedings from first to last
had to be held before themselves. Provision has therefore been made that “a revenue
officer may refer any case which he is empowered to dispose of ….to another
revenue officer for investigation and report, and may decide the case upon the
report” this useful power must be exercised with discretion. In matters of any importance
the parties who will be directly affected by an order should be present when it
is passed, and should be head as far as is necessary. However unpalatable a decision
may be to a man, it loses half its sting if he feels that his case has been
fully understood and carefully considered.
256.Exclusion of
jurisdiction of civil courts. Civil courts have no
jurisdiction in respect of any matters of which revenue officers are empowered
by the land revenue and tenancy acts to dispose of.
257.Execution by
revenue officers of certain orders of civil courts. On
the other hand, any order which a civil or criminal court issues for the
attachment, sale, or delivery of land, must be executed through the collector
or a revenue officer appointed by the collector for that purpose. The rules on
the subject will be found in the financial commissioner’s standing order no. 64
and the rules and orders of the high court, volume 1, chapter xii-order xxi,
civil procedure code. When the produce of land is attached no obstacle must be
placed in the way of the person to whom it belongs reaping, gathering or
storing it, and every care must be taken for its preservation. As executing of
the orders of civil and criminal courts the function of a revenue officer is
purely ministerial. He is not concerned with the priority of the order passed.
But if it is on the face it illegal, if, for example, it directs the collector to
sell land belonging to a member of an agricultural tribe, he will be justified
in pointing this out to the civil court and, if necessary, to the commissioner.
258.Functions of
collector under section 72 of the civil procedure code. Under
the provisions of section 72 of the civil procedure code (act v of 1908) a
court may authorize the collector to arrange for the satisfaction of a decree
by the temporary alienation or management of land belonging to a
judgement-debtor. The rules on the subject are quoted in the financial
commissioner’s standing order no. 64. Any alienation approved of would
naturally take the form of one or other of the kinds of the mortgage allowed by
act xiii of 1990. Where the judgement –debtor is deprived of cultivating
occupancy of the transferred land enough should be excluded from the transfer
to furnish at least a bare subsistence for himself and his family.
259.Procedure of
revenue officers. The produce of revenue officers is mainly governed
by sections 18-23, 127-135 and 152 of the land revenue act, and by a law rules
issued under various sections of the land revenue and tenancy acts. Any number of
tenants cultivating in the same estate may be made parties to proceedings under
chapter iii of the tenancy act, but no order or decree must be made affecting
any of them who has not had an opportunity of appearing being heard.
260. Arbitration.
Sections 127-135 of the land revenue act relate to arbitration which may be
employed with the consent of parties in any proceeding, and in a few proceeding
without their consent. A revenue officer is not bound by the reward, but may
modify it or reject it altogether. Whatever his decision may be, it is open to appeal,
just as if there had been no arbitration. There are no provisions about arbitration
in the tenancy act, but a rule under it has made the provisions on the subject
in the land revenue act applicable to most of the proceedings under the tenancy
act.
261.Legal
practitioners. Legal practitioners may appear in proceedings before
revenue officers, and law present applications on beheld of their clients.
Through a person chooses to be represented by a pleader his own attendance may
also be required, and no formal pleading will be head except in lambardari,
zaildari, mafi, mutation, and partition cases. A revenue agent cannot, without
the permission of the presiding officer, take any part in the examination of
witness, or address to him any argument on behalf of his client. The fees of a
legal practitioner are not allowed as costs in any proceeding without an
express order of the revenue officer passed for reasons which he is bound to
record. Legal practitioners cannot appear in proceedings under the
262.
Appointment, etc., of tahsilders and naib-tahsildes, Tahsildera are appointed
by the financial commissioner and naib-tehsildars by the commissioner of the
division. Tahsildars may be dismissed by the Financial commissioner and
naib-tahsildar by the commissioner. For full instructions as to the
qualifications required, the examinations which canidares muster pass,
promotions, etc. the Financial commissioner standing order No.12 may be
consulted. The local Government may direct to the financial commissioner to
appoint a person not eligible under the rules to be either a tahsildar or
naib-tahsildar, but it is a concision of such an appointment that the haled
shall, within two years, pass the prescribed examination.
263. Settlement
training of naib-tahsildars and naib-tahsildar can-didates. Any
naib-tahsildar who has passed the tahsildar’s examination may be sent by the commissioner
of the division for a year’s training in a district under reassessment. The commissioner
may also require any candidate for the past of naib-tahsildatr to undergo the
practical training in revenue work prescribed by paragraph 7 of financial commissioners
standing order No 12 in a district under settlement.
264. Duties of
tahsildar. The duties of the tahsildar within his tahsil are
almost manifold as those of the Deputy commissioner within his district. He is
not expected to hear any civil suits, but his magisterial work is important. In
all matters of administration he must be, within his own charge ,the Deputy
commissioner’s principal agent and his power for good or evil is very great.
His revenue duties are so important that there has occasionally been a tendency
to make them all in all. But it must be admitted that his efficiency, more than
that of am other affaire in the district, except the Revenue assistant, depends
on capacity for revenue work. No degree of excellence in other respects can alone
for failure properly to direct and control the patwari and kanungo agency, to
collect the revenue punctually where the people are climate of season, which
renders suspensions of remissions necessary, and to carry out, within his own
sphere the other duties connected with land administration which are described
in this book.
265. Division of tahsil
for inspection work. For inspection work and the
attestation of mutations in records, the estates of each tahsil are divided
yearly between the tehsil date and the naib-tahsildar. The portions if the
tahsil allotted should be changed every year on October 1st so that the responsibility of the tehsildar for the
whole of his charge may not be impaired. It is within the direction of the
deputy commissioner to postpone redistribution for special reasons, such as the
prompt disposal of pending revenue work.
266. Extra
naib-tahsildars for mutation work. In the cold weather extra
niabtahsildars are sometimes posted to districts where mutation work is very
heavy. These men should not be employed as general assistants to the tahsildar,
but should be required to devote the whole of their time to the attestation of
mutations. At the same time, the tahsildar and the naib-tahsildar should not be
relieved of all their mutation work. The best plan is to transfer the whole
mutation work of certain zails or kanugo’s circles to the extra naib-tahsildar.
267. Tours of
tahsildars and naib-tahsildars. Tahsildars and naib-tahsildars
should spend alternate fort nights in camp during the seven months from the
beginning of October to the end of April. During the rest of year systematic
touring is impossible, but an active tahsildar will take opportunities
management of his charge cannot be efficient unless he has a through knowledge
of his village.
268. Plan of tours
should be drawn up. A plan of cold –weather
inspection work should be drawn up, through the duties of a tahsildar are so
multifarious and he is liable to so many unexpected calls upon his time that it
is impossible to adhere to it strictly. If the work is properly laid out
beforehand, the tahsildar and the naib-tahsildar should be able in the seven
months of camping to make between them a through security of every kanungo’s
and patwari’s work and to visit most of the estates in the tahsil. Deputy commissioner
should impress on their subordinates that perfunctory inspections are worse
than useless, and that a man who has done his best will not be blamed because
he has failed to see every village. A task which in many cases, is impossible.
The tahsildar or naib-tahsildar, when on tour, should always carry with him a
small-scale sketch map of his charge, showing village boundaries and sites,
main roads, and canals, and the limits of zails and of kanungos and patwaris circles.
He should also have with him a list of all takavi loans grante in the tract to
be visited.
269. Inspection of
estate. On visiting on estate the tahsildar should attest
the mutations. He should also inspect the village site and lands, if he is not already
familiar with them, and should examine the village revenue registers and note
points for enquiry. He should then discuss the condition and circumstances of
the estate with the land owners, the village officers, the zaildar and the
kangungo paying special attention special attention to the cause of any large
amount of alienation and the reasons for any difficulty experienced in
collecting the revenue. He should take the opportunity of seeing any works for
which takavi has been given. The tahsildar’s hairiest inspection work is referred
to in chapter ix
270. Revenue work to be
dealt with in village to which it legates. In order to avoid
taking agriculturists away from their homes, all revenue work, especially
disputed partition, lambardari and muafi cases should, as far as possible, be
dealt with at the village to which they relate. By this means the attendance of
all the parties will be secured, and the facts of each case will be easily
ascertained. In the case of estates for which a detailed jamalndi is to be
drawn up during the agricultural year mutation work must be disposed of in the
village itself. In there cases, the naib-tahsildar or tahsildar, if he cannot
conveniently visit the estate, may pass orders on its mutations at any other place
within the patwari’s circle. “Revenue officers should attest mutations
according to priority based on the date of try of report in the patwari’s
diary. In cases where a mutation cannot be attested interim orders must in
variably be recorded.”
CHAPTER
VI
Powers of revenue officers
271. Powers of revenue
officers. There are five classes of revenue officers: the financial
commissioner, the commissioner, the collector, the assistant collector of the 1st grade, and the
assistant collector of the 2nd grade.
The deputy commissioner of a district is by virtue of his office its collector
a revenue officer who is transferred from one district to another retains the
powers with which he was invested in the former district.
272. Powers of
financial commissioner. There are many matters on which
the financial commissioner is empowered by the land revenue and tenancy acts to
make rules, but these do not take effect till they have been sanctioned by the
local government. There are also a number of executive proceedings regarding which
his special orders required. For example he fixes the amounts and dates of the
installments by which land revenue is paid, and if, to recover an error, the
extreme step of annulling the assessment of an estate or holding, or of selling
it outright has to be taken his sanction must first be obtained.
273. Power of
commissioner. While the land revenue and tendency acts confer ample
powers of general control on commissioners, there is practically no particular matter
which they can legally deal with on their own initiative, or for the very few exception
is that sales of immovable property for the recovery of arrears are not
complete will they have received their confirmation.
274. Powers of
collector and assistant collection. The land revenue act declares that
certain things must be done and certain orders must be passed by the collector
and that other things may be done, and other orders may be passed, by “a
revenue officer” there are but two cases in which any difference between the
powers of the two grades of assistant collectors is mentioned in the act.
Section 126 provides that proceedings relating to the partition of land must be
taken an assistant collectors of the 2nd grade
do not of compelling parties before them to submit certain matters to arbitration.
But by section 10 the local government has power ,where the act does not
expressly by what class of revenue officers any function to be discharged, to
determine the matter by notification, and this was done soon after the
enactment came into force. The class of revenue officer which can dispose of
the enactment came into force. The class of revenue officer which can dispose
of the various applications and proceedings which arise under the tenancy act is
stated in its 76th section.
It will be observed that in the distribution of business, there is given no
distinction made between the powers of a collector and those if an assistant collector
of the 1st grade.
But the application of a landlord for leave to take an improvement on the
holding of a tenant with a right of occupancy must be presented to the
collector, and he alone can enhance the rent after the improvement has been
made and reduce it again after it has ceased to exist.
275.
Enquiries by subordinate officers. It would be absolutely impossible for
superior revenue officers, and especially for the deputy commissioner, to
dispose of the numerous matters on which their orders are required, if the
proceedings from first to last had to be held before themselves. Provision has
therefore been made that “a revenue officer may refer any case which he is
empowered to dispose of ….to another revenue officer for investigation and
report, and may decide the case upon the report” this useful power must be
exercised with discretion. In matters of any importance the parties who will be
directly affected by an order should be present when it is passed, and should
be head as far as is necessary. However unpalatable a decision may be to a man,
it loses half its sting if he feels that his case has been fully understood and
carefully considered.
276. Exclusion of
jurisdiction of civil courts. Civil courts have no
jurisdiction in respect of any matters of which revenue officers are empowered
by the land revenue and tenancy acts to dispose of.
277. Execution by
revenue officers of certain orders of civil courts. On
the other hand, any order which a civil or criminal court issues for the
attachment, sale, or delivery of land, must be executed through the collector
or a revenue officer appointed by the collector for that purpose. The rules on
the subject will be found in the financial commissioner’s standing order no. 64
and the rules and orders of the high court, volume 1, chapter xii-order xxi,
civil procedure code. When the produce of land is attached no obstacle must be
placed in the way of the person to whom it belongs reaping, gathering or storing
it, and every care must be taken for its preservation. As executing of the
orders of civil and criminal courts the function of a revenue officer is purely
ministerial. He is not concerned with the priority of the order passed. But if
it is on the face it illegal, if, for example, it directs the collector to sell
land belonging to a member of an agricultural tribe, he will be justified in
pointing this out to the civil court and, if necessary, to the commissioner.
278. Functions of
collector under section 72 of the civil procedure code. Under
the provisions of section 72 of the civil procedure code (act v of 1908) a
court may authorize the collector to arrange for the satisfaction of a decree
by the temporary alienation or management of land belonging to a
judgement-debtor. The rules on the subject are quoted in the financial
commissioner’s standing order no. 64. Any alienation approved of would naturally
take the form of one or other of the kinds of the mortgage allowed by act xiii
of 1990. Where the judgement –debtor is deprived of cultivating occupancy of
the transferred land enough should be excluded from the transfer to furnish at
least a bare subsistence for himself and his family.
279. Procedure of
revenue officers. The produce of revenue officers is mainly governed
by sections 18-23, 127-135 and 152 of the land revenue act, and by a law rules issued
under various sections of the land revenue and tenancy acts. Any number of tenants
cultivating in the same estate may be made parties to proceedings under chapter
iii of the tenancy act, but no order or decree must be made affecting any of
them who has not had an opportunity of appearing being heard.
280.
Arbitration. Sections 127-135 of the land revenue act relate to arbitration
which may be employed with the consent of parties in any proceeding, and in a
few proceeding without their consent. A revenue officer is not bound by the
reward, but may modify it or reject it altogether. Whatever his decision may
be, it is open to appeal, just as if there had been no arbitration. There are
no provisions about arbitration in the tenancy act, but a rule under it has
made the provisions on the subject in the land revenue act applicable to most of
the proceedings under the tenancy act.
281. Legal
practitioners. Legal practitioners may appear in proceedings before
revenue officers, and law present applications on beheld of their clients.
Through a person chooses to be represented by a pleader his own attendance may
also be required, and no formal pleading will be head except in lambardari,
zaildari, mafi, mutation, and partition cases. A revenue agent cannot, without
the permission of the presiding officer, take any part in the examination of
witness, or address to him any argument on behalf of his client. The fees of a
legal practitioner are not allowed as costs in any proceeding without an
express order of the revenue officer passed for reasons which he is bound to record.
Legal practitioners cannot appear in proceedings under the
282. Administrative
control. Administrative control is exercised over all the
revenue officers in a district by the collector, in a division by its
commissioner, and in the whole province by the financial commissioner. If any
of the powers of a collector under the land revenue act are conferred on an
assistant collector, he exercise them subject to the control of the deputy
commissioner, unless government otherwise directs. Every controlling officer
has authority to withdraw a case from any of his subordinates, and either hear
it himself or refer it for disposal; to some other officer under his control.
283. Review of orders. Revenue
officers of all grades large powers of reviewing their own orders and those of
their predecessors, provided no appeal against them has been lodged. In the
case of assistant collectors, however, the exercise of this power is in every
case subject to the previous sanction of the collector. If the latter wishes to
review any order lower class, who has left no successor in office, he must
obtain the commissioner’s permission. The commissioner may, like the collector,
review his own order, but without the leave of the financial commissioner he
cannot reconsider an order, passed by a former commissioner. The power is not
subject to any such restriction. Applications for review can only be
entertained when they are presented within ninety days of the date of the order
to which exemption is taken, but apparently there is no legal limitation of the
time within which a revenue officer may review an order of his own motion. Of
course, persons who will be affected by the modification or reversal of an order
must be given an opportunity of being heard in its support. There is no appeal
from an order refusing to review, or confirming on review, a previous order.
284. Revision. The
only officer who can revise an order not passed by himself, or by one of his
predecessors in office is the financial commissioner. But any controlling officer
may call for the file of a case pending before, or disposed of by, any of his subordinates
in order to satisfy himself of the correctness of any final or intermediate order
which has been passed, if the commissioner or the collector thinks such an
order ought to be altered, he can submit the file to the financial commissioner
with a statement of his opinion. No proceeding or order should be modified or
reversed in such a way as to affect any question of right between private
persons without giving them an opportunity of being heard.
285. Appeals. The
law of appeal is very simple, original orders passed by assistant collectors
are applicable to the collector, and original orders of the collector to the commissioners.
An order confirmed on first appeal is final, and under no circumstances, can
there be more than second appeal. The only cases which can come before the financial
commissioner on appeal are those in which commissioners have modified or reversed
original orders passed by collectors.
286. Limitation in
appeals. The period of limitation is thirty days, when the
appeal lies to the collector, sixty when it lies to the commissioner, and
ninety when it lies to the financial commissioner.
CHAPTER
VII
Patwaris
and Kanungos
287. Patwaris and
Kanungo staff before 1885. The term village officer, as
used in the land revenue act means a headman, a chief headman, and a patwari.
In this chapter we are only concerned with the patwari or village register and
accountant, and with his immediate superior, the kanungo. No efficient revenue
administration of a district is possible unless the patwari stases strong,
properly trained, and strictly supervised by the kanungos, tahsildars, revenue
assistant, and deputy commissioner.
288. Object of reforms
initiated in 1885. In the course of years
effective measures have been taken to secure the proper performance by the
patwari of his three chief duties:---
(1) the maintenance of a record of the crops grown
at every harvest:
(2) the keeping of the record of rights upto date by
punctual record of mutations; and
(3) the accurate preparation of statistical returns
embodying the information derived from the harvest inspections, register of
multatins, and record of rights.
These duties will be described in the 9th, 10th ,
and 11th chapters of this book.
289.
Principles of revenue policy sound, but machinery for carrying them out wanting.
The revenue policy of the
290.
Canceled.
291.
Canceled
292.
Canceled.
293.
Canceled.
294.
(1) Indian famine commission 1880 proposed-foundation of agricultural department
in each province. In spite of efforts to secure improvement the revenue statistics
of the province remained incomplete and unreliable until late into last
century. But the lessons learned in the famine of 1877-78 made it impossible to
leave things where they were. In the report of the Indian famine commission,
which was laid on the necessity of creating in each province a special
agricultural department. The concerned remarked:---
“such an office in each province would have charge
of all the records of past famines, and take note of all that is being usefully
done or learnt in neighboring provinces, so that the gathered results of past
experience might be collected and made accessible, which has hitherto been
hardly possible. Through this office should be bought together the more
comprehensive and exact record of the agricultural, vital, and economic
condition of the people to the urgent necessity of which we have already drawn
attention. Especially, when a famine is thought to be impending would such an
office become important, as it would supply the government with all statistics
bearing on this subject, and would be responsible for working out from them the
conclusions on which the decision as to future action would mainly rest. When a
famine is in progress, all the information relating to relief measures, that
extant, their results, would be collected in it and presented in a uniform and
intelligible manner, and through it all orders of the local government relating
to famine administration would be issued.”
274 (2) Reform of
patwari and kanungo agency. “ the efficiency of such a
special department, as we have proposed will depend mainly on the completeness
and accuracy with which the agricultural vital, and economic statistics with
which it has to deal are collected in each village and compiled in each sub
division and district throughout the country” * * * * “ the revenue system in
the greater part of British India is such as o present unrivalled means of
ascertaining, in the fullest manner, all necessary facts relating to
agriculture, and to the different incidents of landed tenures in every village;
but those means gave nowhere een completely utilized and made as efficient as
they might be. We recommend that the body of village accountants should
everywhere be put on a sound and satisfactory footing as responsible public
officers, with a clearly defined set duties, but with their own villages.” “* *
* *” over the villages accountants there should be a staff of active sub-officers
employed in keeping them to their duty, inspecting their work, visiting each
village in turn, and checking the accuracy of all the items recorded concerning
it.”
274 (3) appointment of
revenue assistant in each district. “ above these there should be
special officer in every district who would be, as a rule, of the rank of
deputy collector, and whose nail or only duty should be to take charge of all
matters connected with the economic condition and well-being of the people. He
would test and compile the agricultural returns and examine the market prices
and ascertain from these and other data the relative value of each year’s crop,
according as it is below or above the average.
From such a continuous record of the harvests he
would obtain data for judging weather the landed classes were in the depressed
or a prosperous condition, and how far they were prepared to meet a climates
season. It would be this object to obtain similar information as to all
sections of the population, and to learn what are the causes of depression, and
what classes would be the first to succumb under the pressure of declare and
high prices.
The accurate regulation of vital statistical, and
the investigation of the causes of any abnormal mortality, would lie within his
province and he would be the gainer of the health officer of the district for
the purpose of scrutinizing the record of births and deaths. The extent of the
good stocks, the ebb and flow of local trade, the current rate of interest charged
on loans to different classes, the deficient or superabundant supply of any
kinds of labour and the customary wages paid to each kind, these and other
kinds of labour and the customary wages paid to each kind, these and other
kindred topics on which information is at present far from precise, would fall
within the scope of his enquiries. These officer, while generally subordinate
to the collector, would be specially under the orders of the agricultural
Department in respect of the system on which their returns are to be prepared and
checked.
274. (4) Appointment of
Director of Agriculture in each province. ”A Director of agriculture
should be appointed in each province as executive head of this Department, chosen
for his knowledge of the condition of the people and particularly of the agricultural
classes. He would directly control the special statistical officers, and would be
the adviser of the local government on all matters relating to agriculture and
statistics. In ordinary times he would discharge these duties and superintend
all measures designed to improve the agriculture of the country : and in times
of famine he would be the officer responsible for warning the government as to
the agricultural outlook and for preparing such a forecast as should guide it
in issuing instructions and setting on foot measures of relief.”
295. Introduction of
reforms in
(a) the reform of the patwari staff;
(b) the provision of a sufficient staff of
supervisor or kanungos;
(c) the appointment of a revenue assistant in each
district;
(d) the appointment of a director of agriculture in
each province.
It fell to colonel wace, first as settlement
commissioner and later as financial commissioner, to carry out these reforms a
task which he welcomed with enthusiasm to enable him to deal with the matter
effectively he was appointed in 1882 director of agriculture while retaining
the post of settlement commissioner in 1883 a revenue assistant was appointed
in each district except simla. In the same year colonel wace prepared a scheme
for the reorganization of the kanungo staff. Which was sanctioned with some
modifications next year, and carried out in 1885. Hitherto, the estab lishment in
each district had consisted of a sadar kanungo at headquarters on Rs 60 per
mensem, and a kanungo on Rs. 25 with an assistant of rs. 15 of each tahsil.the
staff was now doubled. The kanungo at the tahsil head quarters became the
office kanungo and a staff of field kanungos was provided to supervise the
patwaris work in their villages. The pay and prospects of kanungos were much
improved. A director of land records was appointed in 1885.
276. Object of reforms
in land record agency and procedure. These changes and the
procedures connected with the reformed of record embodied in a now code of
patwari and kanungo rules, the object of which was explained to be the securing
of,---
(a) real efficiency among the patwaris and kangos;
(b) improved
field-to- field inspection, and record of the results of each harvest;
(c) the
continuous record in convenient tanks of the total results of each harvest and
each years husbandry, these tables being kept first by villages, secondly by assessment
circles, and thirdly by tahsils
(d) the
punctual record in attentions of all mutations of rights and there prompt incorporation
in the jamabandy.
(e) The
cessation of the practice, under which in numerous cases mutation orders where
passed in the absence of the parties, or after calling them away from there village
to the tahsil office;
(f) The
release of tahsildars and naib-tahsildars from a large amount of revenue case
work. witch under the procedure hitherto prescribed for such work. Tied them to
their tahsil offices and overboard. Ended their small office establishment with
clerical duties; and
(g) As
a consequence, the systematic visiting of each village, either by the tahsildar
or naib tasildar.
277. Effects of
reforms. The new system was embodied in the Punjab Land
Revenue act of 1887 and the rules issued under it. Since it was introduced it
has been modified in some of its details. But on change affecting its main
features has been made, and the soundness of the scheme has been proved by a
steady improvement in the work of the patwaris and in the revenue
administration of the districts.
278. Organization of
patwaris and kanungo staff reconsidered at set. Telnet.
The organization of the patwari and kanungo staff is carefully reconsidered
when a district is being assessed, and it rarely necessary to make many changes
in the interval between two settlements. The limits of patwaris’ circles are
matters for the commissioner to decide. The number, grading and pay of patwaris
also the revision of the limits of field kanungos’ circles, require the
sanction of the financial commissioner.
279. Points for
consideration in forming patwaris’ circles. In fixing the
limits of a circle, the chief points to consider are the number of fields to be
worked over at the harvest inspections, and the number of owners’ holdings and
cultivation’s’ holdings for which entries have to be made in the record of
rights. The number given to each field in the village map is known as the
khasra number, that assigned to each owner’s holding in the record of rights a
called the jamabandi number, and that allotted to each cultivator’s holding the
khatauni number. A patwari should usually be able to keep up the record of a circle
contacting from 4,000 to 5,000 khasra and 1,200 to 1,600 khautani numbers, but regard
must be paid to the distances the patwari will have to travel, the nature of
the country, the simplicity or complexity of the land tenures, and the
inclusion in the circle of estates subject to river action or under flucuating
assessment, and the degree of fragmentation or consolidation of holdings. A
circle generally consists of several adjoining estates, but some large estates
require the whole services of a patwari and few have more them one.
280. Grading patwari.
Before 1885 there was a separate patwari cess, and each patwari received the
amount levied in the village of his circle. A man with a
small circle of rich highly cultivated estates drew much more pay than his
fellow incharge of a much larger and more difficult circle containing village
where the precariousness of the crops had enforced a light assessment. Now the
patwaris of a district are distributed into grades with varying rates of pay.
Patwari are graded as under:---
1st grade,
on Rs. 26 per mensem…… 20 per cent
2nd grade
on Rs. 23 per mensum…..40”
3rd grade,
on Rs. 20 per mensum…40”
282. Assistant patwaris.
It is usual to have a few assistant patwaris receiving Rs. 15 monthly.
Assistants should be used to help patwaris whose work is very heavy of to fill temporary
leave vacancies. Except on the latter case ,they should not ordinarily be independent
charge.
283. Payment of
patwaris. Salaries are drawn monthly and care should be taken
be that they are punctually disbursed. Besides their pay patwaris receive a
two- fifth’s share of the fees levied for the entry of mutations in the record
of rights, and allowed and giving certified extracts. It is a rule to which no
exceptions are allowed that pay and all the fees must be given to the person
who actually performs the duties of patwari.
284. Appointment,
punishment, and dismissal of patwaris. No revenue
officer below the grade of collector can appoint, punish, of dismiss a patwari.
With this exception that the Revenue Assistant may impose on a patwari a fine
not exceeding Rs.2 and a Tahsidar a fine not exceeding Rs.1 on any one
occasion. But the deputy commissioner should keep the power to sanction
appointments and dismissals in his own hands. Recommendations should be
received from the Revenue Assistant, and where he is and impartial and sensible
man, they should usually be accepted. Upon him mainly depends the efficiency of
the patwari and kanungo staff. He cannot have the proper amount of authority
over it or be expected to work worth zeal if his subordinates are given any
reason to suspect that he has not the support and confidence of his chief.
285. Patwari
candidates. A register of patwari candidates is kept up for each
tahsil. In most districts it is now possible to exclude men who have not passed
the Middle school examination. Neat and clear handwriting in the undue
character and the power to work out simple sums in arithmetic quickly and
correctly are essential, and no candidate, however well qualified otherwise
should be accepted who has not good physique and health and good eyesight,
candidates must be between the age of 15 and 25 years, it is undesirable that a
large proportion of the candidates should belong to the money lending or
trading classes, and the sons of agriculturists should be encouraged to come
forwarded as candidates. A clever and well educated lad who enters government
services as a patwari has a very fair chances of promotion to higher posts. The
appointments of tehsil revenue accountant (wasilbaki navies) and siyaha navis
are, whenever possible, received for them, and two thirds of the kanungo must
be promoted patwari. Once he becomes a field kanungo a patwari may hope to
climp still higher on the official leader. Patwaris are also eligible for the
post of tahsil judicial muharrir.
286. Patwari school. Every
candidate must attend the patwari school and appear at the patwari examination.
His name should ordinarily be struck off the register if he fails to pass with
in three years. The patwari school in each district should be opened on the 15th of April and
closed at the end of august. Before joining the school the candidate should be
required to attend for instruction at the sravi girdawari. The principal
subjects taught with the aid of books are arithmetic and menstruation, on which
special menials have been written for the use of patwaris, and the directions
contained in the financial commissioners’ standing orders nos. 15,16,22,23,24
and appendices vii. Viii. Ix. And xxi of the
287. Filling up of
vacancies. The most “suitable” candidate must be selected, and relationship
to the former patwari confers no claim. But the deputy commissioner is bound to
consider any representation made be the land owners of the vacant circle, and, if
it is evident that they really wish for the appointment of a relation of the
late incumbent, who is fit of the post some regard should be had to this in
weighting claims.
The fact that the candidate is already resident of
the circle and has the confidence of the properties, has a strong bring on his
“suitability.” However well qualified he seems to be a candidate should not be
chosen if any of his near relation land money in the circle.
288.Residence of patwari in
his circle. Every patwari is bound to reside in his circle and
must not leave it without permission. Where a suitable patwarkhana exists, the patwari
must keeps his records in it live in it with his family, and repair it when necessary.
Landowners must not be asked to spend any part of common village fund (malva)
in building or maintaining patwarkhanas, and only in special circumstances will
be expenditure on these subjects be met by governments. Where no patwarkhana
exists the patwari must make his own arrangements, but reasonable help in
enabling him to do this will be given to him by the revenue authorities. It is
the intention of government to provide additional patwarkhanas steadily year by
year.
289.Disabilities of
patwaris. A patwari is forbidden to engage in trade, or to
have any interest whatever in the landing of money to agriculture and he must
be not tout for any legal practitioner or borrow from any agriculturists in his
circle. He cannot acquire in his circles, except by inheritance, and if he
possessed any interest in land anywhere he must report the fact to the
tahsildar, nor can he purchase, or bid for either agricultural land or land for
building sites in colonies without the section of the local government previously
obtained. A patwari sometimes tries to evade these rules by buying or taking mortgage
in the name of one of his sons, but transparent subterfuges of this sort are
easily brushed aside. He is not permitted to write, attest, or witness deeds or
private individuals.
He may be dismissed if he is deeply in debt, as will
as for misconduct, neglect of duty or incompetence. As soon as he becomes unfit
through age or chronic will health to do this work properly he must be relieved
of his office. Small rewards are payable on retirement to well-conducted
patwari who have served for a long time.
290.Employment of patwari on
other, but his proper duties forbidden. Care must be taken that no patwari is
employed on any duties except those laid down in the financial commissioner’s
standing order No. 15, which are amply sufficient to occupy his whole time. The
chief branches of his work, the registration of the crops, the maintenance of
the record of rights, and the writing up of the statistical register of each
estate, will be described in latter chapters. But the other duties which he has
to discharge may be briefly noticed here.
291. Miscellaneous duties of
patwari. It is his business to report at once all serious calamities
affecting the land or the crops, and all severe outbreaks of disease among man and
beast. He must bring to the notice of inspecting officers encroachments of government
lands, the deaths of pensioners and assignees, the emigration or immigration of
cultivators, and the unauthorized cultivation of groves held revenue free on
condition of the preservation of the trees. He must allow any one interested to
inspect his records, and , if required, give certified extracts from them.
292.Patwaris’ diary.
He keeps up a diary and a work-book. The first part of the diary, which is
renewed annually, should contain a record of all facts of importance regarding
the cultivation of the land, the state of the crops, the condition and
relations of landowners and tenants, and the interests of government. The
entries should be made on the day on which the events come to the notice of the
patwari. At the end of each sambat month of careful general note on the crops
and the cattle of the circle should be added.
Orders received by the patwari from kanungo or from
any revenue officer should also be entered in part 1 of the diary. Where,
however an order consists of directors of a general nature it should be
interested in part ii which is not renewed every year. The diary, like all
other revenue record, is kept by the agricultural year beginning on 16th bhadon, corresponding to the 1st September.
293. Kanungo staff. The
Kanungo establishment consists of field Kanungos, office Kanungos, and a
district Kanungo. Its strength in each district can only be altered with the
sanction of the local government. Ordinarily there is one field Kanungo for
twenty patwaris, an office Kanungo at each tahsil, and a district Kanungo with
at least one assistant at headquarters.
294.Duties of field Kanungo.
The Kanungo should be constantly moving about his circle supervising the work
of the patwari on the spot, except in the month of September, when he stays at
the tahsil to check the jamabandis received from the patwari.
295.Duties of office
Kanungo. The office Kanungo is the tahsidar’s revenue
clerk, his chief work, the maintenance of the statistical revenue records, will
be described in a later chapter. He has also charge of the forms and stationary
required by patwari, keep the account of mutation fees, records in rainfall,
and maintains the register of assignees of land revenue and other miscellaneous
revenue registers. He is custodian of all the records received from patwari,
and a well- ordered Kanungo’s office is an important factor in the revenue
management of a tahsil.
296. Duties of district
Kanungo - The district Kaungo is responsible for the efficiency
of the both the office and the field Kanungos and should be in camp inspecting their
work for at least fifteen days in each month from 1st October to 30th April.
He is the keeper of all records received from Kanungos and patwari, maintains
with the help of his assistant copies of the prescribed statistical registers
for each assessment circle, tahsil and the whole district. It is necessary, as
already noted to give him one or more assistants for office work. The pay of a
sadder Kanungo is Rs. 75-5/2-100 per mensum, and his assistant received Rs. 60
per mensum, except in simla where he receives Rs. 50-5-75 per mensum, while
special Kanungo entertained in connection with the scheme for making the
contents of revenue records more ready accessible to litigants in civil and
revenue courts are paid at Rs. 65 per mensum.
297.Kanungo to be employed
only on their proper work. All Kanungos must be strictly
confined to their own allotted work. It would be example, the improper to allow
the district kanungo to be used by the revenue assistant as a reader. Nor
should a tehsil office kanungo be used for case work.
298.Grades and pay of
Kanungo. Field and office kanungos are graded on a single list,
office kanungo being chosen from among the older field kanungos. On first appointment
a field kanungo receives Rs. 40 per mensum. His appointment is on probation
pending the obtaining of a certificate of efficiency from the director of land records.
No kanungo is confirmed unless and until he has obtained this certificate, and
if he does not obtain it within 2 years of his first appointment, his name is
struck off the list of kanungos and he received to his original post, if any.
No longer remaining a kanungo candidate. Field kanungo in the highest grade, or
one month of the whole number draw Rs. 50 monthly. Al field kanungos receive
Rs. 20 per mensum as horse allowance.
Settlement kanungo are paid at the same rats as
field kanungos on the district staff” field kanungo not employed in settlement
work get a stationary allowance of Rs. 1 per mensum. Tahsil office kanungos
receive rs. 60 per mensum.
Note-: for the purpose of this paragraph is the
whole number be one less than a multiple of 4/e.g. 19,23 etc.) it should be
considered to be a full multiple. This where there are 19 field kanungo 5 would
be entitled to draw pay of rs. 50 per mensum.
299.Kanungo candidate.
A register of accepted candidates for the post of Kanungo is maintained.
Patwari on the district establishment and settlement patwari drawing Rs. 53 or
more per mensum are eligible for this register, provided they have passed the middle
school examination, but a lower educational qualification may be accepted in special
cases, with the sanction of the financial commission obtained through the
director of land records. Most of the candidates should be drawn from this
class, as two third of the vacancies of the among kanungo must be given to
patwaris. A few men below the age of twenty five who have passed the
matriculation examination of the
300. Claims of kanungos to
higher posts. Great care should be taken in choosing kanungo
candidate, and there is not much difficulty in getting suitable men. The post itself
is a respectable one as regards pay and position, and it carries the
appointment of district revenue accountant or a naib-tahsildar. Any kanungo who
have served govt. of five years including at least two years approved service
as field kanungo may be selected as a naib tahsildar candidate. The
commissioner’s register should always contain some names drawn from the
kanungo’s list. It is true that few promoted kanungo’s are likely to rise above
the rank of naib-tahsildar by becoming tahsildar. They are usually, at least when
they have started as patwaris, made naib-tahsildar too late in life to do so.
But their previous training fits them to do very good work as naib-tahsildar,
and the post of 1st grade naib-tahsildar is sufficiently honourable and
well paid to satisfy the ambitions of most men of the class from which the
kanungo staff is mainly drawn. A permanent or officiating district kanungo is
entitled to appear at the naib-tahsildar examination, and, if he passes, his
name is put on the register of candidate. A district kanungo of not less than two
years standing may be selected by the financial commissioner as a candidate for
the post of tahsildar.
301. Kanungo in districts
under settlement. When a district is being reassessed, the kanungo
work under the orders of the settlement officer who finds it necessary to
employ in addition a number of extra or settlement kanungos. He also becomes
responsible for the training of candidates. At the end of the settlement he
ought to leave in the district a thoroughly efficient kanungo staff with a
number of qualified candidates.
302.Training of kanungo
candidates in settlement work. Where posible the director of
land records arranges to give kanungo candidates from districts not under settlement
a practical training in settlement work.
303.Filling up post of
district kanungo. A vacancy in the office of district kanungo must
be filled by the promotion of an office or field kanungo. The post is one which
can only properly be filled by a well educated man of active habits, of good
natural ability and sufficient acquired experience. A fair knowledge of english
is an indispensable qualification for appointment. No particular examination
test has been prescribed but ability to read and write english reports
interlligibly and fairly quickly is demanded. The deputy commissioner should
consult the director of land records demioffcially when a vacancy in the post
for six months or more is to be filled. If they do not agree as to the person
to be appointed, each should state his case for the consideration of the
commissioner of the division, who will make the final selection. An appeal from
his decesion will lie to the financial commissioner.
304. Disabilities of
Kanungos. The rule regarding rsidence is the same mutatis mutandis
for field kanungo as for patwar, and kanungos are under the same regulations as
patwari as regards trading, borrowing and lending, holding land, writing and
attesting documents.
CHAPTER
VIII
VILLAGE
HEADMEN, INAMDARS AND ZAILDARS
305. Value of unofficial agency. In the last two
chapters the strong body of government servants, of which the deputy
commissioner is the head, has been described.
It is a powerful piece of administrative machinery,
but, as links between the higher officers and the communities for whose welfare
they are responsible, its inferior members have the defects which belong to
purely official agency. They have therefore been supplemented by
representatives of the landowners in the shape of village headmen inamdars and
zaildars.
Commentary
Where lambardar fails to perform his duties, the
recovery can be effected from his or his estate.
306.Convenience of dealing
with village communities. It is obviously convenient for
the state to deal with bodies like village communities through headmen. The
internal affairs of such communities used to be and in some places still in a
measure are, managed by informal councils or panchyats. But these have fallen
into decay, and in any case their constitution was too loose for them to serve
as intermediates between the rules and the land owners. The sikh govt. like
own, found it useful to have such intermediaries. The chaudhris and mukaddims
through whom it dealtwith the people corresponded roughly with our zaildars and
lambardars.
307. Duties of headmen.
The headmen of a village act on behalf of the landowners, tenants and other
residents in their relations with the state. They are bound to attend when summoned
by officers of govt., and to aid them in the execution of their public duties.
Their important functions as regards the prevention and
detection and detection of crime do not fall within the scope of this work.
Their chief duties are set forth in some detail in a vernacular memorandum
which is given to each headmen on his appointment. Those connected with land
administration may be summarized as follows:---
A duties government,---
1. to collect and pay into the treasury the land
revenue and all sums recoverable as land revenue.
2. To report to the tahsildar,---
(a) the
deaths of assignees and pensioners ,and their absence for over a year
(b)
encroachments on, or injury to, government property.
3. to aid,---
(a) in carrying out harvest inspections, surveys,
the record of mutations and other revenue business;
(b) in providing, on payment, supplies or means of
transport for troops and officers of government.
4. to render all possible assistance to the village
postman, while passing the night in the village, in safeguarding the cash and
other valuables that he carries.
B. Duties to landowners
and tenants of estate-
1. to acknowledge every payment received from them
in their parcha books.
2. To collect and manage the common village fund,
and account to the shareholders for all receipts and expenditure The duties of
headmen as regards the collections of revenue (a 1 and b 1 on page 128 and above)
are dealt with in chapter xv. Those which fall under heads a 2(a) and (b) and A
3(a) call no remark. The financial commissioner’s standing order no. 58 deals
with transport and supplies for troops. As regards the village malba (B), the
93rd and 94th paragraph of the
settlement manual may be consulted.
Commentary
Lambardar under rule 20 of the Punjab land revenue
is duty bound to recover land revenue and other sums which are due to the
state, if money due to paid to the lambardar the liability of the person
concerned stands discharged. On failure of the lambardar to deposit the amount
or account for it, the lambardar is the person liable to the state and not the
person for whom it was originally due. Government if recovers money from person
originally liable to pay despite having his paid the amount to the lambardar,
such person is entitled to decree against lambardar as also the state.
308.Remuneration of headmen.
The manner in which headmen are remunerated for their service has already been
noticed. The pachotra or surcharge of 5 percent on the land revenue to which
they are entitled is calculated not on the demand, but on the amount collected.
A suspension or remission of the land revenue therefore involves the suspension
or remission pachotra, it may be doubted whether this rule is always carried out,
but in case of dispute, it must be enforced. Headmen usually receive an
allowance of 3 percent on account of collections of canal occupier’s rate.
309. Appointment and
dismissal in districts under settlement. When a district
is under settlement, headmen are appointed by the settlement officer. When the
question of dismissing a headman arises, the settlement officer deals with the
matter if the malfeasance was connected with work under his control, otherwise
the deputy commissioner is the final authority. The officer with whom the
actual decision rests should consult his colleague before passing orders.
310. Headman must be
landowner of village. The headman or headmen must
be chosen from among the landowners of the village. In the case of govt.
estates, or estates in which govt. owns considerable share, he may be one of
the govt. tenants.
311. Too many headmen often
appointed at 1st regular settlement. The existing lambardar
arrangements in most villages were made when they were first brought under a regular
settlement. It was often found that a considerable number of the owners had in fact
received a share of the pachotra, and that there were many claimants for the
office of headman. The original arrangements can be recast and the number of
headmen reduced with the sanction of the financial commissioner. When a
readjustment of the pachotra is advisable for any reason, the collector can
take action under land revenue rule 21(iv).
312. Matters to be
considered in making new appointment. In making new appointments,
as distinguished from the filling up a vacancies in existing posts, the chief matters
to consider are,---
(a) the constitution of the community to be
represented.
(b) The family claims of the candidates.
(c) The extent of their landed property and their
freedom from debt.’
(d) Their character ability and personal influence.
(e) Any services render to the state by themselves
or the families to which they belong
The first point is important in deciding how many
headmen are required. The number should be as small as possible, having regard
to the claim of each principal branch of the community to have its own
representative.
313.New appointment of
headmen. New appointment are now a days exceptional, save
in the case of estates carved out of the govt. waste. Where such an estate is
leased to a single lessee, he become ipso facto headman for the period of his
lease. In the village which have recently been planted in hundred on state
lands brought under cultivation by means of the upper and lower chenab, the
upper and lower jhelum, the lower Bari Doab and the sutluj valley chanals, the
lambardari arrangements are governed by the constitution of the groups of
colonies who have occupied the new settlements. In an ordinarny district new
appointment are only necessary when the family, in which the post is
hereditary, becomes extinct; when after the resignation or dismissal of a
headman the collector finds that he must be pass over all the heirs under the
vrious provisions of subrule(ii) of land revenue rule 17; or in the rare cases
in which an increase in the number of headmen is sanctioned by the
commissioner. The importance and implications of the doctrine of primogeniture
are elaborated in the Lahore Law Times xviii, page 43.
314.Ordinarily headman must
perform duties himself. A headman once appointed
holds officer for life unless the Deputy commissioner dismisses him or accepts his
resignation. No man should ordinarily be retained in office who either does
not, or cannot, carry out the duties efficiently. But in some cases whether
inability to do so is of a temporary nature, and in others where it aprings
from unavoidable circumstances, the lambardar is allowed to retain the title
and even in some cases a share of the emoluments, while a substitute is
appointed to do the work.
315.Appointment of
substitutes in certain cases. The commonest instance of a temporary
inability is that of a headman being too young to act. In that case, the appointment
of a substitute is imperative. Another instance is absence from the village with
the Deputy commissioner’s consent for a period not exceeding one year. Old age
or physical infirmity is a disability which it might savoir of harshness to
treat as a ground of dismissal. A wide dissection is left to the deputy
commissioner for he can allow a substitute or sarbarah not only in the
circumstances maintained above, but in any case in which “ good cause” can be
shown fir the lambardar’s unfitness to do the work himself. (land revenue rule
27) an absentee landlord owing a whole estate may nominate for the approval of
the deputy commission any of the residents to be his substitute. As a rule, he will
have an again on the spot whom he will naturally put forward. Should he fall to
nominate to a fit person the deputy commissioner choses one of the resident
tenants. (land revenue rule 26(1) ) where in an estate owned by more than on
person an absent headmen the responsible either individually or as a
representative of other absence for more than half of the land revenue the
deputy commissioner may appoint any resident owner or tenant to be dabbed. In
this, and indeed in all cases in which substitutes are appointed for a
lambardar whips is not a minor, the wishes of the substantive hold of the office
should be put on record and fully considered, other things belong equal, the
best plan, when the headman has become unfit to do his work, is to choose as
his substitute the man who would naturally succeed him in the office in the
event of his death. If this is his son, he will usually not be a “landowne” but
this is no obstacle, for “egad shall be had to the properly which of the
candidate will inherit form the person he is intended to represent in like
manner as if he has already inherited it.” (land revenue rule 29 iii) in the
case of minor lambaradare, their mothers often he is ineligible because he owns
no land in the village, and in any case it is generally much more in the
accordance with local sentiment to select a near relative of the boy’s father.
315-A. Appointment in canal colonies. In the
colonies it has been the practice from the foundation of each estate to
restrict the number of lambadars to on two. Where service conditions exist, as,
for instance, in the horse-breeding chaks of the lower
In making such appointment care should be taken to
ensure that the lambardar appointed resides, or will reside personally in the
chak. It must be remembered that the post of lambadar has been created in order
to the ensure the performance of services necessary for the efficiency of the
administration of the province and the district. These posts are no treated to
add to the prestige and influence of influential and wealthy landowners, who
have no intention of fulfilling the obligations of the post. An additional objection
that o the appointment of such person as lambardar, to all intents and
purposes, would be performed by a servant and that landholders of considerable
social standing, such as retired commissioned military officers, would occupy a
position of subordination to the sarbarah lambardar a state of affairs to which
they naturally have a strong objection. The land revenue rules with regard to
the appointment of substitutes should therefore be most carefully observed. The
only concession which can properly be made to influential and wealthy non
resident landholders is that they should be appointed lambardar’s of the land
which they hold themselves. In such cases they should not be permitted to have
any hand in the management of the land allotted to the menials of the village.
316. Division of pachotra - It
is permissible to divide the pachotra between the headman and his substitute.
If it is intended to do so the arrangement must be noted in the order of
appointment, otherwise the substitute will receive the whole on the principal
that the man who does the work should get the pay. In any case the substitute’s
share must not be fixed at less than oneself (land revenue rule 30).
317. Removal of substitute -
The deputy commissioner may remove a substitute for any reason
which would justify the removal of the headman himself or for any other sufficient
reason. (land revenue rule 29 iv).
318. Resignation of headman
- When a headman resigns, he generally ask for the appointment of
his son to succeed him and in other to give him the land owners qualifications,
officers to transfer a share of his holding to him by gift. Arrangements of this
sort being apt to lead to quarrel’s over the division of the family holding
after the father’s death should be discouraged. Where the lambardar has done
nothing to merit dismissal, it is better to retain him as nominal headman and
to appoint his son to be his substitute.
319.Dismissal of headman - The
chief grounds on which a headman may properly be dismissed are four,---
(a) loss of the states of landowner in the estate,
(b) poverty
(c) persistent neglect of duty,
(d) crime (land revenue rule 16) the first calls for
no remarks. Dismissal in such a case is imperative.
320. Poverty as ground of
dismissal. As regards the sequin, the collection of the dues
of the State cannot safely be entrusted to a man who is himself insolvent. If a
headman has mortgaged his own holding, and has ceased to be the person from whom
its revenue is due to govt. he ought to be dismissed unless he can make arrangement
to pay off with a short time the whole mortgage debt or so much it as will
suffice to release so much of the holding as will be sufficient security of the
govt. revenue which passes through his hands. In such a case the headman may be
allowed a reasonable period within which to recover himself if meanwhile he can
furnish security of the payment of the revenue and the discharge of his other
duties. But make shift arrangements of this kind should not be continued for
any length of time. A headman, who is defaulter in respect of his own holding,
ought not to be kept in office. The mere fact, however, that one or other of
the minor processes referred to in paragraphs 520 and 521 of this manual has
been employed against his need not necessarily in tail dismissal. If the estate
or sub division of the estate which the headman represents has had to be
attached on account of areas, the deputy commissioner may dismiss the lambardar
and the same course may be followed of the attachment is made by an other of
any court of law proof that a headman is heavily in debt or that the amount of
unencumbered land remaining in his possession is very small at once raised the
question of his fitness to retained office. In these cases much depends on the
cause of the mans difficulties and the likely hood of his being able to
surmount them. If the revenue is paid in punctually, no readiness should be
shown the harass a headman and gratify his rivals by fishing enquiries into his
private affairs. The practice which have prevailed in some places of
encouraging patwari’s to report cases of indebtedness is very objectionable. No
tahsidar who exercises proper control over the land revenue collection, and who
moves freely among the people, has any need of such written a reports , and the
acceptance of then puts the patwari in a position with reference to headmen
which he has no right to occupy.
321. Punishment for neglect
of duty. Neglect of the duty which is either gross or persistent,
should be followed removal from office, minor breaches or rules or acts of
negligence nay be punished,---
(a) by the forfeiture of the whole or part of the
pachotra; or
(b) by suspension from office for a term not
exceeding a year.
Orders attaching the pachotra usually only relate to
that due at the next harvests, and in no case should the Peachtree of more than
two harvests be declared forefeet. A substitute may be appointed to do the work
of a headman under suspension.
322. Commission of criminal
offences as ground of dismissal - Considering that one of the
chief if a headman is to aid in the prevention and detection of crime, he ought
to be removed from office if convicted of any serious offence. If he is sent to
jail for a year or more, the deputy commissioner has no choice be must dismiss
him; otherwise he has a discretion. Every petty breach of the criminal law need
not be magnified into a ground for dismissal. The conditions of life in a
323. Filling up of vacant
posts - Where the office of headman become vacant. It is the
duty of the tahsildar to report without delay regarding the appointment of a successor.
It is convenient to use a tabular form for such reports as information on certain
points is required in every case, and any special features of a particular case
can be noted in the brief remarks explaining the recommendation of the
tahsildar.
323-A. Appointment to vacant
posts should not be delayed - In view of the importance of
the duties performed by village headman, it is imperative that when a post
falls vacant, it should be filled as quickly as possible. In cases where the
decease’s is to be succeeded by his heir, under land revenue rule 17(ii), and
no other candidate is forthcoming, no reference need be made to the collector
as the appointment is sanctioned by the assistant collector, 1st grade. It is advisable, however, that the sanad of
appointment should be signed by the collector himself as this emphasizes the
importance of the post and enhances the value of the sanad.
In cases of disputed succession, the appointment is
made by the collector and subordinate officail have no direct responsibilty
with regard to the appointment other than the provision of such accurate
information as will enable are chiefly or wholly owned by government and
hereditary claims carry but little weight, the emoluments of lambardar are very
considerable because of the large sums of land revenue and water-rates to be collected.
The value of these posts os still further enhanced in peasant chakd by the allotment
of a lambardari square or half-square, it is therefore all the more desirabble
that such cases should not be delayed than of two months be permitted to occur
between the occurrence of the vacancy and the placing of all the papers before
the collector for his decision. The practice of subordinate officials sending
repeatedly for all candidates, to examine them with regard to their claims and
qualification, opens the door to opportunities of patwari to the tahsidar. An
early date should then be fixed by the tahsidar or naib-tahsildaron which he
will consider and investigate all the applications for the vacant post. He
should, if possible, arrange to hold the investigation in or near the estate concerned.
The claimants should be given an other claimants. A report should be called for
from the local police station as in no circumstances should the candidates be
called upon to attend the police station for the investigation for other claims
or other objections to other claimants, the papers should record his opinion in
the file from his own personal knowledge and from the material already
collected. He should not delay the case by sending for the claimants. The
papers should be then be laid before the collector should fix a date for the
decision of the case, notify all the claimants and have the date proclaimed in
the estate concerned. Meanwhile, he should forward the papers to the superintendent
of police for and expression of that officer’s opinion. That opinion should be
given by the superintendent of police from the material already collected on
the file, and from his personal knowledge of the claimants.
In the case of succession to lambardari in an estate
or sub-division of an estate owned chiefly or altogether by government to which
land revenue rules 17(1) as amended by correction slip no. 44 dated 4th December, 1937 applies, a period of 3 months should be
allowed within which papers should be placed before the collector for his
decision.
324. Hereditary claims.
Expert in estates chiefly or wholly owned by government, much weight is
attached to hereditary claims. The eldest fit son of the late labmardar should
ordinarily be appointed, and, when there is no son, the nearest collateral relation,
according to the rule of primogeniture. Where there are no near collates, the necessity
of regarding hereditary claims disappears (land revenue rule17 ii a), the nearest
heir may of course be set aside for any reason which would justify his removal
from office if the were a headman(land revenue rule 17 ii c) whether the claims
of sons should be considered where a headman had been dismissed depends on
circumstances. If he ground of dismissal has been insolvency, the son will be subject
to the same disqualification; if is innocent of any share in his father’s misdeeds,
he will generally be under his influence. If the other reasons for excluding him
seem insufficient, the mere fact that he owns no land during his father’s
lifetime does not bar his appointment. The property which he will inherit on
his father’s death may be taken into account as if it was already his own (land
revenue rule 17 ii b).
325. Votes must not be
taken. Even where hereditary claims have to be set aside,
the votes of the landowners must not be taken as a mans of deciding between
rival candidates. (land revenue rule 17 iv).
326. Appointment of females.
Females are ordinarily ineligible. But a woman who is sole owner of an estate
may be appointed and special reasons nay occasionally exist in other cases for
departing from the general rule. ( land revenue rule 17 ii d).
327. Appointment when
hereditary claims are set aside. Where hereditary claims do
not exist, or have to be set aside, the considerations governing appointments
are those mentioned in paragraph 312 (land revenue rule 17 iii).
328. Claims of transferees.
Where a headman is removed because his own holding of the whole estate or
sub-division of the estate for whose revenue he is responsible has no account
of arrears been transferred to a solvent co-sharer, put under direct management
, or leased that a farmer, the transferee, manager or farmer may, if the deputy
commissioner thinks fit be appointed lambardar (land revenue rule 19 1) where a
headman loses office because he has mortgaged his holding, the mortgage has
usually no claim whatever to succeed him. But he may at the deputy commissioner’s
discretion, be allowed to do so where the revenue of the transferred holding so
more than half of the whole revenue for the payment of which the late headman
was, as such, responsible (land revenue rule 19 ii) the appointment refereed to
in this paragraph are not in their nature permanent. When the temporary alienation’s
from which they spring come to an end, the transferee, manager, farmer or
mortgage must lay down his office. A fresh selection is then made by the deputy
commissioner, having regard to the regards stated in paragraph 312.
329. Reduction in headmen
when number is excessive difficult. Reference has already been
made to the inconvenience by the needless multification of headmen’s posts at
the first regular settlements. Substantial men as heads of villages are among the
most necessary instructions of a vigorous revenue and criminal administration. The
framing of a general scheme of reduction requires a large amount of local knowledge,
and a patient enquiry into the history of past appointments in every estate affected.
The files relating to the arrangements made at the first regular settlement and
those dealing with subsequent appointment must be scrutinized, and the enquirer
must obtain a clear idea if the constitution of each estate and must trace the
origin of its sub-division by examining the village administration paper (wajib-ul-arz)
(see paragraph 295-96 of the settlement menual) and genealogical tree
(shajra-nasab) (see appendix viii to the settlement manual). The time for
making such an enquiry is hard to find in the throng or daily duties which he
requires can be collected and put into shape for him by his officers, but, even
so, the task is a heavy one.
330. General schemes of
reduction -(1) when a district is brought under resettlement and
the settlement officer finds that a reduction in the existing number of headman
is required in the interests of good administration in a considerable number of
village throughout the district or in any particular tahsils, he should in
consultation with the deputy commissioner; prepare a scheme for effecting the
necessary reductions gradually as vacancies occur.
(1) the main positive ground for reduction of a
lambardari in an estate is that the existing number of lamberdar is excessive
for the purposes of administrative efficiency, while the existence and degree
of this excess will generally appear from the fact that the panchora of the
post which it is proposed to reduce is insignificant as a remuneration for the
duties to be discharged. It is difficult to lay down a standard figure for the
whole province as much must depend on local conditions, but any individual pachotra
less than Rs. 20 per annum may as a rule, and in the absence of special
circumstances, such as the insignificant. The commissioner should prescribe a
suitable general standard for each district in his division and in some cases
it may be advisable to fix such standards for particular tahsils. It is not,
however, by any means intended that every lambardari of which the pachotra os
below the prescribed amount should necessarily be proposed for reduction apart
from the other modifying considerations, of which some are noticed below .on the
other hand, where the pachotra the amount received in respect of canal
occupier’s rates (paragraph 308) should be neglected.
(2) In determining what appointment should be
retained and what abolished special attention should be paid to the composition
of the village proprietary body, to the circumstances under which existing appointment
became vested in certain families and to the present position and influence of
these families. No proposal for reduction can be fully satisfactory unless it
takes sufficient account of the origin and history of the lambardari which is
proposed for reduction. For instance, it is generally desirable to reduce the
lambardari held by the junior branch of a family, rather than that held by the
senior, and, in order that secure this, it may be advisable to forego an
otherwise suitable occasion for reduction and defer the latter step until the
occurrence of a more appropriate vacancy.
(3) In estates homogeneous as regards casts and
tribes, reductions may properly be made more freely than in those where there
is considerable diversity in these respects.
(4) Reduction is not generally advisable where its
effect will be to place any considerable number of proprietors of one religion,
tribe or caste under a lambardar of another patti or sub-division of a
different religion etc.
(5) As a rule, it is better if the conditions permit
to reduce the post of second lambardar of one tariff, patti, or other
sub-division of an estate, rather than that of the sole lambardar of another
taraf, etc.
(6) The proposals of the settlement officer and the
deputy commissioner should be embodied in a register in the form prescribed in
paragraph 5 of standing order no. 20 village headmen. They should not be
announced to the villages, nor will they be submitted to higher authority for
sanction.
But, if there is any difference of opinion between
the settlement officer and the deputy commissioner, the register, together with
any connected papers relating to any lambardari about which there is such
disagreement shall be forwarded to the commissioner, who will decide whether
such lambardari shall or shall not be retained in the register. The register
will then be made over to the deputy commissioner, with whom it will remain.
(7) Whenever a vacancy occurs in a lambardari which
has been recommended for reduction in the register prepared at settlement, the deputy
commissioner will, subject to what is subject to what is said in the next
sentence, send up the case to the commissioner, with an extract from the
register and other papers required by standing order no. 20 in the case of
causal proposals, whether he agrees with the recommendation made in the
register or not, but he should not, save in very exceptional cases, send up
cases in which the settlement officer’s proposal would result in either the
total number of lambardars in the village being reduced to one or in the
passing over of an heir in the direct line, especially a minor. In the above
contingencies the financial commissioner will not generally sanction a reduction.
In other cases if the deputy commissioner thinks that effect should not be
given to a reduction proposal in the scheme, in the special circumstances of
the vacancy which considers that the occasion is not appropriate for reduction,
the case may be disposed of by his order, but in the cases in which he
considers that reduction should be made a reference should be made to the
financial commissioner and the procedure prescribed in paragraph 332(3),(4) and
(6) below will be applicable to them.
(8) A similar scheme may, at any time, for
sufficient reason, be prepared by the deputy commissioner of a district not
under settlement with the financial commissioner’s previous approval.
(9) To ensure that the recommendations made in a
scheme prepared by a settlement officer or deputy commissioner are not
over-looked, deputy commissioners of districts in which a register has been
prepared should require ahlmad in charge of lambardari cases to note on all
files of appointment to a vacant lambardari whether the vacant post has been recommended
for reduction or not.
331. Canalled.
332. Causal proposal for reduction.
(1) Causal proposals for the reduction in the number
of headman in an estate should be made by transmission of the files in original
through the vernacular office, together with an English abstract in the tabular
form given in paragraph 6 of financial commissioner’s standing order no.20 and
a skeleton abstract of the shajra-nasib, showing the origin of each of the
pattis or tarafs of the village, the revenue paid and the number of revenue
payers in eaxh, and the relationship of the sun division of the village, the lambardaro
of which it is proposed to reduce, to the sub-division in which it is proposed to
be absorbed as regards lambardari arrangements.
(2) the mere absence of a properly qualified
hereditary successor to a vacant lambardari, through it may help to render the
vacancy a suitable occasion for a reduction desirable on other grounds, is not
alone and of itself an adequate ground for reduction. Much should reduction be
proposed solely as a penalty for delinquencies measures are available. The principles
laid down in paragraph 330 should also be followed in making causal proposals
for reduction.
(3) when a collector decides to propose a causal
reduction, he shall intimate that fact to all the parties interested, viz;
these whose names are entered in columns 5 and 6 of the form, and shall give
them sufficient opportunity to bring to his notice any objection of them may
think fit to urge against the proposed reduction. He shall cause his
proceedings in this connection to be recorded in the vernacular files in
detail, and shall also cause a detailed record to be made of such objections as
are made to him. Where the collector is not himself the deputy commissioner f
the district, he shall forward the file to the deputy commissioner, who shall
return it with his opinion.
(4) The collector, after completing his proceedings,
shall, in a case of which he considers reduction desirable, forward the papers
prescribed above to the commissioners for orders.
(5) If the commissioners is of opinion that a
reduction is not appropriate, he shall record his order on the papers and
return them to the collector.
(6) In other cases the commissioner shall ordinarily
retain the papers on his file till the expiry of two months from the date of
the collector’s proposals; and, if any person has objected to the proposals, he
shall give the objector or objectors an opportunity of being heard, and shall
record the objections urged by them.
He shall then complete the papers by recording an
opinion in which he shall deal with the objections made to the proposal, and
shall forward the papers to the financial commissioner for orders.
333. Chief headmen.
A device which was formerly adopted in order to lessen the inconvenience caused
by the excessive number of lambardars appointed at the first regular settlement
was the institution of the office of chief headmen (ala lambardar) in estates
with several headmen. It is generally admitted that the office of chief headmen
has served no useful end, and, later a large number of ala lamberdari posts were
reduced. In 1909 the gradual abolition of the ala lambardari system in the districts
in which it still obtains was orders. In future, vacancies will not be filled, and
the ala lambardiari of any man who is dismissed or is granted a zaildari or
other inam will be resumed. All existing ala lambardiari will enjoy their
present emoluments for life unless they become resembles as above. In addition
to this ordinary pachotra on the revenue of the sub-division which he
represents as headmen. The ala lambardar receives one percent, on the revenue
of the whole estate (land revenue rule 24) orders to be carried out by a
headmen may, if thought desirable, be addressed to the chief headman, and the
latter is responsible that any orders issued are properly executed, and should
carry them out himself if the headman responsible fails to do so.
334. Zaildars.
As already remarked. Zaildars represent the chaudhris of former times. The
existence and value of chaudhris was recognized at the time of the annexation
of the
335. Formation of Zails.
In the closing paragraphs of the settlement manual the measures connected with
the first introduction of the zaildari agency into a district and the
principles to be followed in grouping estates into jails are described.
336. Duties of zaildars.
The duties of zaildars are set forth under seven heads on the sanads (see
financial commissioner’s standing order no. 21, paragraph 15, and rand revenue
rule 9) which they receive on appointment. Their functions with regard to crime
are within their larger spheres similar to those of headmen within their villages.
They are of very great importance, but this is not the place to describe them.
Like lambardars, they are bound to aid in all sorts
of revenue work, and to report when geovernment buildings, roads or boundary
marks are out of repair when called to do so they notify throughput their zails
all govt. orders, and use their personal influence to secure prompt compliance
with them. While abstaining from personal interference with the work of
lambardars and patwaris, it is their duty to see that they perform ir properly,
and to inform the authorities of any failure to do so. Forbidden to intermeddle
of their own motion with cases pending in the law courts, they can sometimes be
employed with advantage as conciliators, or in making preliminary enquiries
into criminal complaints, which appeared to be probably the exaggerated reflections
of petty village or family quarrels. It is incumbent on zaildars “to see that the
headmen ….. of the zail perform their duties properly (see land revenue rule 9
ii) including of course the duty of paying in land revenue promptly. But a
discreet use should be made of the rule, and zaildars ought not to be employed
as if they were peons. More especially they should neither be ordered
themselves to collect any sums due to govt. nor permitted to take land revenue
collected by lambardars to the tahsil.
337. Duty of attendance on
officers visiting their zails. They must attend on govt. officers
who pass through their zails, this is a duty which is usually cheerfully performed,
and which should always be enforced. A deputy commissioner’s should try to see
all his zaildars at least once a year in or near their zails, and should encourage
them to visit him from time to time at headquarters. If they find that the district
officer talks freely to them on matters of local interest, and encourages a frank
expression of their views, they are sure to value these opportunities of
meeting him.
338. Percentage of land revenue allotted for
remuneration of zaildars an inamaders. For the remuneration of zaildars a sum
os set aside out of the land revenue amounting usually to 1 percent. If
inamdars, as well as zailsars, are appointed an additional ¼ per cent is
allowed. This deduction is made from assigned, as well as from khalsa, revenue.
In the case of assigned revenue, the higher contribution that can legally be
taken is 1 ½ per cent. But the usual rate s 1 ¼ per cent as noted above, and
more than ¼ per cent should not be devoted to the remuneration of inamdars.
(section 28 (2) of act xvii of 1887. Land revenue rules 3 and 11 financial commissioner’s
standing order no. 21).
339. Methods of
remuneration. There are two ways of treating the sum devoted to thepayment
of zaildars. Each zaildars may receive 1 per cent of the land revenue of his
own circle in the form of an inam paid out of the jama of some particular
estate, generally that in which he himself is headman. Thus, if the zaildar is
assessed at Rs. 24900 the inam will be Rs. 249, and the zaildar will keep back
that sum when the revenue of his village os paid to govt. a better paln is to
have inams arranged in different grades, the total being equal to 1 per cent,
of the land revenue of the tehsil or district. (land revenue rule 12).
340. Advantages of grade
system. The grade system gives the officer who fixes the limits
of zails a much free hand. It secures a fairer distribution when zaildars are
first appointed for it by no means follows that the zails which yields the
biggest revenue is either the largest in area or the most troublesome to
manage. Above all it enables the deputy commissioner to recognize good work by
promoting deserving men on the occurrence of vacancies and now and then to
punish slackness by reducing a zaildar appointed to fill a vacancy should
always be put in the lowest grade. Even where the plan of graded inams is in
force, the zaildar gets his pay in the shape of an inam out of the revenue of
some village. The reason is that to indian minds this seems a more honorable
form of payment then the receipt of many from the tehsil treasury.
341. Inam first charge on revenue
of village from which payable. The zaildar’s inam is a first
charge in the revenue of the estate from which it is paid. Partial sustentions
or remissions therefore do not affect the zaildar so long as the balance is large
enough to cover his inam. If it is not, the deficiency should be made up to the
zaildar from the revenue of some other village. (
342. Zaildar must as a rule
be headman. In choosing a zaildar, the field of selection is
usually confined to the headmen. Occasionally, the most able and influential
man in a zail may be a landowner or government tenant, perhaps a jagirdar or
pensioned Indian officer, who is not lambardar. On a vacancy occurring, such a
man may be appointed if the commissioner of the division has previously
accepted him as a suitable candidate(land revenue rule 4) care must be taken in
putting forward names that a pushing newcomer is not taken at his own
valuation, and allowed to thrust aside deserving men of the old chaudhri class.
343. Qualification of
candidates. It is true that it is a settloed rule that “in the
appointment of zaildar regard shall not be had to any alleged hereditary claim”
but, as two of the chief matters to considered are “ the candidate’s personal
influence and the degree in which he is by race or otherwise fitted to
represent the majority of the agriculturists who resale in the zail” and the “
services rendered to the state by himself or by his family,” it is obvious that
questions of descent cannot be wholly excluded, influence is very commonly
hereditary in certain families, and a man who has done nothing to forfeit the
respect in which his ancestors have been held in the countryside may assuredily
be allowed to urge in his own behalf the services they have rendered in the
past as chaudhris and zaildars. The other points for consideration are,---
(a) personal character and ability.
(b) Extent of property in the zail, and freedom from
debt. (land revenue rule 5) 344.
Appointment of minor.
It sometimes happens that the only suitable candidate is a minor. It may be
found, especially in the hills, that to take the zaildar from any family but
one involves a breaking up of old ties and a weakening of the means government
has of influencing the people. In such a case, if the representative of the family
is a minor, one of two course may be followed. The minor may be made zaildar,
and a substitute nay be appointed to discharge during his nonage the duties of the
office, or, if it is through expedient, the post may be left unfilled for a
time. (land revenue rule 7).
345. Votes of headmen may
be taken. To assist him in deciding between rival candidates,
the deputy commissioner nay, if he thinks fit, have the votes of the headmen
taken in his own presence at some place within the zail (financial commissioner’s
standing order no. 21,paragraph 3.) this course, through not suited for general
application, may be usually and appropriately adopted where there aretwo or
more candidates of nearly equal marit. It may also be followed in other cases of
a special nature the circumstances of which appear to demand it. Such cases
will probably increase in number with the lapse of time. Care, however should
be taken that the special procedure for taking votes is not so used as to
encourage the idea that the post of zaildar is one dependent merely on popular
fervor, and did not rather a distinction received from the representative of
government, and in this connection it should be noted that the deputy
commissioner is not bound to appoint the candidate who secures most votes.
346. Inamadars.
In many districts ir has been throught expendient to supplement the zaildari
agency by setting up a class of inamdars or safedposhes. The servies required of
an inamdar are within his own sphere of the same type as typse remdered by a zaildar,
but he receives a much smaller inam. And has no defined group of estates put under
his charge. He should clearly understand that he is bound to assist in every possible
way the zaildar in whose zail he resides. Occasionally services of a special kind
are required by the condition on which the inam was originally granted the
orders regarding appointment loss of office and succession are the same for
inamdars and zaildars subject in the case of the former to any special
conditions imposed by government when the inam was first granted. In Jhelum
District and in the talagang tahsil of attack district which tahsll was
formerly a part of old Jhelum District, special rules exist which will be found
in the land revenue rules. Some of the inams are of a seemi-hereditary nature.
Such inamdars, who sometimes are called ilaqadars of halkdarsw parform all the
duties of zaildars”.
347. Punishment and
dismissal of zaildars and inamdars and appointment of subsstitutes.
The order regulating the punishment and dismissal of zaildars and inamdars,and
the appointment of substitutes to perform their duties, are practically identical
with the corresponding orders in the case of headmen. A zaildar must be
deprived of office when,---
(a) he ceases to be a landowner in the zail, or has
mortgaged his holding and deliver possession to the mortgagee;
(b) His holding has been transferred, or its
asseessment annulled, on account of failure to pay land revenue;
(c) He is sentenced to imprisonment for one year or
upwards.3
348. Zail books. Wherever
the zaildari agency exists, zail books `wherever the zaildari agency
exists,zail books should be maintained. One volume should ordinarily be kept
for each tahsil, and should contain in a pocket a map of the tehsil showing the
zails concerned. The book should be of foolscap size, and a map of each zail
should be bound into the objet in the proper place , together with statistical tables
showing the information prescribed in the Financial Commissioner’ s Standing
Order No. 21. Whenever a new zaildar is appointed, an abstract of the order passed
by the candidates, and the reasons why the collector has selected or reheated them.
The results of appeals should similarly be shown.
Zail books should be treated as strictly
confidential and kept in the personal custody of the collector. copies of
entries in the book should on account but given other to the persons concerned
or to anyone else. It will thus be possible for the collector to record remarks
in these books, expressing frankiy his own opinion about the zaildar and various
matters connected with the zail. These remarks will be of the greatest use to
his successors. Ordinarily, the collector should arrange to record a note once
a year about each zaildar and inamdar so that the record may be kept up to
date.
Are confidential official records although they are
allowed to remain in the custody of zaildars in order that all authorized
officers may be able to record notes in them. They are bit tge orioerty of the
persons to whom they are given, and shoulsd be surrendered when thosee persons
cease to hold the appointment for which the books has been granted to them. The
book should contain a map of the zail and the statistical information required
by financial commissioner’s Standing Order No.21. where an inamdar has beeb
made spcially responsible for a portion of the zail, this should be noted in
his book. An abstractt of the order of appointment of the zaildar of inamdar
should be copied in to the book. The collector should insist on seeing all such
books at least once a year, and should make a point of recording an entry at
elast once a year in each book and should make a point of recording an entry at
elasst once a year in each book and of seeing that the Superintendent of police
has had a similar oportunity of recording his remarks. No entry should be made
in the book by an officer below the rank of an Excise officers, Deputy
superintendents of police, assistant registrars of Co-operative societies and
Deputy Directors of Agriculture, and, in hhorse-breeding circles, district
remount officers should be encouragedbciyraged to make entries in these books.
Divisional and District inspectors of schools may also wrte their remarks when
a zaildar presents his book for the purpose. They are not, however, empowered
to call for these books or to insisst on the attendance of zaildars. A zaildar
should do all that he can to co-operative witgh Educational inspectors in the
development of schools. Divisional inspectors of panchayata may also record
remards in these books’.
Since the book is not the property of the zaildar of
inamdar it should be clearly explained to him that he should not paste nito it
any sanads or certificates. He should by warned not to have copies made of
remarks recorded in the book without the express permission of the Deputy
commisseoner. He should also be strcty forbidden from showing the book ti any
person other hen an officer authorized to record his opinion in it.
BOOK III
Agricultural stateilstics and record of rights in
land.
CHAPTER
IX
HARVEST
INSPECTIONS
349. Harvest inspections. It is one of the chief
duties of a patwari spect the crops of each harvest field by field before they
are cut. This inspection is known as the girdawari. It usually begins on 1st October for the kharif, and on 1st march, for the rabi, harvest, but the commissioner
of the division can change these dates after consultating with the director of
land records when the special circumstances of any district make others more
suitable. When for any reason the ripening of the crop is later than usual the
deputy commissioner may postpone the inspection for a period not exceeding
fifteen days. A few crops, chiefly melons and tobacco, are sown very alte in
the rabi season and are gathered some time.
After the other crops of that harvest are got in. in
village where these extra Rabi crops are grown a separate inspection of them is
made about the middle of April. In some districts a crop inspection intermediate
between the kharif and the Arabi Girdawati has been found necessary.
350. Object of harvest
inspections - The object of harvest inspections is to collect
accurate information regarding,---
(a) crops,
(b) changes in rights, rents and possession of land,
(c) amendments required iln the village map.
The first is indispensable for the assessment and
collection of land revenue in a province where half the land is cultivated by
the owners and the greater part of the remaining half by tenants paying rent kind;
the second and third are aids to the maintenance of a true records of rights in
the soil. Only such changes need be noted in the harvest inspection register as
must under the rules be embodied in the record of rights.
Others should be entered in the patwari’s diary.
351. Cancelled
352. Record of ailed crops essential. It is
essential to distinguish betwwen crops which ripen and those which fail. The
latter are classed as “ kharaba” the instruction regarding which as follows:---
“when crop is sown and dries up, or is destroyed by
calamity, it should be returned as kharaba. Very careful attention must be
given to partially failed crops, that is, crops if which the yield appears to
be much below average. When the actual yield as a whole of the crop grown in
one khasra number no. is estimated by careful inspection to be not more than 75
percent of the usual or average yield, then a deduction from the whole area of
the crop should be made;
for example, an inferior filed of wheat, area 4
kanals, may be returned as, but this should only be done when the actual yield
of the whole crop ils estimated to be not more than 75 per cent of the average,
and the kharaba allowed should be only as much as is necessary to raise the
shole crop of the area returned as under crop to the average of an ordinary
harvest. The average yield is that adopted by the settlement officer at the
prvious settlement for the assessment circle in which the village is included, unless
some other yield has been specially perscribed in the dastur-ul-amal or else-where.
The crops for which average yields are not fixed at settlement are generally
unimportant. The revenue officials concerned should judge for themselves what
yield should be regarded as separately in different portains of one shasra number
the above procedure should be applied separately to each of such distinct
crops. Deduction for kharaba made under this instruction should, unless some
other special local scale has been prescribed by proper authority, be enteed as
far as is reasonable practicable in accordance with the following scale taking
16 annas as the average yield of a crop:---
yield more than 12 annas no deduction
yield more than 8 annas but duduct ¼ of the sown
area.
not more than 12 annas.
Yield more than 4 annas but
Not more than 8 annas deduct ½ of the sown area.
Yield not more than 4 annas deduct whole sown area.
Jowar which fails in the year should be entered not
as “ jowar kharaba” but as ‘chari pukhata’ the same details should be given for
failed crops as for matured crops.
353. Khababa in canal
colonies. In the lands irrigated by the upper and lower chenab.
Upper and lower jhelum and lower
354. Checking of kharaba.
The entry of kharba is a matter which ra-quires both honesty and sound judgment
on the part of the recorder, and this branch of the patwari’s work should be
carefully tested by all supervs-ing officers. But where the record has been
made with care and is generally sound, it is well to refrain from making petty
alternations here an dthere which affect but slightly the main result.
More than ordinarly care is of course required in
tracts under fluctuating assessment, where the amoun to fthe demand at each
harvest depends directly on the area of matured crop. There are specail rules
as to the check to be exercised over the record of kharaba in such cases.
355. The khasra-girdawari.
Entries respecting uncultivated soils. The harvest inspection book is known as
the khasra girdwari; in this register and in the record of rights uncultivated
land is classified as banjar jadid banjar kadim and ghair-mumkin.
The exact meaning pf each of these terms is
explained in the 267th paragraph
of the settlement manual. Lan dwhich is not under crop. But which has not lain
fallow long enough( e.g. for four harvests) to be described as banjar jadild,
is called khali (empty)
356. Taradaddi.
By a fefinement, which serves no very useful purposes, another class is
recognised under the name of taradaddi, i.e. under tillage. This term is applied
to a field which bears no crop ceonging to be harvest under inspection, but “has
been ploghed for the next harvest, or is occupied by trees or plains, which
will fruit in the coming harvest.” Examples are fields of cotton or cane in the
rabi. Cane which is planted about march, and occupies the ground for ten or
eleven months, is treated for statistical purposes as a kharif crop. Land is
ploughed for cotton, another kharifstaple, in the cold weather, and, where
irrigation is available, the sowings also often take palce before the rabi
crops are cut. Orchars which fruit in spring are shown as taradaddi on the
kharif.
357. Classification of
crops and cultivated soils. The terms barani, sailab,
abi, chani, nahro, by which cultivated fields, and the crops grown on them are distinguished
are explianed in the 259th paragraph
of the settlement manual. Where the moisture on which the crop depends is
derived from a double source, two of these terms may have to be combined, e.g.
chani-nahro, chahi-sailab.(see paragraph 442 and 451 of the settlement manual.)
fields are classified according to their permanent characters and crops
according to the actual facts of their cultivation in theharvest under
insepction. For example, chahi fields are often put uner barani crops, and the converse
sometimes happens(see paragraph 260 of the settlement manual).
358. Entries relating of
wells. As it is important to have a record of wells at
work and out of use a remark showing how the matter stands os entered against
each field in which a well is suited. When a new well has been sunk the fact is
noted.
359. Entries of owners and
tenants. There are columns in the harvest inspection register
in which to show the ownership and cultivating occupancy of every field. Changes
should be noted with care. It is only through the khasra girdwari that alterations
in tenancies-at-well find their way into the record of rights.
359 (a). The patwari should intimate to the gram
panchyat concerned, within 15 days of finishing the girdawari, the following
changes of cultivating tenancy made by him in khasra girdawari so that the
latter should inform the persons concerned about these changes:---
(1) when there is a change in cultivation from a
tenant that the landlord;
(2) when there is an addition of a tenant to the
existing tenant;
(3) where there are two or more than two tenants and
the name of one or more tenants is removed from entry in the khasra gidwari.”
360. Changes In Fields.
Where one filed has been divided into two, or the boundry of a field has from
any cause undergone change, the patwari should make a rough measurement
sufficient for the crop entries, and put a red cross opposite the filed number
in the remarks column to remind him that a correction of the village map is required.
361. The crop abstract.
When all the entries for a village finished. The toals for each frop must be made
out and entered in the crop abstract of the estate before work is started in
another village. The uses of this very important statement will be descrived in
a later chapter(see chapter xvi of this manual paragraph 307 of the settlement manual
and paragraph 7 of the financial commissioner’s standing order no. 22) a statement
in the same form os the chief of the sateistical returns included in the village
revenue register or note-book. As soon as the crop abstract has been checked and
signed by the filed kanungo, the patwari copies the entries into the corresponding
form in this reglister, and sends the original to the tahsil. Promotitude in
filling these returns is a matter of prime necessity, if any question regarding
the suspension of any part of the land revenue demand is likely to arise. The
kharif statements should, if possible, all reach the tahsil by the 1st november, the rabi statements by the 1st of april, and the extra rabi stements by the 1st of june.
362. Duty of kanungos as
regards crop inspections. Revenue officials of all
grades should be made to understand the importance of harvest inspections in
land administaration. While the dirdwari is going on filed kanungos of courosoe
spend the whole of their time in checking it. In the gilrdwari months the tours
mande by the district kanungo should be dovoted to the same work. In ordinary
insepctions the field kanungo accompanies the district kanungo, but during the
girdwari the former has to accomplish so much in a short period that the latter
is forbidden to call for his attendence. (see paragraph 60 of financial
commissions’s standing order no. 19)
363. Duty of tahsildar and
naib-tahsildars. The responsibility of tahsildars and naib-tahsildars
should be steadily enforced. The standard jto aim at is the inseption of every
estate by one or other of these officers at each harvest before the crops are
cut. But at present this is a counsel of perfection. Both officers cannot be in
camp at once, and the harvests last for too short a time to admit of theresults
being observed and the records of them checked in every village. It is far
better that the girdwari in one or two estates in each circle should be
thoroughly checked than that a nominal insepction of it should be made in every
village. The tahsildar and his deputy should so lay out theirwork that no part
of their repective changes remains unvisited. They should have a clear idea of
the state of the crops in every assessment circle and in all important
villages, and special attention sholud be given to estes in which suspention of
the demand is likely to be required. In bad seasons other work must give way to
a thorough examination of the results of each harvest while it is still
standiong on the ground.
364. Duty of superior
revenue officials. The revenue assistant must be on tour throughout
the girdwari months, and must then given most of his time to the checking of harvest
inspection work. The deputy commissioner should, if posible, help him by sending
at the same time into camp some other mamber or members of the headquaters staff.
In times of drought especially, care must be taken to utilize assistant and
extra assistant commissioners to the fullest extent compatible with the
carrying out of such judicial and executive work as must be done at headquaters.
365. Duty of deputy
commissioner. The deputy commissioner’s own part does not consist
so much in checking a few entries in harvest inspection regilsters in the
field, which is all he could possibly accomlish, as in lying out the work of
his subordinates, and obtaining a good general idea of the results of the
harvest in the different parts of his charge by viewing the standing crops and
examinig the crop returns of the villages.
CHAPTER
X
THE
RECORD OF RIGHTS
366 CANCELLED.
367 Nature and contents of
record of described in settlement manual. It is needless
to describe here the nature and contents of a standing record of rights, which
is usually drawn up at settlement, and of the subsequent revised editions of it,
whose legal description is “annual records” though in the great majority of
estates they are prepared only at intervals of four years. The reader os
supposed to be familiar with the fourteen chapters of the settlment manual,
where these matters are fully discussed.
Commentary
Mutation registers are records the title ( 49 plr
274: air 1947
368 Duty of deputy
commissioner to keep record of rights upto date.
The settlement officer hands over to the deputy commissioner a record of rights
for each estate, the chief documents included in which are the village map or
shajara kashtwar and the jamabandi, that is to say, a list of owners and
tantents holdings, with a detail of the fields contain in each of the rent paid
by each tenant and of the trevenue due from owner.
It is the business of the deputy commissioner to
keep both of these upto date. The provision contained is saction 44 of the
revenue act ( xvii of 1887) attaching an equal presumption of truth to entries
is standing record of rights and in annual records can only be justify by the
great care taken in preparing them. The instructions regarding the keeping of
the village map up to date in the interval between two settlement will be found
in part f of financial commissioner’s standing order no. 16.
Commentary
Revenue papers are merely ment for fiscial purposes
( 1970 PLJ 198: 1970 RLR 589: 1970 cu 341)
369. Law as to change of
entries in record of rights explained in settlement menual - The
law as to the circumstances under which the alteration of an existing standing
record of rights or annual record is permissible is discussed in paragraphs
279-282 of the settlement manual, which should be read as part of this chapter.
Commentary
Entries in revenue records show changed sequence
twice in long spell of about 92 years (1979 PLJ 102)
370. Revision of record when
complete re-mesurement is ordered. We are not here concerned
with the elaborate procedure for the revision of the jamabandi, which is
carried out when a complete re-measurement of an estate is ordered, for such
remeasurement, as a rule, only takes place in connection with a general
re-assessment of the land revenue. Should, however, the remeasurement of an
estate become necessary at another time, the procedure will be that laid down
in the seventh appendix to the settlement manual.
371. Forms of jamabandi and
of list of revenue assignments. The forms of jamabandi and of
the list of revenue assignments and pensions, which is included in the annual record,
with instructions for their preparation, will be found in financial
commissioner’s standing order no. 23
372. Classification of
rights to be recorded. The rights of which the
acquisition or loss gives rise to an alteration in the record of rights, may be
classified as follows:---
A. Rights of persons responsible to 1. landowners government
for land revenue. 2. Mortage with possession
B. rights of persons responsible to land 3.
Occupancy teants, owners for rent. 4. Leaseholders.
5. tenants-at-will.
“leaseholders” in this connection means persons
holding land as tenants for periods exceeding one year on written or oral
leases.
373. Reports of acquistition
of rights to patwari’s. the first three classes are
legally bound to report to the patwari the right which they have acquired. If
they fail to do so within three months from the date of acquisition they render
themselves liable to a small fine. (section 39) assignees of land revenue and
mortageges without possession are also bound to report, but their rights are
not of a kind in which must be recorded in the body of the jamabandi, through
certain notes regarding them are made in the “remarks column” of that
document(for the procedure as regards revenue assignments see paragraph 41 of financial
commissioner’s standing order no. 23 and the instructions append thereto. For that
relating to collateral mortgages, in which the landowner remains responsible
for the payment of the land revenue, see paragraph 17 of that standing
order)redemptions of mortgage must be reported by the landowners whose lands
have been redeemed. For his knowledge of acquisition of title by leaseholders
and tenants-at-will the patwari must rely mainly on his own observations and on
the result of inquiries as to the cultivating occupancy of land made at the
harvest inspections (see paragraph 359 of this menual) among the thiongs which
he has to enter in his diary are the deaths of tenents, owner, village
officers, pensioners, and revenue assignees, the ejectment, absconding, or
setting of cultivators and rightholders, the relinquishment, change, or renewal
of any tenure and the execution of any lease or agreement for cultivation.
Leaseholders and tenants-at-will are undeer no obligation to report to the
patwari, but like all other persons whose rights are recorded in the jamabandi
they are bound on demand to furnish him and any revenue officer engaged in
revilsing it with accurate informatiom ( section 40) to aid in recording mutations
is one of the duites set forth in the memorandum given to village headmen on appointment,a
nd the lambardar of the patti in which a mutation takes palce is excepted to attest
by hisseal or signature the report made on it by the patwari for the orders of
the revenue officer.
CAUTION Read separate para for
374. Reports of registed
deeds. Registers and sub-registers send monthly to
tahsildars particular of all registed deeds which purport to transfer
agricultural land. The entries relating to each deed are made on a separate
slip. The office kanungo forwards these slips to the field kanungo of the
circle, who distributes them to the patwaris concerned (see paragraph 6 of
fiancial commissioners standing order no. 23)
374. Reports of registed
deeds. Registers and sub-registers send on the 15th and last date of each month (substituted by
financial commissioner punjab correction slip no. 1(1982) dated 24.12.1981) to
tahsildars particulars of all registed deeds which purport to transfer
agricultural land. The entries relating to each deed are made in a seprateslip.
The office kanungo forwards these slips to the field kanungo of the circle, who
distributes them to the patwari concerned(see paragraph 6 of financial
commissioners standing order no. 23)
375. Register of mutations.
The patwari keeps up a register if mutation in which he records all
acquisitions of rights of the kinds descrilbed in the preceding paragraph, reported
to him or which he “has reason to believe to have been taken palce” except
those relating to land revenue assignmets and undisputed mutations of
tenants-at-will,” as soon as they are acted on”the last words do not occur in
the act, but in a rule framed under it (see act xvii of 1887, section 34(3),
and financial commissioner’s standing orders no. 23 paragraph 2-13 of this
manual). They were seemingly introduced to carry out the principle that the revenue
officer whis is revising a record of rights is concerned only with rights
actually enjoyed by the persons claiming them.(see paragraph 369 of this manual)
but a mere entry in the register cannot cause any elteration in the jamabandi without
an order by a revenue officer, and for the sake of convenience the patwari
enters are tranfers by registed deed, of which he has received intimation under
the procedure described in the last paragraph.it is the duty of the revenue
officer to refuse to refuse to sanction the mutation in such a case unless he
is satisfied that the transfer has actually been completed (see also paragraph
7 of financial commissionor’s standiong order no. 23)
376. Copy of mutation
register field with jamabandi. The forms of the mutation register
with instructions regarding the making of entries in it will be found in
financial commissioner’s standing order no. 23, paragraph i. It is kept up in
duplicate, one copy being retained by the patwari and the other sent to the
tahsil to be attached to the jamabandi as an authority for the new entries with
it contains. The patwari’s report, the attestation of it by the field kanungo
and the order of the revenue officer are wriiten only in the copy of the
register to be field with the jamabandi. It is enough in the patwari’s copy is
show how the case was deposed of by entring the briefest possible abstract of
the order and this abstract should be written by the revenue officer with his
own hand.
377. cancelled.
378. Undisputed entries
relating to tenants-at-will. Most of the alternations in
the jamabandi which are the patwari can make of his own authority are
undisputed mutations of tenants-at-will. These are not entered at all in the
register. Whsen the new jamabandi is being compiled they are taken straight
from the khasra girdawari. (see paragraph 359 of this manual) disputed changes
of tenants-at-will are treated exactly like other mutations.
379. Orders in mutation
cases - Orders in mutation cases can be passed by an assistant
collector of either grade. In practice nearly the whole of the work is disposed
of by tahsiodar and naib-tahsildar. In the country of small peasant proprietors
the number of mutations be attested annually is very large, and it is found
necessary every year to appoint in some districts one or more extra
naib-tahsildar selected from the lists of excepted candidates and to invest
them with the powers required for the disposal of business under chapter iv of
the land revenue act. An appeal of course lies to the collector against order
sanctioning or refusing mutation of names, and the minute proprotion witch the
number of such appeals bears to the number of mutations decided is evidence of
the general satisfaction with the procedure.
380. Mutation work largely
done by officer of no grade standing of experience.
It is clear from what has been just said that much of the mutation work is done
by officers of small standing and little practical experince. It is also true
that the work has often to be carried out very rapidly, if the important object
of keeing the jamabandi upto date is to be attained. These are matters for
reflection considering that each jamabandi now possesses the same authority as
the record of rights drawn up at settlement (see paragrpah 368) fortunitely the
bulk of the work is exceedingly simple; there is no dispute as to facts, and no
opening for doubt at to the order that should be passed. But this is by no
means true univercally, and cases find their into the mutation regilster which
require both care knowledge to decilde correctly.
381. Supervision of work by
deputy commissioner and revenue assisant -When a deputy
commissioner or a revenue assistant is inspecting a tahsil,the mutation work of
the tahsildar,naib-tahsildar,and extra naibtasildar, who may have been employed
, should all be brought under review. With the jamabandi of an estate lying
open before him it is perfectly easy to pick out all the holdinds in which
changes have been made, for in sport of them refrence to the mutation regilster
are always given. If the inspecting officer looks up each case in the
regilster, he can soon satitfy himself as to the quality of the work of the
reporting patwari and of the assistant collector. Having done so, he can turn
back to the jamabandi, and see weahter the changes ordered have been corrctly
made. If this process is repeated for several estates in the circles of the
tahsildar and naib-tahsildar respectively the deputy commissioner cannot fail
to gain a considerable insight into the value of work done by both these officers,
and by some of the patwari’s and kanungos under their control. In examining
mutation seats special attention should be paid to orders passed in the absence
of any of the patwari’s no other should be passed effecting the share of any
right-holder who has not had an opportunty of appearing.
382. Mutation to be attested
on the spot. Tahsildar and naib-tahsildars are accepted to deal
with revenue work, and especially with cases relating to lambardars, land
revenue assignments, partitions, and mutations with in the estate in which the
cases have arisen. The extent to which this obligation may be relaxed with the
expressed permission of the deputy commissioner has been noted in paragraph
247.
383. Contents of mutation s
orders. Every mutation order should show on the face of it
the place where and the date on which it was passed, and that all the parties interested
were present or, if any one was absent, the way in which his evidence was
obtained, or, if it was not obtained, but opputunity was given to him to be
present.no detailed recored of the statements of parties and witnesses is
required, but the order should note brilefly is persons examined and the facts
to which they deposed.(land revenue rules 39,40 and 44ii and tenancy rules 7
and 12 ii) except in the case of killabandi mutations (paragraph 15 of appendix
xiv of settlement manual) no patwari or kanungo or revenue officer should take
the signatures or thumb-marks of parties or witnesses on mutation proceedings.
The facts on which the order is based should be
stated succinctly but clearly, and the order must show without any possibility
of doubt weather the revenue officer accepts the new entry proposed by the
patwari as it stands, or, if it requires amendement, exactly what the entry is
which is to be made in the jamabandi.the order must always show weather a share
of the village shamlat has been included in the transfer.
Commentary
Interested parties have to be given opportunity of
being present ans. The mutation should be attested on the spot by tahsildar.
Where neither notice given nor party present before order in mutation was
passed. The mutation order set aside (mili saint david v. dulo 1986 PLJ 53)
plea that the mutation was sanctioned in the presence of general punlic is not
abequate to fix the present of the parties. (sudama ram v. ram dahn 1992 1 rrr
461).
384. Attendance of parties.
A person who, after receipt of notice by summons or proclamation to appear
before a revenue officer at some place within the estate in which he ordinarily
resides of qualities land, fails to present himself becomes liable to a fine
not exceeding Rs. 50 (section 149) this provision can suitably be put in force
when the default is willful and contumacious. But, where a mans attendance
would involve an amount of inconvience which under all the circumstance could
reasonably be regard as excessive, the proper plan is to take his evidence by
commission.
Commentary
At the time of attestation of mutation the party was
not present nor recorded in the order the presumption is that the party has no
knowledge. (sudaman ram v. ram dham 1992 1 rrr 461)
385. Arbitration.
Disputed cases may be referred to arbitrtaion without the consent of the
parties. But little use is made of this provision of the act. Where it is
resorted to care must to taken to make the artitrators understands that they
must give a clear opinion as to the question whether the right claimed is
actually enjoyed. If the revenue officer cannot satisfy himself as regards the
fact of possession and thinks it inexpedient to refer the point to arbitration,
he is required to make a summary inquiry as to title and to direct that the
person who appers to have the best right to the property shall be put in
possion of it, and that his name shall be entered in the jamabandi. The
disappointed claimant must be referred to the civil courts for the
establishment of any right he conceilve himself to have.
386. Importance of prompt
disposal of mutation work. Mutation which have not been
attested before the end of the agrilcultural year (15th june ), or the date approved by the director of land
records are not incorpated in the jamabandi them under preparation.
This in most cases means that they will not be
brought to record till more than four years after they have taken palace. This
untoward result can easily be avoided if tahsildars and naib-tahsildars lay out
their work properly, and pay special attention to the estate for which
jamabandis are about to be drawn up.
386-A. A mutation pending over
two years. Provision has been made in paragraph 7.4 of the
punjab land records manual to ensure that specail precautions will be taken be tahsildars
and naib-tahsildars to decilde mutations as soon as possible after the period
of two yers has elapsed unless mutations are duly attested within a reasonable
time, litigation is held up and the culticators do not settle down with clear
minds with the cultivation of their lands. Collections , and if necessary.
Commissioner, should bear in mind any remissness on the part of subordinate
revenue officcers in his direction when reporting on the these officers.
Assistant collectors of the 1st grade,
in forwarding reports to th ecollector should bear in mind their own
esponsibility for the proper supervision of mutation work.
387. Jamabandi.
The chief work of th patwari between the completion of the rabi girdwari and
the beginning o fth kharif harvest inspectin is the complining of the jamabandi.
It is drawn up in duplicate and ought to showly whom the land is held as owner
or mortagage at the end of the agricultural year.all payment of rent and
revenue made up to the 15th of
bhado, fwhich corresponds roughly to the end of august, sholud be embodied in
it. The copy should be filed in the tahsil by the 7th september or any subsequent date approved by the director
of land records due to special circumstances, provide such date does not exceed
6 months from 7th September; the other being
retained by the patwari.
388 Jamabandi of most
estates prepared quadrennally. The act conmplatewsd the farming
of an annual record of rights for each estate, but at the time it allows the
financial commissioner to dlirect its prepareation at or the shorter intervals.
For many years after the act was passed an attries being curtailed to some
extent for three consecutive years and given full length in the fourth. This
plan of having ebbreviated and detailed nabandis caused useless trouble, and
the present rule is to draw up a complete jamabandi for each estate or part of
an estate once is four years. Its are made showing what record work the
patwari’s are to do in each year.patwari has four or more small villaes in his circle
, it is easy to distribute work over the different year. If the estates are
fewer in number, one or more of them may have to be split up into two or more
parts for this purpose. Each part should far as possible, consist of one or
more complete subdivision (parties or tarafs). In referring to the latest
jamabndi of any particulars village, the year to which the entries relate must
be noted. If this is not the last agricultural year, any changes which have
occurred since the jamabandi was compled can be ascertioned by turning to the
mutation register.
389. Jamabandis to be
completed by patwari in his own circle. Patwari must not be collected
at the tahsil or anywhere else to write up jamabandis every man must od the work
in his circle. If it is not finishsed in time, and the only way to get it done
to have the patwari under constant obserevation, he can be brought into the
tahsil for a short time in the month of september. On patwaris coming to the
tahsil to file their jamabnadis the office kanungo should detain them there for
as short a period as possible. Girowin work. Except invery special
circumstances, no patwari sholu be detained at the tahsil for more than eight
days.
390. Attestaion of
jamabandio field kanungo in village. The field kanungos check of the
jamabandis while they are under preparation should be constant and systematic.
He is responsible that all the mutation orviously, are correctly in corporated.
He must attest all the entries holding by holding in the presence of the
zamindars concerned. This work can be carried of pari passu with the progress
of the patwaris work. At each of his visits the kanungo can collect the
landowners and tenants whose holdings have been attested since his last visit
and read out the entries in their hearing.
391. Check at tahsil by
field kanungo. In addition to the attention work carried out in the
villages, field kanungos spend september at headquartes of the tahsil and revote
their attention during that time to the checking of the jamabadis filed by the
patwaris. The check carried out the tahsil is chiefly directed to seeing that
mutation have been proprerly incorpated, and that the statisticl statements
filed with the jamabandi or correct.
392. Check by the tahsildar
and naib-tahsildar. The tahsildar or naib tahsildar incharge of the
circle in which the village lies small make his final attention in the sport and
shall observe the follwing in insrtruction:---
(1) at least 25 per cent of the khatauni holdings
should be read out on the spot and in the presence of the assembled rilght
–holders.
(2) At least 25 per cent of the mutation attached to
the jamabandis should be compered with the khewats concerned.
(3) At least 25 per cent of the khewat holding
should be compered with the old jamabnadis.
(4) At least 25 percent of heewat entries in the
original copy should be compred with the corresponding entries in the patwaris
of the jamabandi.
The number of the fileds, the tatima shajaras of
which have been attested, must be specified as also that of the unattested
mutations entered before the 16th june
or the date approved by the dirctor of land records; of these their should be
as few as possible.
393. Notes at end of
jamabandi should show amount of check exercised.
In the notes which they record at the end of thd jamabandi the kanungo and the
revenue officer must state exactly what they have done in the way of scrutiny
and check and they should each include in their note a list of any amendments
which they have made. The revenue officer must include in his prescribe final
attestation slip an dattach one two each of two copies of the jamabandi. The
degree in which the jamabandis last prepared are really up to the date is
matter to be tested at tehsil inspections.
394. Statistical returns
based on jamabandi. The statistical returns which are based on the
mutations register and jamabandi, and which form appendices to the latter document,
will be dealt with in the next chapter.
CHAPTER
XI
AGRICULTURAL
STATISTICS
395. Cancelled.
396. Cancelled.
397. Cancelled.
1) area stasement of
2) Kharif crop statement or hinxwer.
3) Rabi crop statement or hinswar.
4) Revenue account or
5) Statement of transfers of rights kof owners and
occupancy tenants 5-A) statement of sales and murtgages of ownership by classes
lkof land.
6) Ststement of ownership, mortgages and revenue
assignments.
7) Statement of clurivating occupancy.
8) Statement of rent paid by tenants-at-will.
9) Statement of agricultural stoch.
The forms of these statement with detailed
instructions for their perparation will lkbe found in Financial commissiioner,s
Standing order No. 24.
399. Remarks in registers.
In the first six entries are made hear by year in the next three every foufrth
year when a new jamabandi fothe estate is drawn up. The return of agricultural
stock is perpared quinqrennially, and embodies the result of special enumeration
made by the patwari in all the villages in his circle every fifth year in the month
of February. The originals of all these statements are sent to the tahsil as soon
as the figures have been copied by the patwari in the corresponding forms in
his village note-book. The field kanungo is bound to help the patwari in
compiling them, and is held personally responsible for their accuracy.
400. Office kanungis’ copy
of village notebook. The tahsil pffice kanungo
keeps up a note-book for each village cintaining the ten tegisters mentioned
above and an eleventh telating to the assessment of the estate, the figures in
which are compiled ince for all at settlement. The other returns only differ
form those in the patwari’s village note-book in so far as the heading of the
tegisters are ptinted both in English and in vernacular and the entries are
made in English figures. In the 11th of
assessment officer, or of both on the estate are recorded, and it is the duty
of the tahsildar to supplement these by brief notes in the subsequent history
of the village in each year in which its jamabandi is drawn up.
And ar other times, whenever any event occurs which
seriously affects the well-being of dthe estate. Such a note should always be
made when it becomes necessary to suspend the recovery of any part of the land
revenue demand, and subsequent recoveries or remissions and the teasons
justifying them should also be recorded.
401. Assessment circle and
tahsil notebooks. The office kanungo also keeps up notebook for each
assessment circle and for the whole tahsil containing these ten tegisters.
There are blank pages at the end for entry by the
tahsildar and Revenue Assestant of general remarks applicable to the assessnent
circle note-book. The centers and the dates of report have been separately
determibned for each district. If any changes in these centres are subsequently
found necessary for any cause, reports suggesting alterations will be submitted
through the Director of land Records to the commissioner of the division by the
collector. In the case of districts under settlement the Settlement officer will
similarly send proposals for changes through the commissioner to the Financial commissioner.
The financial commissioner in districts under
settement and the commissioner in districts not under settlement, will decide
whether the changes proposed ar e necessary.
The prices should be those at which the produce of
each harvest was acrually diposed of. The field kanungos should fix the rates
after careful enquiry from zaminders, sahukars, etc., and his entries shuould
be carefully checked by the tahsildar and Revenue Assistant and approved by the
collector. The rates goven by the field kanungos for each circle should be
compared with each other and large discrepancies enquired into. In the case of
rice and cotton jthe price of “unhasked roce” “and” unginned corrton” Desi and
American,” separately should be quoted.
402. Importance of regular record
of notes on villages by tahsildars. Tahsildars should be
encouraged to record such remarks regularity. The deputy commissioner and commissioner
should discuss with him the contents of such notice at their tehsil inspections.
This is very practical way of testing his knowledge of his tahsil and, provided
the notes are good ones, of adding to ones own.
403. Assessment circle,
tahsil and district note books kept up by district kanungo.
The district kanungo keeps up for each assessment circle and tahsil, and for
the district as a whole registers in the same form as those maintained by
office kanungo at tahsils. 404. English village
notebooks drawn up at settlement. A copy of the English village
note book as drawn up at the last settlement containing the remarks of the settlement
officer on the estate and its assessment is kept at headquartes. It is
unnecessary to maintain the registers in this copy upto date. When he wishes to
study the agricultural statistics of the estate for the year during which the
current settlement has been inforce, the deputy commissioner can always send
for the tahsil copy of the village tehsil notebook. The origianal idea was that
the deputy commissioner should record his own remarks from time to time in the
english notebook kept at headquartes. But a more convenient place for recording
them is the abstract village note book introduced in 1896, and it is now the
rule for settlement officers also to enter there remarks in the abstract and not
in the detailed note book.
405. Abstract village note
book. The abstract village note-books co9ntain for each estate
the village inspection notes tecorded by the settlement officer his assessment statements
and its small scale map, and also a short statement in which the chief agricultural
statisties are annually posted with quinquennial averages. Spare leaves for the
entry of remarks are appended to each sheet. The abstract for all the astates
of a fairly large assessment circle can be brought together in volume of
moderate size. All the figures un the abstract ard are taken straight from ine
kof other of the first seven registers in the vernacular village note-book. It
is an excellent plan to enter on a separate sheet at the district office in the
office of the district kanungo,and it is the business of the district kanungo
to make the necessary the ordinary form to suit local conditions kis
cindiedrred as each district comes settlement.
406. Use of abstract village
notebook. When the deputy commissioner or any trained assistant
commissioner goes on tour he should take with him the volumes of abstract village
note-books belonging to the tract to be visited, and should consultanty refer
to them. But it must not be supposed to that these abstracts superede the
detailed village note-book. When any close inquiry into the circumstances of an
estate is required, the officer who makes it should have both the abstract and
the note-book before him. If he is in camp he can easily consult the patwari’s
copy of the latter, and, if he wishes to see the assessment statistics embodied
in statement ii, and the remarks of the tahsildar and the revenue assistant, he
can call for the office kanungo’s copy.
407. Entry of remarks by
deputy commissioner. It is the duty of the deputy commissioner
to enter remarks about any village in which circumstances arise that are worht
recording (the twenty-fifth chapter of the settlement manual may usefully be referred
to in this connection) the ideal to the aim at is the maintenance if a
continuous revenue history of each estate to which the deputy commissioner of
the day and the settlement officer of the future can refer with confidence.
Clear and concise contemporary notice by an experienced revenue officer who has
inspected an estate and enquired into its circumstances either as part of the
ordinary routine of a tour or for any special reason, can not file to be
valuable. Such notice may be written by the district officer himself, or by the
revenue assistant , if he knows english, or by any assistant whom the deputy commissioner
consider to possess sufficient experience.
408. Duties of commissioner
with reference to agricultural statistics. Revenue administration
, as already remarked, depends very largely on the success with which the records
to which this chapter relates are kept up and made use of, and there is no
subject ot which commissioners out to give more attention during there
inspection tours.
CHAPTER
XII
RIVERAIN
LAW AND REASSESSMENT OF LANDS AFFECTED BY RIVER
ACTION.
409. Meaning of riverain law.
Riverain law is voncerned with the effect on rights in land of river action.
Which is usually qualified according to its nature by the rerms erosion,
accretion and avulsion.
Commentry
The definition of reverain action given in the land
administration manual is applicable only in the villages subject to diluvion
and alluvion.
410. Diluvion and alluvion.
The two former afe applied kto the process by which land is sucked into the
channel kby the inset of a river at one place and fresh land exposed at anokther
by its retirement. The loss and gain thereby carsed are respectively as
dilucion and alluvion.
411. Avulsion.
The word avulsion is an unhappy one to describe what takes place in the punjab
when part of an estate is transferred in a recignizable cindition from the
right to kthe left bank of the main channel of a river of vice versa. There a
large river, after it has penetrated some way from the extreme limits of the
wanderings of the stream. The valley in seamed with channels, sime how druy all
klthe year round , except in heavy flods, some dry in the cold weather and
running in the hor, and some in kljthe case of sdkjthe largest
rivers,containing water throughout the year. the main channel(dhar kalan in the
vernacular of revenue officials) gradually gets silted up,and the force of the
stream is diverted in to some other bed,which in its turn become the principal
ine. This shifting of the stream from ome bed to another may leave much of the
land between them unaffected. Avulwion means not the movement of land, but that
of water.
412. Regulation XI of 1825.
These various kinds of river action afe all provided for in Regulation xi of
1825, which was the law on kthe subject with which the first administrators of kthe punjab had been
familiar in the Bengal Regulations, but twenty three years after annexation
regulation XI of 1825 was expressly extended to it by the third section of the
punjab lawa act, IV of 1872, and iti sstill in force.(as amended by section 4
of punajb act I of 1899, see paragraph 426.)
413. Custom primary rule of
decision. The regulation makes custom the rule of decision
in all "dispute relative to alluvial land” between private owners,
“whenever any clear and definite usage……. May have been immorially
established.” (section 2 of regulation XI of 1825) as an example of such a
usage it cites the deepstrean to be for the time being forms the boundry
between the estates on oposite banks of a river, and property in land changes
with every alternation in its course.
414. Rules of decision in
absence of custom. In the absence of well-established local usages to
rules of decision are raid down.
152 REVERAIN LAW AND
REASSESSMENT OF LANDS AFFECTED BY
(1) land added gradually owing to the recess of a
river is to be considered an increment of the property of the person to whose
holding or estate in has become annexed
(2) when a river
(a) by a sudden change in its course breaks thought
or interescts an estate, or
(b) by the violence of stream seprates a consderable
piece of land from one estate and joins it to another, “without distroying the
identity and preventing the recognition of the land so removed,” theland is to
remain the property of the original owner.
This may be called the deep-stream rule modify to
meet the case of avulsion.
416. Cases not governed by
rules. In other cases not governed by the rules the
courts are to be guided by the best avidence obtainable as to local custom. Or,
in default of such evidence by general principle of equity and justs.
417. Probable absence of definite custmer in punjab,
the extent to which “clear an ddefinite “ and “immemorially established” local
usages as two the effect of rilver action on property in land existed in the
punajb at the time of annexation seems open to deubt in some cases the usage
recorded in the first settlements may have had a traditional basis: in others
they no doubt represented what the headmen, assisted by the officials consirded
out the be enforced for the future.
418. Deep strem rule pure
and simple. The deep strem rule is expressed by various
verncular terms, has sikandari.kach mach, daryabanna, kishti banna, machhisim. It
probably existed in its most rigid form in some parts of the province before
1845. Even where no such usage was of great antiquity it would naturally spring
up whenever the opposite banks of a river came to be held kby river chiefs each
eager to support the claims of his own subjects. It was recirded as the
prevailing custom,on the
419. Deep-stream rule modified
to meet case of avulsion. As a rule regulating the
ownership of land , it is so harsh in its working that it was universally condemmed
by british officers. It may be partly on this accoun that in the vast majotrity
of a estate else where in the punjab which are recorded as following the
deep-stream rule, it is declared ot be subject to the qualification that
transfer of land in an identifiable state by avulsion from one bank of a river
that another involves no change of ownership.
420. Rule of fixed
boundaries. In some cases, for example, on the upper Ravi in
the gurdaspur and
421.
422. Boundaries how fixed.
The act requires that the “boundaries ine shall be filxed with due regard to
the history of the estate and the intereset of the persons respectively owing
them or possessing rights therein such manner as may be just and quitable in
the circumstances of each case( punjab government revenue proceedingsgeneral no.29
of january, 1900.) the instructions issued by the financial commissioner regarding
the carring out of this provision of the act provide(punjab govt. revenue proceedings-general-no.
29 of januray, 1900) that “the collecter should in the first place try to get
the villages concerned to come to an amenable agreement.” Failing that, he
“must himself fix a line…… and, in doing so, should have been, taking a long
series of years together, if matters had been allowed to continue under the
existing law or custom.
Among other things he would have to bear in mind
that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. If, for example, the river
were making a dead set upon its right bank, which it was in a high degree
likely would continue for some years, some allowance would have to be made for
the fact that the riparian owners on the left bank would, by our taking action
under the act, be derived of land which would be pretty certain to have accured
to them for some years if we had left matters alone. On the other hand, it
should fbe born in mind that in all probability after some years the river
would begin to work back again, and whatever was reasonable should be allowed
per contra on this account in fixing the line. The object should be to draw the
line as far as possible so that neither party should feel that the other had
obtained a very clear advantage by our intervention.
423. Effect of relaying of
boundry on private property. If the line adopted transfer
land from one estate to another, the proprietary rights in the land are also transferred.
But in the case of land which is under cultication, or reasinably fit for the culticvation,
or (which) yield any produce of substantial value, “it is the duty of the collecteor
to pass an order suspending the transfer of private rihgts “unless and until
the land……….. cease to be reasonably fit for cultivcation or to yield any
produce of substantial value;” when any part of the land answers the latter
description, the transfer be, comes complete.(section 101-b(1) of the punajb
land revenue act, 1887). The effect of action taken nder the act is to create a
fixed boundry which will at once define the limits of estates and ultimately in
the majority of cases those private also.
Contents
424. Immedilate transfer of
ownership on payment of compensation. The landowner or any of the
landowners of an estate in which has been included land whose transfer qua
propritary right has been suspended by order of the collector, may apply to him
cancel his order and award compensation for the loss of their rights to the
existing landowners it is within the collector’s discretion to accept or reject
such an application.(section 101-c of the Punjab land revenue act, 1887)
425. Exclusion of
jurisdiction of civil courts. By an addition to section 158
of the land revenue act questions connected with proceedings for the
determination of boundaries under punjab act 1 of 1899 are excluded from the
jurisdiction of civil courts(section 158(xviii)(a) of the punjab land revenue
act, 1887).
426. Procedure.
The boundry in each case is laid down by the collector. In practice, the work
has been done by settlement officers or special officers invested with the
powers of a collector and working under the orders of the financial
commissioner. No boundry line is deemed to have been permantly fixed till it
has been approved by the financial commissioner.
427. Amendment of regulation
XI of 1825. Additions made to sections 2 and 3 of regulation
xi of 1825 make thaat enactment of no effevt afrer a fixed boundary has been
laid down.
428. Cancelled.
429. Jursidiction
boundaries. In theory, there is no necessary connection between
the boundaries of privare property and those of jurisdiction. In the case of
the latter, three kinds of riverain boundaries may be distinguished,---
(a) between districts in the same administration.
(b) between two administration.
(c) between british administrations and indian
States.
430. Official opinion
formely favoured deep-streakm fule pure and simple.
The recognition of the iniquyity of the deep stream fule pure and simple as applied
to the ownership of land was quite compatible with the emphatic assertion kthat
it ought to be enforced as between district and district, and between and kthe
punjab and indian States. The reason urged was that the boundaty of
jurisdiction must be one kljthat could be quickly determine and easily
recognized,conditions that were only satisfied by adopting as the line of demarcation
the main channel for the time being.
431. Deep-stream declared to
kne the jurisdiction boundary along
432. Assimilation of
boundaries of ownership and jurisdiction- The view that the
deep-stream rule pure and simple was the only suitable one for the determination
of district boundaries gained force from the difficulties and delays besetting
the dicision of boundaries disputes between the landowners of riverain estates
situated in the defferent districts. But it overlookd the inconvenience
landowners were bound suffer from having to pay part of their revenue in one
district and part in anothr, and from being at the beck and the call of two
sets of judicial, revenue and police official. The punjab government, therefore
in 1889 accepted a proposal made by colonel wace to declare by notification
that the boundaris of dirticts separated by rivers followed the boundaris of
ownership in the boundary villages the deepstream being adopted where that was
the peactice followed for frgulating proprietary rights, and the rule of fixed
boundaries being observed where the estates on opposite banks defined their
rights of ownership thereby. To the notification relating to the different
rivers, schedules were annexed giving the names of the boundry estates on their
right and left banks. When such a notification has been published, action taken
under Punjab Act 1 of 1899 to lay down fixed boundares for riverain estates
also establishes permanent boundaries between the diatricts in which thay are
situated.
433. Boundary between
156 REVENUE LAW AND
REASSESSMENT OF LANDS AFFECTED BY
434. Boundary of Punjab and
435. Advantages and defects
of deep-stream rule pure and simple. But eisewhere the reasons
whch were held to require the adpotion of the deepstream rule pure and simple
for the demaration of district boundaries applied with double force to the
boundaries of the province and indian states. Assuming that the plan of fixed
boundaries was impracticable, it was the only rule which made it pessible to
settle the boundaries in whch indian States are cincered without endless
trouble and interminable delays. But, on the other hand, the hardships to which
landowners were sunjected by a divergence between tne rules governing the
limits of jurisdiction and private ownership were much increased whin the land
was transferred,not from one British district to another, but from the punjab
to an indian State.
436. Deep-stream rule in
extreme form given up. At frist the deep-stream rule
in its extreme from prevailed. In accordance with it,eight astates were transferred
in 1857 from the ferozepore district to the
437. Fixed boundaries
adopted in cases of Kapurthala and Bahasalpure.
The boundaries of indian States cannot be legally affected by punjab Act1 of 1899.
But since ot was passed, a fixed boundary has been laid down by content between
British orttitory and Kapurthala along the course of the Beas and the Sutlej
and a similer line has been demerited between the punjab and Bahawalpur along the
Sutlej and rhe indus. Thus a content source of trouble has been removed.
438. Special revision of
assessment in riverain villages. The action of the seven great
rovers of the punjab and of the numerous torrents which issue from the hills
renders the assets of the estates on their banks very unstable. It is therefore
imperative that some means should exist by which the land revenue demand of
such villages can be revised form time to rime. It was ultimately found that in
some large tracts the changes caused by the rivers were so frequent and so
extreme that nothing would serve but the abandonment of a fixed assessment
altogether in favour of a fluctuating one which involved the reassessment of
the whole demand harvest by harvest. But elsewhere it has been prossible to
tetain the fixed demand providing for its annual revision as regards those
parts only of villages which have been lost system prevailed throughout the
province ofr many years after annexation, and it is still in force in a large part
of it.
439. Cancelled.
440. Cancelled.
441. 433. Cancelled.
442. Existing order.
The following orders have been issued for general guidance in conformity with
section 59 of the land revenue act:---
“(1) where land of an astate paying land revenue is
injured of improved by the action of water or sand, the land revenue due on the
astate under the current assessment shall be reduced of increased in conformity
with the instructions issued from time to time in this behalf by the Financial
commissioner.and in every such caes the distribution of the land revenue over
the holding over the holdinb of the astate shall be revised so as to similarly
reduce of increase the sum payable in respect of the halding in which the land that
has been injured of improved os situated.
443. Supersession of general
by special local rules. The defects in the old assessment
rules are pointed out in the 455th paragraph
of the settlement Manual. These defects have led to their supersession in many
districts by special rules drawn up by settlement officers to suit the
circumstances of each locality. The main fearuers of these new rules are
described in the paragraph of the settlement Manual cited above. In the 26th of the standing orders issued in 1910, general rules
under section 59(c) of act xvii of 1887 have been issued as instructions if the
financial commissioner to be followed where no special rules have been
sanctioned.
444. Close supervision of
alluvial assissments required. The special local rules not
only prescribe rates of assessment, but also explain the procedure to be followed
in bringing to record the loss and gain due to river action. But, however
perfect the system on paper, its working in practice must always remain a
delicate matter,in which the work of the tahsildar and has subordinates must be
clisely supervised by the superior revenue staff of the district.
445. General instructions.
The measurements in which these yearly revision of assessment must be based
occupy a good deal of time, and must be started in rivetain circles as soon as
the patwari has finkshed the kharif crop inspection, written up the mutations
which have come to light in the course of it and perpared the annual bachh
papers. Every village in which any change of assessment is required must be
inspected by the Deputy commissioner or by one of has assistant or Extra
assistant commissioners. Of course the bulk of this work falls to the revenue
assistant,but,where it is heavy,part of it sould be made over tosome other
mimber of the crop inspection, written up the mitations which have come to
light in the course of it and prepared the annual bachh papers.
Every village in which any change of assessment is
required must ne inspected by the deputy commissioners of by one of his
assistant or Extra assistant commissioners. Or course the bulk of this work
falls to the revenue assistant, but where it is heavy part of it should be made
over to some other member of the headquarters staff the final order as to each
astate must be passed by an assistant collector of the 1st grede and officers of higher class.
446. Annual returns.
An abstract statement of the changes due to alluvion and diluvion is sent to
the commissioner in the middle of April. A divisional abstract compiled from
these district returns is submitted to the financial commissioner.
The orders passed on it are the authority for making
the necessary changes in the land-revenue roll.
CHAPTER
XIII
PARTITIONS
447. Cmmon land of village
communities. It is an essential frature of the village
community, at leasr in its original form, that the proprietary body should possess
part of their loands in common. The village sites, the grazing lands over which
the cattle wamdered and sometimes the wells from which the people drew their
drinking water were held in joint ownership. Often each sub-division (taraf,
patti, or paa) of the astate had also its own common land in addition to its share
in the common land or shamilat of the whole community. This veature of communal
village proprety was reproduced by our revenue offivers in those parts of the
province in which the village systen was forcibly engrafted on a tenure of a
very different chacter.
448. Other joint holdings.
But, besides the large joint holdings in which all the landowners in an estate
or a sub-division of an estate have an interest. It constantly happens that
maby of the other holdings are jointly owned by several sharehokders. According
to indian ideas,land in north-western
A joint holding is also created whenever a landowner
sells or mortgages with possession a share of his holding,itstead of partocular
fields included in it.
449. Tendency to divide
joint holdings. The increase of population and of the profits
derived from agriculture leads in time to large portions of the common waste of
the vo;;age pf patti being broken up by individual shareholders, with the
result that in the end a demand arises for its partition. Family quarrels and the
restraints and inconveniences which spring frim common ownership conctantly
make those who are interested in other joint holding enxious to divide the
land.
450. Vesh.
The custom of vesh,or the periodical redistrinution of village or tribal lands,
which is an intersting feature of promiktive land owning renures both in the
East and wist, is now nearly extinct in the punjab. But the land Revenue act
provides for its enforciment shere the custom still prevails.
451. Private partitions.
Private partitions are frequently made, but there is always a risk that sime
shareholders will become dissatisfied and allege that the division was only one
for convenience of cultivation, and was not intended to be of a prrmanent
character. Landowners therefore, especially when the area keld in common is
largeand the share holders numetous, usually apply to the revenue authorities
tomake the pertition for them. A private partition may also by affirmed after
due enquiry by as Assistant Collector of the 1st
grede on the application of any of the persons interested init.
Although no formal application has been lodged, the patwari is bound to record
voluntary partitioins for orders in the mutation register as soon as they have
been acted on. In passing orders on such cases,care must be taken not bo treat
as partitions of proprietary right arrangements which the parties did not
intend to ne permanent. Shareholders may be comtent for years to have in their
cultivating possession less than their forr shere of a common holding without
intening to give up any part of their right of ownership. Of any of them
objects to the record of kthe alleged partition and the attestiong officer
considers the objection valid, he should refuse mutation of names and refer the
party seeking it to proceedings under section123 of the land Revenue act. But
if he finds that the objection is vexatious or frivolous, and that fair private
partition has actually been carried out he should record the objection and his
proposed lorder disallowing it, and other assistant collector of the 1st grade authorized by the deputy commissioner to deal
with these cases.
Commentry
No report made to patwari and no proceedings taken
under the act for finalisatio of partirtion cannot be recognised.
452. Complete and incomplete
partitions. Partirions are of two kinds:complete and
incomplete. Where a complete partition is made, there is a total severance if
rights liabilities. They have always been looked on with much disfavour in the
punjab, where they cannot be carriled out without the express consent of the
financial commissioner( section 110(1)-cf. Paragraph 1 of finan cial
commissioner’s book circular no xlviii ov 1860 and paragraphs 1 and 2 of chapter
xiii of rules under act xxxiii of 1871). In complete partitionas do not affect
the foint liability of the shareholders for the revenue of the divided holdings
and still less do they operate to create new estates. The former fact is not of
much practical importance. The officer who makes the partitions is requied to
distribute the revenue of the divided land over the new holding which have been
created. If in the case of a complete partition a fraudulent or erroneour
distrinution takes place, the local Government may, at any time within twelve
years after the discovery of the mistake, order a fresh distribution. For this
purpose the best estimate passible must be made of the assets of each astate at
the time of its formation.
453. Property which must,
and property which may be excluded from partition.
The village site unless in the very rate case of its being assessed to land
revenue cannot be partitioned by proceedings under the land revenue act. Even
if it is assessed the assistant collector may refuse padrtition and this discrtetionary
power may properly be held to extend to the uncultivated land round a village
which os lused as standing ground for cattle or occupied by enclosures for
fodder and manure. Place of worship and burial ground cannot be partitioned
unless the parties record and file an agreement assenting to their division.
Any embankment water-course, well or tand and the land by the drainage of which
a tank is filled and any grazing land may be exclided from partition. In arid
tracts where the people depend on tanks for their own drinking water and for
the watering of their cattle it may be a matter of importance to keep the waste
atea which feeds a tank free from dultivation though the land hunger is now so
great tha that maby of the owners may clamour to have it divided. If any of
thejoint owners afterwards encroadches on the reserved land he may be ejected
from it on the application of any other co-shares. It deciding whther to use
the discretion given by section 112 (2) of the act, one must think not only of
the wishes and interests of the land owners, but also of the likelihood of the
partition causing inconvenience to other residentants of the village, as of example,
the menials who have been accustomed to use the common property. When any of it
is excluded from partition, the assistant collecter may determine the extent
and manner to and in which the co-shares and other persons interested therein
may make use thereof, and the proporation in which expenditure incurred
thereon, and profits derived therefrom, respectively, are to be borne by, and
divided among those or any of them. (section 119).
454. Holdings of occupancy
tenants. A discretion is also left to revenue officers as
regards holdings of occupancy tenants. if tenants who have a joint right of
occupancy in a holding wish to partiton, it any objection that the landlord may
urge must be carefully considered, and, it is a reasonable one, partition may
be absoulately,disallowed(section 112(4) ) even when such a tenancy is divied,
the former co-shares do not except with the express consent of the landlord,
cease to be jointly liable for the rent of the original holding(section 110(2)
) again an occupancy tenant may well be unwilling to see his holding spilt up
among three or four ;andlords, to each of whom he must pay a sepreate rent. The
law therefore provides that such a severance of tenancy may be sufficien
treason for disallowing a cliam on the part of landowners for partition, so far
as ot wpould affect the holding of the tenant, unless the latter gives his
assent to the proposlas.
455. Who may apply for
aprition - Any joint owner andy any joint tenant who has a
right of occupancy in his holding nay apply for partition if,---
(a) his share entered in the last jamabandi, or
(b) his right to a share has been established by
decree or court, or
(c) his title has been admitted in writing by all
persons interested in the admission or denial therof.(section iii see also
financila commissioner’s standinmg order no. 27) the mere fact that a man is a
landowner as defilned in section 3(2) of the land revenue act does not entitle
him to apply unless he fulfills one or other of the above three conditions(the
circumstances under which a mortage in possession can claim partition of a
jointholding are dilscused in revenue judgement no. 4 of 1903.) the mere fact
thea a man is a landowner as defined in section 3(2) of the land revenue act does
not entitle him to apply unless he fulfills on eor other of the above three
conditions.
456. Conduct of perrtition
cases. Pertition casers are decided by revenue officers
of a class not below that of assistant collector of the Ist grade and usually
by the Revenue Assistant. No officer who is not homswlf empowered to settle the
case should receive an application for partition. A qualified officer to whom
an application has been presented can either cinduct the whole enquiry himself,
or refer it for report to as Assistant Collector of the 2nd grade that ia as a rule to a tahsildar or
naib-tahsidar. The latter course os generally the best to follos. But the
officer before whom the case has been instituted is responsibkle for itsd
proper conduct throughout, and should exercise close supervision over the
proceedings of the official to whom je jhas referred it for onvestigation. An
assistant collector, who in a disputed pertition case is content to pass prders
on reports received from the tahsildar wothout ever having the parties before
himself,and without, if need be inspecting the land to be divided, certainly
fails in his duty
457. Common defects in
partition cases. No branch of revenue work used in former days to
be worsen dine than pertition cases. Scandalous delays were allowed to occur.
No proper care was taken to lay down clearly the mode of partiton or to define
accurately the limits of the land assigned to each share holder, or to point
these out on the spot to the parties interested. Years after an elabolrate
partition has been made on paper it was notin frequently found that the
existing facts of possession in no way agreed with the allotmendts shown in the
file. Matters have improved of late years but much watch fulness on the part of
assistant and the deputy commissioner is required to prevent undue delays, and
to secure that partitions are fairly carried out and given effect to fully and promptly.
The points o which it is most essential to insist are that the cases are dealt
with by the investigation officer as far as possible in or near the village where
the land is sirtuted, (see paragraph 247 of this manual) that the proposed mode
of partition is clearly explained by him and that the orders passed by the revenue
assistant ar district and enter into sufficient detail to enable the actual division
to be carried out without any opportunity arising for further duspute. In cases
in which many shareholders are concrened, the first hearing should invariably
be in or near the village where the land is situated. A visit to the village is
equally necessary after the partition papers have been prepared and objections
to the partition are to be heard. All the shares in the common land of a large
village cannot be expeccted to attent at the tahsil on the same day, nor can
objections against the partition be decided without seeing the plots allotted to
each shareholders.
458. How delay may be
prevented. The failure to ascertain fro the first what is the
actual contention of those who appose the partition is a fruitful cause of delays
and wrong decisions. An officer who begins by carefully amining the parties on
the spot is not likely to fall into this mistake. That complicated cases should
remain pending for a considerable time is of course inevitable. The best way to
check any tenency to procrastination is for the deputy commissioner, from time
to time, to examine a few of the pending files in each tahsil.
459. Care required to make
equitable division. Officers are too ready to pass orders of a general
character, for example, “that division shall be made having regard to the
character of the land” if land descrived by the same name in the jamabandi
really differs much in value, a durther classification is a necessary preliminary
to a first division, and it should be made before the mode of partition is determined.
On the other hand, it is not always equitable to give each man his exact share
of each brought part of it under irrigation by sinking a well or digging an
irrigation channel, or may have raised its value by embanking it. He ought, as
far as possible, to be allowed to retain the land, whose present value is due
to his enterprise. A suitable arangement often is to allot to him the land he
has improved giving to his co-shares a larger area of unimproved land. In this
connection efforts should be made to persuade coshares to abstain from
insisting on an exact application of the rule of equal proportions where this
would result in the formation of an excessive number of small scattred plots or
fields. It should be pointed out that such a division of a holding has many
disadvantages from the point of view of agricultural efficiency. It entails
waste of the cultivator’s time and labour and adds to the work of his bullocks
by multiplying journeys to and from his land. It causes waste of water, and
even waterlogging, by involving the use of unnecessarily long, tortuous or
wells, drainage, leveling and other agricultural improvements more difficult,
while small fields nay often be an obstacle to the emploment of improved
agricultural implements and machinery. Should the parties nevertheless desire
the application of the rule of equal propertions of each class of land, the revenue
officer has discretion, under section 118 of the land revenue act, to refuse
compliance if he thinks that the circumstances of the case render that rule inappropriate
and he may instead authorize duly specified deviations from it.
460. General discretion to
refuse partition. Certain special cases in which a revenue officer
has a discretionary power to refuse partition have been referred to above. But,
in addition, a general discetion to reject applications is given by section 115
of the act, which provides that “after exemining such of the coshares and other
persons as may be present……….. the revenue officer may, if he is of opinion
that there is good and sufficient cause why partition should be absolutely
disallowed, refuse the application recording the grounds of his refual.” This
discreation should not be exercised in an arbitrary way.
Ordinaralily the ground for refual should be on eof
those alreay mentioned on the 453rd and
454th paragraphs. But the assistant
colleccter is not debarred from rejecting an application on other grounds if a
sufficient case is made out by the opponents of partition. If, for example, he
finds that many of the new holdings which would be created by the partition of
the common land of a village would be so minuute as to be useless to the
right-holders to whom they would be allotted, he may reasonably refuse to
sanction a holding by holding partition, and wither reject the application
entirely or order a pattiwar partition, each patti being given seprate
possession of its share in the common land of the estate.
461. Claims by widows.
The claims of widows for partition are often strongly opposed by the other
co-shares. Among agricultural tribes in the punjab a widow who has no son
inherits,as a rule, a life interest in her deceased husband’s land. Her right
is indisputable, but it is one that ils viewed with great jealousy by ultimate
heirs. Where her property consists of a share in a joint holding, they are very
laoth to allow her seprate possession from a fear, often well founded, that she
will manage it badly, and probably in the end attenate at the same time, so
long as the holding is undivided, the widow often finds it diffcult to obtain
her fair share of the produce. If the records of tribal custom prepared at
settlement are examined, it will generally, through not invariably, be found
that the widow’s right to claim partition is admitted, and it is clear that under
the provision of the land revenue act she is entitiled to apply for it. But, if
satifactory arrangements can be made to secure for her, due enjoyment of her life
interest without partition, it should be disallowed.
462. Questions of title.
The officer to whom an application has been sent for report sometimes finds
himself confronted at the outset by an objection witch disputes the title of
the applicant to ask for partition. Fox example, the responant may deny the
correctness of the report of rights, or he may admit its correctness, but
assert that the applicant is not in possession of his share, and is therefore
not entitled to claim partition at all, oor is not entitled to do so till he
has had a settlement of account woth the responent. In such cases all that the
tahsildar can do is to record clearly what the points in issue are, and return
the case to the officer who is empowered to dispose of it. After hearing the
parties, has asked for partition procedding will give him an advantage over the
opposite party, has asked for partition in order to envade direct resort to the
civil court regarding a question of title which he knows to be disputed. In
that case he should file the proceedings, with leave to either party to apply
to have htem reopned on showing that the point at issue has been a decided by a
competent civil court.
But if it appears that the applicant is acting in a
straight-for-ward manner, the revenue officer should invariable, unless there
is some special reassom to the contrary, deal with the dispute himself.
Generally speaking where landowners are concered, be question at issue will be
one over which a civil court jurisdiction. If it is so the procedure of the
revenue officer must exactly follow that applicable to the trail of an origianl
suit in a civil court, and the decree will for proposes of appeal, be treasted
as if it had passed by the subordiante judge if however, the questions is one
over which revenue court has jurdisction, the revenue offiver must proceed as a
revenue court. The neglect of this provision by revenue officer often causes
much trouble.
463. Appeals.
The law regarding appeal in partition cases is a little complicatede, an dforms
a partial exception to the general rule that appeal from an assistant collector
of any grade lie to the collector, an order under section 115 of the land
revenue act absolutly disallowing a partition is appeable to the collector. but
if he does not reject the application abinitilo the assistant collector must
proceed ascertain the questions in dispute distinguishing between (a) (a)
question as to title in the property and
(b) question as to the property to be divided or the
mode of the making the partition.
The procedure in cases in which a question of a
title has to bne settle has been explained in the proceeding paragraph. If the
assistant collector has acted as a civil court, and appeal will lie to the
district judge,if as a revenue court to be collector but appeal from any order
he may pass “as the proprty to be divided or mode of a making a partition” are
heard by the collector.
CHAPTER
XIV
ACQUESTION
OF LAND FOR PUBLIC PUSPOSES
464. Advanatages and
disadvanteges of acquestion by the private agreement - Land
which is required for the public purposes must be taken up through the
collector if the provision for compulsory acquestion contained in the act I
1894 are put inforce. But engineers or the other officers of government who
have obtained permission from the head of there own department, can endeaviur
to arrange for the purchase of land private agreement, and in such cases deputy
commissioner’s out to supply them with perliminary estimates of value just as
they would do in case in which it was proposed to make use as of the act. But
they must not carry on private negotitiations for any other department unless
of the department acquiring the land has itself failed to acquire land by such
negotations. The advatage of the voluntry agreement is that the addition of
fifteen per cent to the market price, which the act allows as a solatium for
the compulsory nature of the transaction, is saved. On the other hand under the
statutory procedure therei perhaps less risk of an extravagant valuation and
comliance with the necessary for malities ensure the vesting of the land
“absolutely in the government free of all encumbrance.” Where there is a
faintest doubt regarding the title of the person in person in possession, or where
there is any reason of the fear that the land may be encumbered to an unknown
extent, private negotation is out of the jab there is often no danger, at least
in localities where the land tenure is of latent defects of title. Where this
is the case restore may be had to purchase by private agreement if ir is likely
to result in any appreciable saving to time or money.
465. Plan and perliminiary
estimate of cost. Whatever be the procedure proposed, the first step
to be taken is the preparaation of a proper paln of the land by so officer of
the department which wishes to acquire it. Ordinararly the landowners will
raise of objection to this entring on their land and doing whatever is
necessary for that propsose. The act however, did not allow for an opportunty
to be given to a person whose land was to be acquired to protest that the
porpose for which acquestion was bein gordered was not fact a public purpose.
To provide for this an amending Act No. XXXVIII of 1928, was passed.
The effect of this act is that a perliminiary
notifiaction under section 4 is now essential in every case and provision for
the lodgenment of objections against any proposed acquestion with in a period
of thirty days. But if they do a notifiaction stating that the land is likely
to be required for public purposes must be issued in the gazette. When this has
appeared, and the deputy commissioner has publiced it locally, any officer
authorised by government may enter on the land any survery it. If any demage is
done to be land or the crops in the process, he must offer compentation to the
landowners. If it is not accepted he must refer them to be deputy commissioner,
who decision is final having made his plan, he must obtain form the deputy
commissioner data for a perliminiary estaimate of the cost of acquiring the
land. All that the district officer expected to give at this stage is the
ordinary rate per acre which land of the description fetches in the neighberhood
and a rough valuation of the trees building extra.
466. Procedure in cases if
purchase by private agreement - The procedure to be followed
after the perliminiary estaimate has been sanctioned by competent authority in
cases in which purchase by private agreement is preferred to compulsory
acquestion is laid down in paragrah 21-27 of financial commissioner standing
order no. 28.
467. Perliminary action in
case of cumpulsory acquisition - If the better course appears
to be to proceed under the act, a notification is published in the gazette
stating that the land is required for a public purpose and directing the deputy
commissionor to take order for its acquistion. If the area is very large, a special
officer is usually invested with the necessary powers and employed instead of
the deputy commissioner.
468. Nature of enquiry made
by collector - The enquiry which th ecollector has to make in
these cases relates to three points, each of which must be dealt with in his
award. He must determine,---
(a) the true area of the land of each class,
(b) the amount of compensation due, and
(c) the appointment of the compensation among the
persons interested.
469. Demarcation of land.
The first step is to have the land marked out and measured through the
tahsildar. The existance of small discrepancies between the areas and the
descriptions of land as found by the tahsildar and as stated in the
notification is no reason for staying proceedings.
470. Notice to parties
interested. A general notice is next given to all persons interested
in the land to appear before the collector on a certain date and to state the
nature of their respective interests and the amount of compensation which they
claim.
471. Tahsildar’s report.
Before the time fixed for the hearing, the collocror should receive from the
tahsildar a khasra or filed register and a statement of holdings. In these
statement particulars are given as to the areas, the rent, and the revenue of
the land, and the trees, crops, wells, and buildings on it, and the estimated
value of the last four items. The tahsildar also furnishes a report giving the
chief date from which the market value of the land can be deduced, and his own
opinion as to its proper price. The data of course include figures relating to
any recent purchases of land by government course include figures relating to
any recent purchases of land government or private persons on the same village
or neighbourhood. Information regarding the latter can be obtained from the mutation
registers and from the books in the office of the sub-register, who is usually
either the tahsildar himself ir a non-official working at the headquartes of
the tahsil. In using the prices stated in deeds of sale it must not call for
reports from patwaris or kanungos as to the value of the land. In forming his
own opinion he must take into account the matters which the act required the collector
to consider in fixing amount of compensation, and must disregard those which it
directs the collector to disregared.
472. Reperesntation by
departmental officer. It is important that the
local officer who represents the department for which the land is being
acquired should have ample opportunity to make any represented he thinks fit as
to its market value.the instructions in paragraphs 38-39 of financial
commissioner standing order no. 28 provide for this. Any representation he may
make personally or by agent or in writing should receive careful consideration.
But the collector must avoid all correspondence with him on the subject of the award,
he must not inform him of the compensation he proposes to assess until the
award has been pronounced.
473. Examinatin of parties.
A little trouble taken before the right holders before him will put the
collector in a position to deal promptly with their objections, and by
questioning them to clear up any points. Which the tahsildar’s report has left
in doubt. A brief enquiry regarding any claims for compensation which they
present will usually be enough to show in what respects if any his own
perliminary estaimate of compensation requires to be modified.
474. Preparation for hearing
of case. Before the hearing of the case the collector ought
to have studied the tahsildar’s report and to have estimated the compensation
which appears to be suitable. The tahsildar’s data as to the prices paid for
other land required by government can be checked by referring to the register
of lands taken up for public purposes maintained in every district office.
If the last settlement of the distirct is at all
recent, valuable information as to the market value of land of different kinds
is sure to be found in the tehsil assessment report.
475. Award.
The next step is to record and announce the award. All possible care must be
taken in framiing it, for, as far as government is concerned, it cannot be
questioned. The record will as a rule enable the collector to determine at once
the first matter for decesion, namely, the true area of the land of each class
to be acquired.
476. Market value of land.
In deciding he next point, the amount of compensation due, he has in the first
flace to settle what the market value of the land is land to add to it 15
percent on account of compulsory acquisition. If he finds the amount to be much
in excess of the preliminary estinate referred to in paragraph 465, he should
refan from making an award and ask for further instruction.
477. Consequential damages.
He must consider the persons interested in the land to be taken up have any
claim for consequential (a) (a) loss of standing crops or trees(section 23(1),
second sub-head):---
(b) damage to other land of theright holder by the
taking up if the land required (section 23(1), third and fourth sub-heads) as
the owner will rlieved of th eobligation to pay land revenue and cases, the
demand of the harvest under these heads should be deducted from any
compensation awarded for crops.
478. Damage to other land of
rihgt-holder. Under the second head difficult questions arise.
If, for example, a canal is carried through the heart of a village, the fields
on one side ir the other are cut off from the homestead. To reach land which in
a direct line is only distanbt a few hundred yards may involve the taking of
ploughs and cattle three or four miles around. It is not always feasible to
build a second adadi acriss the canal. The land may all be cultivated, or none of
it may be common property. Again, if an embanked road or a canal distributary
is carried through the fields attached to a well, and the area which can
command is thereby dimished, the capital sunk in its construction may cease to
yield any return to thelandowner. It is difficult for th epeople whi suffer to believe
that a slight deviation from a strainght line, which would have saved themselves
much trouble, could not have been made. No wise man will do anything to foster
the idea that the administration wirks with the unsympathetic rigour of a piece
f machniry, for this reason, and to avoid the expenses of consequential
damages, governemnet has made consulting engineers and the local revenue
officers responsible that in qzquiring land for railwys the fullest consideration
is given to the convience of the landowners, and has ordered slight alteration
in the alignment tobe made, where this is feasible, if annoyance to the people
can be thereby obviated(govt. of
479. Matters to be excluded
from sonsidertion in estimating market value. In estamating
market value, the condition of thalnd as it was at the tine the notifiacation
was issued declaring it to be required for a public purpose must alone be taken
into account. tHe urgency of the need government nothing to do with the
question(section 24, first and second heads) the latter, whether it is great or
small must be taken as paid fir by the grant of fifteen percent over and abpve
the market value. The fact that the use to which the land is to be put will imcrese
the value of other land belonging to the right-holder is quite immaterial(section
24, sixth head) and so is any damage he may sustain which, if causes by a
private person, would not be a ground for a civil action (section 24,third
head).
480. Cancelled.
481. Compensation other than
in money. Persons who are beiong deprived of their land for
public purpose would often prefer to take other and in exchange rather than
money compensation. The act allows an arrangement of the sort to be made with
the sanction of the local govt. but, in the first instance, the compenstaion
must be assessed by the collector in money, and no one can be compelled to take
land instead of cash. Another form in which compensation may be given with the
approval of the local government is the reduction or remission of the land
revenue payable on the remainder of the right-hlder’s land. An objection to
this plan is that it introduces some complications into the revenue accounts
and it is not desirable that it should be larglely adopted.
482. Appointment of
compensation. If the right-holders agree among themselves as to
the division of the compensation their agreement must be accepted and cmbodied
in the reward (section 29) where the right-holders are of different classes,
e.g., superior owners, inferior owners, or occupance tenants, the collector
will usually have to apportion it himself. To do so is not always easy. The
share of an occupance tenat would properly be measured by the proportion between
the price at which he sell his tenant right and that at which the landowner
could sell the land , if unencumbered by any subordiante title.another way of
approaching the question is to try to find out how the profits derived from
theland are divided. The land revenue is supposed to be equal to half the rent
paid by an ordinary tenant-at-will, but as a matter of fact, it is usually much
less. In considering cash rents paid by between them and their landlords, the most
favourable assumptions to adopt, as far as the latter are concerned, are that the
assessment is up to the theortical standard, and that the rents are the highest
allowed by law for tenants should receive seven-eights of the compensation.
But, if he belongs to class which may be required to
pay a malikana equal to three-fourths of theland revenue, his share of the
compensation, as measured by the rent he pays, would be one-fourth. It will
probably be found that calculatons based on the rent paid by occupancy tenants,
at least in cases where the malikana is low, would give the landlord less than
village opinion generally would hold to be his due, entries as to the division
of compensation between land owners and occupancy tenants are sometimes to be
cound in village administration papers. Where the allotment there stated is not
palpably unjust, it is well to adopt it without further question. But it is
clear that, where all the administration papers of the district contain an
identical entry without any dicrimination between different classes of occupancy
tenants it cannot be accepted without further enquiry.
483. References to civil
court. Right-holders who object to the award of the collector
as regads any of the maters which it deternmines may require him to refer their
objections for decision to the district judge(section 3(d) and Punjab government
notification no. 1791, dated 26th february
1883, section 18.) as soon as the award is announced, the collector should
proceed to pay the compensation to all who are prepareed to accept it, either
willingly or under protest(section 31(1). A right-holder who receives the money
without protest cannot afterwards demand a reference to the civil court(section
31(2) a list must, therefore, be made of those who refuse to accept it or
accept it under protest, immediate notice of the award must also be given to
all the right-holders who have not appeared before the collector, so that no
delay may occur in making any references to the civil court which their
objections may render necessay(section12(2). For the period which applications
for a reference to the court must be lodged, see provision to section18(2)).
484. Taking of possession.
As soon as the award has been made, the collector should ordinaly take
possession of the land, “which shall thereupon vest absolutely in the
government free from all encumbrances (section 16) he need his award. But, if
the amount of the cliams to compensation put in much exceed the sum awarded,
possession should not be taken without first refering to the authority
sanctioning the work until the period within which appication for a reference
to the court has elasped without any application being lodged(government of
india letter no. 503-c,w.b. dated 19th september
1898) one possession has been taken, government is bound to complete the acquisition
of the land, whatever it may cost to do so. The fact that compensation has been
paid does not entitle the department officer toenter upon theland he must
receive possession of ir from the collector.
485. Immediate possession in
urgent cases. The 17th section
of the act makes it lawfil for the collector in cases of urgency to take over
land without the assent of th owners and without waiting for the completion of
the legal formalities.
But, before doing so, he must tender to the
right-holders compensation fir standing crps and trees and for any damage
suffred by them on account of sudden dispossession. Legal requirement nay also
of course be waived by agreement os really a voluntary one, and that the
getting of immediate possession is a matter of great importance (detailed
instructions on this subject will be found in paragraph 65-7- of financial
commissioner’s standing order no. 28) for when land is taken up in this way, it
is difficult afterwards to assess compensation for standing crops and trees,
and it is hardly possible to refuse to complete the acquisition, even through
it becomes evident that government runs a risk of having to pay an extravagent
sum as compensation.
486. Representation of
government before civil court. When he makes a referenc to
the district judge, the collector must inform the department officer that the
has done os, and must supply him with a copy of the right-holder’s application
stating the grounds of his objection to the award. The proceeding before the
civil court are of a judicial character (section 53). Facts must be proved in a
legal manner, and all evidence, whether oral or dicuments in which the award is
bases, must be produced. Unless the objection nerely relates to the appointment
of the compensation, its amount not being in dispute, the district judge gives
the collector notice fo the date of hearing, and the collctor must arrange for
government being properly repersented in court by the govermnet pledger (see in
this connection the ilnstruction in the punjab law department manual). The
latter msut in any case receive a copy of the notice served in the collector so
that he may have an opportunity of being present at the hearing of the case.
487. Appeal.
An appeal lies to the high court from decisions in land acquisitions cases
passes by a district judge.
488. Reduction of revenue.
The reduction of the land revenue assessment consequent on the taking up of
land has effect from the harvest succeeding the last ine in which the owners
have been able to garner their crops.
489. Compensation to
assignees. If the revenue is assigned, the capitalized value
of the demand may be paid to the jagirdar or mafidar. But the loss of the position
of assignee, or even the diminution of the income derived from an assignment,
is so unpalatable that, where possible, the necessary range for this being dine
where only part of the revenue. It is usually feasible to assigned, in other
cases, where the loss of revenue is very small, the jagirdar or mafidar must be
content to accept to one-fifth of the total land revenue enjoyed by the assignee,
the deputy commissioner may make a proposal for the grant of a pension or of a
new assignment. Such a proposal should not be made as a matter of course, but
only in favour of a deserving assignee who feels keenly the loss of his jagir
income (punjab government no. 549, dated 4th september,
1890. For the scale of compensation in case of jagir revenue, see paragraph 53
of financial commissioner’s standing order no. 28.)
490. Temprary occupation of
land. The local government may didrect the colector to
take up laid for any period not exceeding three years. In cases of temporary
occupation of this kind, no notification os published in the gazette. The
collector calls the rihgt-holder together an endeavours to come to an agreement
with them as to rent to be paid. In fixing the amount, it must be remembered
that the landowners will remain liable for the land revenue. If the collector
cannot come to an agreement with the right-holders, he must refer the matter in
dispute for the decision of the district judge. (section 35).
491. Compensation for damage
done during occupation. At the expiry if the term of
occupation the collector must offer compensation for any damage done to the
land not provided for by the agreement, and the right-holder may rquire government
to buy it out right if it has become permanatly unfit for the purpose for which
it was use immediately before it ceased to be in their possession. Any dispute
as to the condition of the land must be referred to the district judge.
492. Taking up of land for
companies. What has been said above about the acquisition
land for the state applies equally to the taking up of land for a company under
the provisions of part VII of the act.
493. Disposal of land no
longer required. Where land in the permanent occupation of any
departments of the punjab government is no longer required, it should be handed
over to the deputy commissioner of the district, who becomes responsible for
the disposal of it under the orders of the commissioner. “it may not however,
be permanently alienated without the previous sanction of government” there is
no legal bar to its being put up to auction. But as the matter of grace,
government is usually willing to restore agricultural and pastoral land to the
persons from whom it acquired it or to their heirs in their refunding the
amount paid as compensation less the 15 percent granted for compulsory
acquisition. The price may be lowered, if necessary, on account of
deterioration, or enhanced in the rare case of land having been improved by the
use to which government has put it. The improvement must be must be one one
affecting the quality of the land. The fact that land which was unirrigated at
the time of acquisition can, when relinquished, be watered by a canal si not an
improvement of this sort. Considering how great the rise in the market value of
land has been, the terms stated above are very liberal. It is not necessary to
adopt them in their entitrety where the persons concerned are remote descendants
or relations of the original holders. And where the circumstances of the case
are at all out if the common, when for example, no price, or when the rise on
the value of land on the neighbourhood has been exceptionally hlarge, these
facts should be pointed out when referring such cases for orders so that
government may have suffcient material before it to decide whether to offer any
specail terms to the heirs of the persons from whom that land was qcquired.
In the case of rendtion of land under kassies and
abandoned water channels such as those in
COMMENTRY.
Land acquired project completed. The land no more
required, hence ordered to be auctioned but more came forward. The land leased
for a long term by the officers and leasee reclaimed it. In the meantime govt.
decided to surrender to land to its original owner, held the state is not bound
by the decision of its officers to lease and the govt. may recover amount paid
as compensation to original owners from plaintiff. (Sadhu Singh v. state of
punjab 1992(2) RRR 464.
494. Case in which
prefernece should be given to owners of adjoining fileds. In the case of
plots which from their size or shape are practically of no value to any one but
the owners of the adjoining fields, government will be prepared to consider
proposals for giving these owners the optin of purchasing at the market value.
The mere fact that an outsider is prepared to outbid them should not deter the
deputy commissioner from recommendeding to government the acceptance of any
fair offer which they may make.
495. Action when the heirs
and neighbourhood proprietors do not wish to purchase.
If the heirs of the original owners cannot be traced, or if they or the proprietors
of adjoining land decline to accept the terms approved by government, a further
reference to government will be necessary if it is proposed to alienate the
land permanently in some other way.
495-A. Department concerned to
be consulted before land is actually sold. The department
by which the land is surrendered should be given an opportunity of criticizing the
rendition price to be demanded and of commenting upon any did or tender before
it is accepted.
496. Report to commissioner.
In negotiations for the disposal of land no longer required, the deputy
commissioner, must make it plain that any therms he proposes are only tentative
and need the sanction of government. Cases should, of course, be submitted
through the commissioner and each reference should be a detailed one.
496-A. Transfer of land
between governement departments. For the procedure to be followed
in cases of transfer of state lands and building from the central government to
a local governement of lands in the possession of one department to another,
and of lands owned by manicipalities, reference should be made to part A of the
financial commissioner’s standing order No. 28
It will be noticed that in these cases of
acquisition the provisions of act I of 1894 are not applicable.
BOOK
IV
COLLECTION
OF LAND REVENUE AND LOCAL RATE.
CHAPTER
XV
COLLECTION OF LAND
REVENUE.
497. Taxation the touchstone
of good or bad administraiton. There is nothing on which the
happiness of subjects and the stability of government more depends than the way
in which revenue is assessed an dcollected. The old monarchy in france, which
at on etine had conferred great practical benefits in thast country, was
gradually underminded by its failure to limit the amount of its taxation, to
distribute it fairly over the different classes of the community and to collect
it without oppression, and at last fell with a crash which shool the whole of
498. Deputy commissioner
responsible for collection of land revenue and local rate.
The income of indian government, whether native or foreign, has always been
mainly derived from the share of the produce of the soil which the state claims
as its own (see chapter I of the settlement manual) it is one of the chief
duties of the head of a district to collect the land revenue and local rate.
The second charge is levied as a percentage on the
land revenue and for practical purposes, is hardly distinguishable from it. The
deputy commissioner is also the collector of the various taxes imposed by the
government, but with these this handbook is not concerned. It will be
necessary, however, to notice briefly his duties in connection with the realization
the rates levied in many districts for the use of canal water.
499. And 500 cancelled.
501. Revenue a first charge
on produce of land. The land revenue of holding, or of an estate,
being a cash commutation of the right of governement to a share of the crops grown
upon it, is properly declared to be “ the first charge upon the rents, profits
and produce thereof (act XVII of 1887 section 62(1). The section quoted in this
chapter are sections of act XVII of 1887)” it is the deputy commissioner’s
business to safe guard this right. Withoput his consent no court can attach the
“rants, profits or produce” untill the current land revenue and any arrears
that may be due have been paid (section 62(2)) orders issued by civil and
excluted by the revenue department. (section 141).
502. Instalments.
It seemed at one time natural enforce the government line on the produce by
making the instalement of land revenue fall due before the crops, from which they
were to be liquidated, were cut. This plan in practice land to great abuses.
Instalment are now arranged so as to be become payable shortly after the
garnering of the crops. The number, dates and amount of the installement are
fixed at settlement with the approval of the financial commissioner and are
often identical for all the estastes in a tahsil. If experinence shows clearily
that the agreements originally made are unsuitable for any estate or group of
estates, the deputy commissioner should not hesitate the ask to have them
changed.
503. Land owners jointly and
severally responsible. The joint and several responsiblty
of all the land owners in an estate for the payment of the whole land revenue assessed
upon it is emphatically asserted in the 61st section
of the land revenue act. Each shares holders is there for liable not only for
the demand due on his own holding, but also for any arrears that may arise on
respect of another holding. If he happened to be only solvent land holder in
the estate, he could raiseon legal objection to an orderthat he should himself
pay the whole balance. In such a case the holdings of the defaulters would of
course. If he wished be transferred to him for a term. When an estate conists
of rwo or more recognised sub-divisions (pattis or tarafs)the joint and several
responsibility for an arrear arising in any particular su b-division should in
the first instance, be enforced against the shareholders in the sub-division
and bot against the whole community.
504. Extent to which joint
responsibility should be enforced. The communal bond never in
fact existed in some parts of the
A revenue officer in his dealings with estates
should do what he can to check this process of disintegration. As far as
possible village communities should be left to themsilves. As thomason
remarked:---
“So long as the Fovenment revenue is punctually paid
it is nost important that the collector as a fiscal officer should abstain frim
all interference……… the great desire and object of the Government is to teach
the people selg-government …….they should be instructed and encouraged thus to
conduct their affairs and by punctual payment of the government demand to bar
all direct interference on the part of the fiasal officers of the Government.
Where difault occurs prompt action is ofcourse required. If the arrears cannot
be recovered from the defaulter themselves kthe measures adopted ofr their
fralization should be so framed as to assert the orinciple of common
respobnsibility.
505. Headman not to be made
scapegoat of community. It is the duty of the village
headman to collect the revenut from the landowners and pay it into the tajsil
treasury. But if the can show that he has done his best and failed his
responsibility for an arrear is no greater than that of the members of the
brother hood and he should not be made the scapegoat.
506. Sharesolders must not
be allowed to pay direct. A shareholder sho is no bad terms
with his headmanb sometimes tries to pay in revenue direct either in cash or by
money order. Such payments ahould in variably be refused. The grant of revenue
money orders to anyone but a lambardar is against the rules of the postal
department.
508. Duties of patwari in
connection with land revenue dollection. It is the duty
of the patwari ofter the kharif harvest inspcetion in over to give the headman
a list known as the fard dhal bachh, showing the demand due under different
heads (land revenue local rate erc.) from the owner of each holding. this list
is brought up to date and dorrected if necessary after the rabi firdawari. A
fresh list will always be required whin the instalments for the two harvests
are not equal of where the demand is a fluctuation one assessed by the
application of acreage rates to the harvested area. The patwariis bound to help
the headmen by explaining the accounts. And by writing, if required the
receipts to be given to the shareholders. But he is forbidden to have anything
to do with the actual collection or handling of the money. He should gove each
heacman, for presentation at the fahsil a memorandum (arz lrsal)showing under
the proper heads the amounts to be paid in.
509. Payment at outlying
tehsils - Arrived at the tahsil the heacman shows the arz irsal
to the revenue accountant(wasil baki navis). Heving ascertained by reference to
the village khatauni, if necessary the proper distribution of the amount
tendered, the revenue accountant enters it under the proper heads in jthe foil
and counterfoil of the recdeipt register(dakhilabahi). The corrections of any
made by the revenue accountant in the arz irsal should be attitude by the
tahsildar or naib-tahsildar. On receiving the money the tahsildar of tahsil
treaxurer signs both copies of the dakhilawith a note of any deductiuon for
short weight of fa,se coin that may be required. The signature of the tahsildar
or naibtahsildar must next be obtained on the foil and counterfkoil. The
dakhila is thin hended to the diyaha navis, whose businmess it is to write up
the daily cash account(siyaha) of the tahsil. The payments made should be
entered under their proper heads nby the siyaha navis in the case account of
wiyaha and by the wasil baki navis in the khatauni. The tahsildae’s signarure
on the salhila is the authority for the enteies in kkthe sihaya and they must
not by made till it has been obtained. The siyaha navis should sign both the
foil and counterfoil of the dakhila after which the counterfoil should be
removed from kthe rekgister and given to the headman.
510. Payment at
headquarter’s tahsils. The tahsils at headquartes
have no seprate treasuries, and therfore no tahsildar and siyaha navis headman
bringing money to such a tahsil presents his arz irsal to the wasil baki navis,
who prepares receipts in triplicate, singing them himself and obtaining the
signature of the tahsildar or naib-tahsildar. The headman is sent to the
district office treasury with the money and the three copies of the receipt.
The presents them in the first instance to the treasury the three copies. They
are next presented by the headman to the district treasurse, who receives the
money enters the amount in his cash book and signs in full the three copiesof
the dakila after entering in each any deduction for short weight or bad coin
which may be necessary. The three copies are then brought back to the treasury
accountant, who enters the amount in his cash-book and complets his signature
on the three copies. One copy he returns as, receipt to the headman, first
obtaining in the case of sums of Rs. 500 and upwards, the signature of the
treaury officer, the second he forwards to the tahsildar when the accounts of
the day are closed, the third he keeps for record in the treasury. The first,
third and last columns of the dakila register should be made about any dakhila
not returned by the treasury on the same or the following day. Where the govt.
treasury is managed by the imperial bank of
511. Payment at revenue by
money orders, currency notes and cheques. The headman,
when they bring in the revenue, are often expected or compelled to give small douceurs
to members of the tahsil establishment, especially to the revenue accountant.
Tahsildar should be made to under stand that their
own credit is involved in stopping this practice. Deputy commissioner who wish
to do soare allowed the option of introduction the system of payment of land
revenue into the treasury without pre-audit by the wasil baki navis. According
to this system, it is essential in the first place that a correct kistbandi
should be supplied to every patwari for each of his villages. With the
assistance of the kistbandi the patwari may by expected to give correct arz
irsal to each headman paying in an intalment of land revenue. The persins
tmndering payment will then take the arz irsal with money to be paid direct to
the teasurer who will ar ince teceive the money and sign a receipt on the back
of the arz irsal. Ehis will then by taken by the headman or person paying the
niney to thesiyaha vavis and wasilbaki vavis, by whom dakhilas will be prepared
in the usual way. The headmen can also pretect themsolves by sinding the money
to remitted throughthe past or at places where treasury the uahsil by revenue money
order or by currincy notes business is concucted by the imperial bank of india,
by cheque in a local bank but in some cases they are probably afraid ti offend
the tahsil staff by adoping these expedients. It is best to leave thin to
choose whichever mode of payment they prefer. It is a pity to discourage them
from coming personally to the tahsil.
There are sime advantages in their doing so and no
herdship is involved if they are not subject to needless delays of illegal
exactions.
512. Payments to be credited
to demand of harvest, not in liquidation of arrears.
After the land revenue of any harvest has become due all payments must be
credited against the demand on account of that harvest. It is only after that
has been fully satisfied that miney rteveived can be cmployed for the reduction
of balances outstandig from previous harvests.
513. Direct payment to
assignees. It was formerly the rule to allow large assignees
of land revenue to take it direct from the headman. This privilege was often
abused, and has been withdrawn in many cases. It can only be continued if the
arrangements for receiving the money are satisfactory to the deputy
commissioner. It should caase where the jagirdar makes it an intrument for
illegal exactions of for putting pressure on landowners to transfer their land
to himself. But where he acts faor;u amd the landowners have no valid ground of
domplaint, it is harsh to deprive the assignee of a privilege which he greatly
values. The collection must be made frim the headmen, and not direct form the land
owners. A jagirdar cannot of course employ any of the coercive processes to be presently
described. If the revenue is not paid to him or eiththe assent of the deputy commissioner
he can sue the defaulter in revenue court. Where the revenue is realized by the
deputy commissioner for the jagirdar a charge of 2 percent known as haqul
tahsil is made to cover the cost of collection.(land revenue rule 57(ii)).
514. Failure to pay either
justifiable or unjustifiable, action appropriate to each case.
Failure to pay the land revenue by due date may be either justifiable or unjustifiable.
Where it is justifiable the demand should be either suspended or remitted.
The circumstances under which relief should be given
in one or other of these ways are described in the next chapter. The rest of
the present chapter deals with the action to be taken by the deputy
commissioner to recover arrears which have not been, and, in his opinion, ought
not to be, suspended or remitted.
515. Delay in enforcing payment
harmful to landowners. It should be an invariable rule
either to collect the dedmand punctually or to suspend it regularity. If each instalement
is not taken when it falls due, the provision of the law which makes theland revenue
a first charge on the produce of the harvest becomes a dead letters. The
moneylender takes from his deboters the grain which should have been sold to
pay the state its share, and the landowners in the end have to contract fresh
debts when they are at least pressed for payment. Every tahsildar must
understand this, but many of them act as if mere delay in enforcing a claim
which must ultimately be met were a boon to the defaulter. The means which the
deputy commissioner possesses of detecting unpunctuality are described in XVIIth
chapter.
Meaning of defaulter. “defaulter” is definedi th
land revenue act (section 3(8)) as menaing “ a person liable for an arrear of
land revenue”, and as including “ a person who is responsible as surity for the
payment of the arrear”, the definition has a wider scope than might at first
sight appear. Reading it with section 61 of the act, it is clear that all the landowners
in an estate are defaulters if an arrear accures in respect of any particular holding.
In practice, the milder coercive processes, which are all that are ususlly
needed are dilrected either againest the owner of the holding in respect of
which the default arises or against his headman.
516-A. As soon as the collection for a harvest is
over, a complete and up-to-date list of arrears of land revenue and other
allied dues outstanding against each defaulter shall be supplied by the headman
to the sarpanch of the village panchayat. The village panchayat, in turn, shall
take suitable action to impress upon the defaulters the necessity of clearing off
the arrears.
517. Application of headman
for process against defaulter. A headman who has shown
proper diligence can obviate the risk of proceedings being taken against
himself by applying to the tahsildar or deputy commissioner for assistance.
Application will not be entertained if the arrear has been outstanding for over
six months unless the lambardar satisfies the revenue officer that the delay in
realization has not been due to his own neglect. If the application is
enterained, a date is fixed, a writ of demand is served on the defaulter and he
is sumoned to appear. (land revenue rule 65) . if the existance of the arrear
is proved an order is recorded stating the amount the person from whom it is
due, and the duty of recovery is transferred from the headman to the tahsildar.
518. Personal action by
tahsildar. Such is the prescribed procedure but, when it is clear
that headman without any apparent reason finds difficulty in including his
co-shares to pay their quota, it is a good plan for the tahsildar or his naib
to go to the village and find out what the real cause is. If he sees tha thte
refusal is due to private enmity or jealousy, he should uphold the lambardar’s
authority by convincing the defaulters that they themselves are the person who
will suffer by delay. If the assert that they suspect the headman of
misappropriating the money he collects, and are afrain to entrust him with it,
he should relize the revenue at once through the lambardar and tell him to take
it to the tahsil.
519. Misappropriation by
headman. Misappropriation by a needy headman is unfortunately
no rare occurrence. Having money in his hands, he finds it convenient to pacify
his private creditors at the cost of plunging deeper into debt a month or two
later when the tahsildar insists on payment of the government demand. Whenever misappropration
is proved, the headman should be dismissed, and the deputy commissioner should
consider whether it is expedient also to prosecute him criminally.
520. Legal processes for
recovery of arrears. The legal for the recovery of
arrears are,---
(a) by
service of a writ of demand on the defaulter [section 67(a), 68 and land
revenue rule 63 and paragraphs,3,4 and 9 of financial commissioner’s standing
order no. 29];
(b) by arrest and detention of the defaluter[section
67(b) and 69 and land revenue rules 67-69]
(c) by distress and sale of his movable property and
uncut or ungathered crops [sections 67(c) and 70];
(d) by transfer of the holding in respect of which
the arrear is due [section 67(d) and 71];
(e) (e) by attachment of the estate or holding in
respect of which th earrear is due [section 67(e) and 72 and paragraph 21 of
financial commissioner’s standing order no. 29];
(f) by annulement of the assessment of that estate
or holding [sections 67(f) and 73-74 and paragraph 25-29 of financial
commissioner’s standing order no. 29];
(g) by sale of that estate or holding[section 67(g),
75-76 and 79-96 and land revenue rule 70];
(h) by proceeding against other immovableproperty of
the defaulter [section 67(h) and 77], for details of the procedure to be
followed in connection with each of these coerive process, reference must be
made to the sections of the land revenue act and the rules and orders abive
noted.a person against whom proceedings are taken for the recovery of an arrear
may, if he denies his liability and pays under a written protest, sue in a
civil court for a refund. (section 78).
521. Writ of demand.
A writ of demand is known as “dastak” it is little more than a reminder. It
shows the amount of the arrear, and requires the person addressed, to pay it, together
with a service fee (talabana) of one rupee where the revenue involved is more than
rs. 5 and of twelve annas where the revenue involved is rs. 5 or less, into the
tehsil by a cretain date, writs are served by a special staff temporarity
engaged for the purpose, and the issue of many dastaks may mean more to a
village than an addition of talabana to the land revenue demand. A writ may be
addresses to the actual defaulter, but it is usually directed to his headman
unless thelatter had made an application under section 97 of the land revenue
act (see paragraph 517 supra). It can be issued on any date of the instlemnet,
but it is proper to allow a few day’s grace, and this may reasonably be extended
to a fortnight where, there are two instalements, it is the custom of the
estate to pay the whole demand at one time. There is no legal objection to the
sending out of repeated destaks, but only a week tahsildar would think of doing
os. A tahsildar can issue wirts of his own authority. If he has his tahsil well
in hand, he ought not to find many necessary. Any tendency to only two which a
tahsildar can put inforce himself can easily be chacked by the collecter as the
thasidar sends in monthly statements of writs warrants issued.
522. Detection of defaulter.
The actual defaulter or headman who repersents him may be rested and detained
at the tahsil or district office for ten days. He may be released on bail being
given that he will not absent himself for certain hours daily during that
period. If the arrears is not paid by the end of the term, the deputy
comissioner may order his further detection for a month in the civil jail. If
the tahsildar finds it necessary to detainded the defaulter for more than
twenty four hours, he must report his action to the deputy commissioner. The
order land owners in the estate are not liable to this form of coercion because
of their joint responsibilty for arrears. Nor can it be used in the case of females,
manners, lunatics or idiots. The peon who executes the warrant must not receive
the money if the defaulter produce it, but must instruct the latter to take it
or sent it to the tahsil of this from of coercion thomason remarked. “it is
only in peculiar cases that process of imprisonment is likely to be effected.
When the defaulter is living in circumstance which make him fear imprisonment,
and when he has resources which enable hem at once to pay the demand, there may
be on moreefficient process. But on the poor or the embarrassed it is not
likely to have any effect, whilst to the unfortunate, but honest and
industrious, man it is a cruel hardship. It used to be a very common practice
to impression defaulters as the first step towards the realization of the demand,
but the harshness and impolicy of this have been long admitted.
Commentry
Views expressed by Dousie, to be treated with great
respect, however, can not take place of provisions of the act. The views in
contravention with provisions of the act should be ignored. (Sardara singh v.
sardara singh, 1976 PLJ 199 : 1976 RLR 172 (p&h).
523. Districts and sale of
movable property. The deputy commissioner or any other revenue
officer fo the 1st grade
can distrain and sell the crops and the movable property of the defaulter. But
the exceptions prescribed by section 60 of the civil procedure code (act V of
1908), as regards sales in execution of decrees of court apply, and in addition
so much of the produce must be left unattached as the deputy commissioner
thinks necessary for see-grain and the subsistance of the defaulter and his
family and of exempted cattle until the next harvest. “the process is liable to
very much the same objection as the objection as the proceeding. The usual
defaulter are small landed properties whose personal property is of little
value to any but themselves, and is easily removed, if it is destrained and
sold little is thereby realized, whist they are greatly harassed and injured.
If, however, the defaulter be in good circumstances, and willfully withholds
payment of the just claim of government there cannot perhaps be a better mode of
proceeding than to distrain at once the most valuable articles of his private
property.
This course should be followed only when there is
good reason to suppose that it will be the means of compelling payment of the
whole or a considerable protion of the arrear. (thomsan’s director for
colectors, eddition of 1850, paragraph 70)
525. Advantage of this form
of coercive process. In cases in which the second
and third forms of coercion fail, or are
held to be harmful or useless, this is the process which it is ordinarily best
to adopt. It has the great advantage of preventing the intrusion of a stranger
into the community. If an arrangement can be made whereby a plot of land is
left for cultivcation in the defaulter’s hands, he can still support himself
and his family in his old home, and there may be some hope that he or his sons
will learn lessons of thrift in the years in which they are excluded from the
rights and temptations ownership.
526. Attachment of estate or
holding. The deputy commissioner can attach the holding or
estate and bring ir under direct management. [section 72(1)] this process is known
as kurk tahsil. Usually the tahsildar should be the manger; but,if the estate
is large, a non official agent may be appointed and paid by a fixed salary or
by a percentage on the collections. The land revenue assessment it not
affected. The manager steps into the position of th defaulting owner or
community, and is bound by all existing engagements between landlord’s and
tenants. [section 72(2)] the rents and points received after attachment must be
creditedfirstly, against the cost of management, and secondly, against the
demand of the current harvest on account of land revenue and cases, only the
surplus, if, any is available for the liquidation of the balance on account of
which the land was attached [section 72(3)]. As such as it has been satisfied
any in any case at the end of five years, the land must be restored to the
defaulter, who is entered to a full account of receipts and disbursements
during the period of management. [section 72(4) and paragraph 21 of financial
commissioner’s standing order no. 29].
527. Use of above process.
Obviously this process is unsuited to the case of an ordinary peasent holding,
except as a mere temporary measure, to prevent waste, when the deputy
commissioner thinks one or ohere of the two following process must shortly be
adopted [land revenue rule 70] it may occasionally be of use when the defaulter
is a quarrel between the member of a village community as to the distribution
of the burden over the different holdings. In the later case, the manager takes
for the time being place of the headman and collects from properties the cost
of management including his own remuneration, the land revenue and ceases, the
arrear and the village expenses. He does in fact by authority what the headman
improved incapable of doing, and can, with the help of the tahsildar quickly
settle any dispute as to the bachh.
528. Above process may be
used by deputy commissioner of his own authority.
The five process described above can be carried out by the head of the district
without reference to any higher authority. He may choose the particular one he
thinks most likely to succeed, and is under no obligation to try effect of the
one before he employs another. The three remaining methods of coercion can only
be used with the assent of the financial commissioner.
529. Annulmnt of assessment
of holding or estate. If the arrear has been
outstanding for over month, and the deputy commissioner,after trial or
otherwise despairs it by any of the above proceses he can issue a proclamation
attaching the holding or estate, and can propose to annual its assessment, and
to manage ir direct or lease it to a farmer [section 73(1) and (3). This
process cannot be used for the recovery of an arrear of land revenue which has
accured on land which deputy commissioner has already taken under his control
either on behalf of th ecourt of wards or in pursuanace of the crave process descibed
in paragraph 526 supra. On receipt of sanction from the fianacial commissioner a
proclamation is issued declaring that the assessment has been annulled. The
effect of the issue of a proclamation attaching a holding or of one annuling
its assessment is that thereafter on payment before publication of rent
properly due till some date after publication is invalid except with the
special sanction of the deputy commissioner. [section 74(2) and (3).
530. Term of direct
management or farm. The term of direct management or of the farm must
not exceed 15 years. When it is over, the holding or estate is reassessed in thelight
of the evidence as to its real assets which has been obtained. Care should, however,
be taken that the land revenue imposed on such land does not raise the total assessment
of the circle in which it is situated to more than one-fifth of the net assets
of the circles. If section 51(3) by section 51(4) of the punjab land revenue
act, 1887 this object can in most cases be secured for all practical purposes
by providing that the average rate of incidence on such land does not exceed
the average rate of the estate in which it is included. Any case in which this
is not suitable, as for example of especially valuable land, should not be such
as to raise the existing average rate of incidencce of the assessment circle
beyong the limit prescribed in section 51(3).” If the owners refuse to accept
the new assessment, the financial commissioner can order direct management for the
remainder of the term of the current settlement of the district or for any
shorter term.
531. Effect of farm or
direct management. Direct management accomanied by annulement of the
assessment is known as khan tahsil. It diffres from kurk tahsil because the
proprietary rights and obligations of the owners are for the time being in
abeyance and the land revenue settlement made with them is cancelled. If part
only of an estate is under farm or direct management, the joint responsibility
if the landowners of the rest of the estate is sespended as regards that part
only [section 73(7). The finacial commissioner made by the defaulter, or by
other persons under whom the defaulter claims, shall not be binding in the
deputy commissioner [section 73(8)]. If it is part of the sanctioned arrangement
that the owners shall remain in cultivating possession of their khudkashat lands,
they will do so as tenants, and will pay such rent as the deputy commissioner thinks
proper.
532. Landowners cannot claim
re-entry till end of term. However profitable direct management
may be to government, the defaulters cannot claim re-entry until the end of the
term, and they are not entitled to any account of profit and loss when they
recover possession.
533. Remarks on direct
management. Kham tahsil is only suitable in the case of a whole
estate, or at least of a recognized sub-division of an estate. It is a puntive,
or at least an exemplary measure, which it would only be right to adopt in case
of contumacy on the part of a village community, which is nowadays very rare,
or where the assessment has broken down on account of th gross mismanagement or
idleness of the owners. Mr. Thomson’s remarks may be quoted: “ when land is
valuable, popualtion abundant, and the assets….. consist of money collections
from non proprietary cultivators, and the rent roll shows a fair surplus above
the government demand, there should be no hestation in holding kham. Ordinary
care will enable the collector to recover the balance, and probably improve the
eatate. But when the population is scantly, when the defaulters are a community
of cultivating proprietors, when the collections are made in kind, or whin lkthe
estate is deteriorated and fallen out of cultivation, khammanagement requitrd much
caution. Its success evidently depends upon knowledge of agriculture influence over
the people and prompt and steady action. When the colector is conscious that he
possesses thses qualities himself, or can command them through means of his subordinates,
he has the strongest possible hold on the people. Nothing more convinces theom
of the hopeless nests of attempting by combination to defraud the government of
its dues, or to force a reduction of settlement, then the example of a few
estate successfully held kham and made to yield more then the original
assessment. It should not however be attempted on any great scale because of
the time and minute attention it requirres, nor should it be attempted at all
unless the collector finds himself in a position where he may reasonable except
to have time and opportunity to carry his experiment fairly out.” [thomson’s
director’s for collections, edition of 1850, paragraph 78] management should be
firm, but sympathetic the object to be kept in view being to fit the landowners
ultimately to resume their old position with changed habits.
534. Remarks on farma.
Farm to a private person after annulment of the assessment is a still mare
drastic measure than kham tahsil. Paragraph 531 applies mutatis mutandis to this
process. If the defaulters are inferior proprietors. It will usually be right
to offer the lease to the superior proprietors. No female ,minor,or resident ni
indian state can be appointed farmer.
535. Rights of farmer.a farm is neither heritable
nor transferable, subject to this limitation and to any other conditions
expressly embodied in the lease,the farmer has for the time being all the
rights of ownership in the estate ,at leastall the rights which government
takes into account in fixing the assesment. the lease lapses on the death of the
farmer unless the financial commissioner to fit to renew it in favour of his
heir. In any case the old propretors are not entitled to resume possession on
account of a lapse occuring before the end of the period originally sactioned,
for further conditions of farming leases paragraph 25,26 and 28 of financial
commissioners standing order No. 29 may be consuylted. The case of direct
management or farm rended necessary by the refusal of the landowners to accept
the demand fixed at a general reassessment of the land revenue has been dealt
with in paragraph 521 of the settlemant manual.
536. Yearly statement of
results of direct management. A yearly statement showing result
of direct management is submitted through the commissione to the financial commissioner.
537.
538. Effect of sale.
If sale is sanctioned, the flrst step is to issue a proclamation [section
79(1)]. The land is sold free of all encumbrances, and all previous grants and contracts
respecting it become void as against the purchase [section 76(1)]. The justification
for this lies in the paramount claim of the state on tehland until its title to
a share of its produce has been satisfied. But rights of occupancy not created
by the defaulter, and leases of land for gradens, building, and certain other
non-agricultural purposes,are saved,and also any rights excepted in the
proclamation of sale [section 76(2)] for the procedure to be followed in sale,
sections 79-96 of the land revenue act may be reffred to. If the highest bid is
evently inadequate,and especially if it dies not cover the arrearrs and the
cost of the sale, it will usually be advisable to buy in the estate fo government.
The defaulter is still liable for the balance, but except under very exceptional
circumstances, it would be wrong to take any further processing against him. He
is entitlled to reveiver any surplus.
539. Proceedings against
other immovable property of defaulter. The law has still further
safeguard the title of the state to its land revenue. If an arrear cannot be
received by any of the measures described above, or if the financial
commissioner is of opinion that their adoption is inexpedient, he can order of
the deputy commissioner to proceed against any land or immovable property
belonging to the defaulter other therein the holding on which the balance has
accrued. In this case no grants or encumbrances created or contracts made in
good faith by the defaulter are affected.
540. Actual employment of
coercive processes. In the
541. Local rate and village
officer’s cess. The procedure for the recovery of land revenue is
also applicable to the recovery of the local rate and of the village office’s
cess (see also sections 97-99). A rule issued under section 71 of the
543. Procedure for recovery
of canal dues. After the kharif and rabi harvests the canal
executive engineer sends to the deputy commissioner an english demand statement
showing for each estate the amount due on account of occupier’s rate and the
commission payable to village headmen at the rae of 3 percent in the demand on
condition of the collection being deputy commissioner may confiscate the whole
or part of his quota in time, the simultaneously with the despatch of these
english statements, the executive engineer sends to the tahsildar a vernacular
khatauni for every village showing the amount due from each cultivation on
account of occuper’s rate. The deputy commissioner must not receive any
petitions against the correctness of any demand under the head of occupies’s
rate entered in the kahatauni. Objections must be referred to the canal
officer.
Any additions granted after the prepartion of the
statement, are communicated by the executive engineer to the deputy
commissioner, who on his part furnishes to the executiove engineer monthly
statements of collections and balances.
CHAPTER
XVI
SUSPENSIONS
AND REMISSIONS AND SPECIAL
REDUCTIONS
OF ASSESSMENTS.
544. Advantage and drawbacks
of fixed demand. When the British government substituted a fixed
cash demand for collections in kind, and after painful experience learned the
secret of assessing it with fairness and moderation it confined a great boon on
the country. The opportunities for opperssion and peclation by underlings were
much curtained, the of living was raised, and the value of the proprietrly right
in the land was enormously enhaced. But the measure was not without serious drawbacks,
some of which have only been slowly recognized as evils, requiring remedy.
In this chapter we are concerned with one of thse
evils, namely, that arising from the occasional incompatibility between fixate
of assessment and fluctuation of outreturn, and with the measures taken to
remedy it without foregoing the undoubted advantages of a demand which does not
vary.
545. Exception that
landowners would save to meet deficiencies of bad seasons disappointed.
It was the theory of those able officers who foundedd the revenue system of
north-western
546. Fluctuating assessment.
Where the fluctuations in the crop areas from year to year very extreme, it has
in some cases been judged best to give up a fixed demand altogehter, and to
adopt in its place an assessment varying in the acreage of crops harvested.
But, so far, these fluctuation assessment amd to some canalirrigated tracts,
and the extension of system to areas depedent in rainfall in which variations
(see chapter XXVII of the settlement manual)
547. Rigidity of fixed
demand should be tempered by suspensions and remissions.
In most tracts therefore, government looks to its to make a fixed demand, which
is polpular with the people and convenient to the state, work successfully by
the use of the powers they possess of suspending and remitting revenue when
there is a serious failure of crops.the rigid enforcement of the demand,
irrespective of calamities of seasons is, a disastrous policy which government
has clearly condeinned. the folly of collecting revenue frompeople who by
reason of severve drought have not food in their houses, and whose credit with
the graindealer is well nigh exhausted seems obevious, but in this matter
routine has sometimes proved strongenough to overpower common sence.
548. Evil resulting from
laxity in collection. On the other hand a fixed
demand must be treated as such, and the realization of on part of it should be
suspended, and still less entirely foregone, without plan necessity. It is easy
by laxity to demoralize the people and their headman. But it must be confessed
that until comparatively resent times their was much more danger of undue
regour than of over leniency. It is certainly not the intention of government
to authorize anything in the shape of laxity or carelessness in the collection
of the fixed demand, or to make the system of suspension and remissions as has
been proposed, “a regular feature of the revenue add policy of the state, but
is to be recognized as a measure purely of grace, and not of right, to be
exercised only in exceptional cases of calamity so serve as to justify and necessitate
a relaxation of the settlement contract. It is true that, even within the areas
under fixed assessment, the necessity for relief will require with greater
frequency in some part than in others, and that in tracts of great
precariousness which it has not been thought advisable to be bring under
fluctuating assessment, such relief may be frequently needed as a matter of
administrative necessity but even in such tracts, government has not attention
of abandoning the general principle “fixate of demand”, with its attendant certainly,
as the basis of its revenue system it recognizes, however, that it is unwise,
even in the interests of its on revenue to insist absolutely upon what has been
termed “the sacredness of the settlement contract”, or to call upon the
cultivator to pay the revenue or rent in all circumstances however unfavourvle,
that while it is whole some and legitimate to expect him to take the bad with
the good in years of ordinarily fluctuation, payment should not be informenced
under condition which would compel a cultivator of ordinary care and prudence,
who has to busy food for family on credit, to further imperial his future
solvency by borrowing to meet the demand of the state.
549. Proper working of
suspensions presupposes knowledge of agricultural economy of district.
No man can hope was to deal successfully within the questions that arise as
regards the collections of and revenue unless he has a clear grasp of the
agricultural economy of his districts of the soils and the crops of its
different parts the security of the insecurity of their harvests, the character
of the land owners as regards industry the size of their holdings, and the
extent of which they are burned with, or free from debit, the best written
sources of information are the assessment reports on the different tahsils, the
districts gazetteer’s, the settlement officer’s table and maps classifying
estates as secure and insecure, and this scheme for the working of suspension,
but the study of these should only be aid to the knowledge to be gained by
close personal observations.
550. Demand should be
punctually collected or regularity suspended. It should be an
invariable rule either to collect the demand punctually or to suspend it
regularity. Left to themselves, tahsildars are apt, even when they know that
there will be difficulty in realizing the revenue, to let matters slide, in
seta of making up their minds definitely whether suspensions are, or are not.
If possible, proposals for suspensions and remissions should be dealt with by
the deputy commissioner before the crops are cut and garnered. Failing that,
all questions regarding the grant of suspensions on account of a harvest should
have been decided the deputy commissioner before the installment on account of
that harvest falls due. In his tours and tahsil inspections he should find out
what the estates are in which suspensions are likely to be needed, and should
either himself inspect them at harvest time, or arrange for their inspection by
the revenue assistant, or by possible, no suspension should be given until the
estate affected his been visited by some officer of a higher grade then the
tahsildar.
Until recently this was required by the instructions
in every case. But, in practice, where failure in crops affected a large number
of estates, the rule had to be treated as a counsel perfection. An experienced
revenue officer, who by marching through a stricken tract has gained a good
general idea of the condition of its crops, need not hesitate to give suspensions
to villages which he has not seen himself if he has before him the harvest jinn’s
war statements and inspection note by the tahsildar or his naib. Accordingly,
the following rider has been added to the rule. “in case of widespread
distress, where the number of estates requiring suspensions is so large that
all cannot be inspected by officer of higher rank, in section by a tahsildar or
naib-tahsildar may be accepted as sufficient provided that as many villages as
possible are visited in such assessment circle affected.”
551. Classification of
grounds for relief. The circumstances which call for suspensions and
remissions may be roughly classes as,---
(a) ordinary, which are usually widespread ;
(b) extraordinary, which are usually local and
isolated.
The distinction is one practical important for the
treatment appropriate to the two descriptions of cases is, as a rule,
different.
552. Ordinary calamities of
season. The circumstances falling under the head of
“ordinary” occasions for relief are mostly those arising from the normal
vicissitudes of the seasons. Loss of crops is generally due to deficiency or
excess moisture. The rainfall in most parts of the
According to the time at which the deficiency
occurs, the calamity takes the shape either of a shrinkage in the area shown or
of the destruction of growing crops. In a very bad season it is but too common
to find both these evils united to produce disaster. (see paragraph 373 of the
settlement manual). When rainfall are seed-time the contraction of the area
shown is of course most marked, in unirrigated lands, but well crops are also affected.
The acreage is often reduced, and the cost raising them is much enhanced. If
the land has to be swatered before it can be shown, the effect of drought on
growing crops can hardly escape the most careless observer. But the mischief
done by frequent heavy falls of rain to crops on light sandy soils is more
likely to pass unnoticed. The case of flooded lands under fluctuating
assessment will be refereed to later. Where their assessment is fixed, the same
principles apply as in the case of other unirrigated lands. But it must not
forgotten that a flood which ruins the autumn crops may be of the greatest value
for the much more important spring harvest.
553. Fluctuations of yield
allowed for in assessment. The calamities of which we
are now treating being due to ordinary changes of the seasons, ought in some
measures to have been sore seen allowed for by the settlement officer. His
final settlement report and his scheme for the working of suspensions should throw
light on this point. Assessments nowadays are ultimately based in the
application of a rate to the average area of successful crops for a series of
years, and not to the cultivated area of the year of measurement, which may or
may not, have been normal. In so far as functioned of yield have really been
allowed for by lowering the rate on the cultivated area, the doctrine that
landowners must meet the shortage of a bad year from the surplus of good
seasons should be kept in view. But great watchfulness must be shown if there
is a succession of poor harvests, otherwise an unfair burden may laid on the
people. If the collector is satisfied that distress really exists, and that the
profits of the land injuriously affected have fallen much below what were
anticipated at the time the assessment was made, the suspension of a portion of
the current demand will be appropriate.
554. Insecure dry tracts in
south-eastern
In such seasons suspensions will be freely given
(paragraph 11 of review of settlement report of rohtak by Mr. H.C. Franshawe)
an object lesson was soon after furnished by the breakdown of the revised
settlement of Gurgaon, which was aggravated, if it was not caused, by bad
revenue management. In explaining the conditions on which the reduced assessments
proposed were accepted Sir James Lyall remarked.
“these conditions are that the full revenue of
insecure tracts shall not be realized in years of severe or long continued
drought, but that such relief shall be given by way of suspensions, and, when
necessary, by way of advances for the purchase of bullocks etc., as may be
called for by the actual circumstances of the case when carefully considered by
the light of the continuous record of agricultural conditions which is now…………..maintained.
“it is impossible not to feel that the necessity for
a general division of th original assessment………..would probably never have
arisen but for the neglect of these principles. It is equally impossible……….to
believe that any adequate assessment could ever be devised for the insecure
tracts of this districts which could be safely realized without suspensions in
yeas of severe and long-continued drought…………the variations in the rainfall,
and especially in the sensonsbleness of the rains’ the consequent fluctuations
in the area sown, and still greater fluctuation in the area harvested; the
liability of the people to terrible losses of cattle in years of drought; the
great mortality from fever which is apt to follow upon abnormal seasons; and the
character of the population most liable to suffer from the effects of such
seasons-all these circumstances constitute a marked condition of these things
which demands special and exceptional treatment (paragraph 22 of
555. Other rain lands in
556. Arrears easily
recovered in insecure unirrigated tracts. It is fortunate
that those unirrigated tracts in which, suspensions in a large scale are most
often required are precisely those in which the recovery of arrears is most
easy. Their suspension need rarely be followed by remission unless a succession
of bad seasons entails very heavy losses of cattle and deprives the people of
the means of rapidly replacing them. In other words, remissions on a large
scale need only be contemplated when scarcity has deepened into famine. The
revenue rates have been pitched low because the periodical recurrence of short
harvests was foreseen, the holding are as rule large, and in good seasons the
surplus after meeting all expenditure is very great.
557. Well lands.
The case of well lands is widely different. The effect of drought in
well-irrigated estates should be closely watched just because the signs of the
disease are likely for a considerable time to elude the notice of a careless observer.
Well irrigation and small holding generally together, and the surplus remaining
with the husband man, after paying the revenue and providing fir the support of
his family, is always small. The price and the deep of the bullocks are heavy
items of expenditure. In the drier parts of the state the wells by themselves
cannot mature any large area without the help of the river floods in autumn or
of watering from inundation canals, both precarious sources of moisture. On
such wells moreover a considerable part of the area has to be given up to
provide fodder for the cattle, and in dry years this area inevitably expands.
Even in more favoured tracts during seasons of severe drought, the sacrifice of
valuable crops, such as sugarcane, to keep the bullocks fit for works is a common
sight. Well estates bear up at first in years if short rainfall better than
unirrigated ones. But, if drought is very severe, especially if it is prolonged
over several harvests, they suffer more severely and recover more slowly. Where
relief has to be given in wellirrigated estates consisting mainly of small
holding the collector should consider whether it should not take the form of
remissions. The calamity is one for the possible occurrence of the form of
remission’s. The calamity is one for the possible occurrence of which little or
no allowance may have been made in assessing the village, the rates are as a
rule far higher than on unirrigated soils and absorb a larger proportion of the
average net assets, and the surplus even in good years, is small. These
conditions are just the opposite of those which prevail in those unirrigated
tracts which are classed as insecure. If the relief given has taken the form of
suspension, much care and patience is required in the recovery of arrears, and
if good sessions do not specially return, remission may be proposed before it
would be admissible under the provisions of paragraph 576(1)
558. Remissions of revenue
when wells fall out of use. The precariousness of the
well cultivation in some of the western and south-western districts has been so
clearly recognized that it has been made a condition of the land revenue
settlement that well assessment will be remitted when a well falls out of use
from use cause and re imposed when it is again brought into use. The following
rules have recently been sanctioned providing of the reduction of revenue when
a private irrigation work fall out of use during the term of settlement.
The rules do not apply,---
(a) to any
district, or parts of district, for which local rules has been sanctioned, or
may here after be sanctioned
(b) to
unlimited (Khacha)wells on jhaalars of similar description.
RULES
I. The collector shall remit so much of the
assessment of the land irrigated from a masonry or rube-well as is based on the
profits of irrigation from such well.
(a) when it ceases to be fit for use;
(b) when irrigation from it is superseded by sanal
irrigation and canal advantage revenue has been imposed.
II. The collector may grant a similar remission if
the well though still fit or use has been out of use for four harvests,
provided that no remission shall be given if the disuse of the well-
(a) occurs in the ordinary course of husbandry, the
well being intended for use merely in seasons of drought;
(b) is due to the introduction of canal irrigation,
and canal advantage for venue has not been imposed.
NOTE- The revenue versed on the profits of
irrigation form the well shall ordinary be assumed to be as follows:-
(i) where a lump sum has been imposed at the
distribution of assessment in the well in addition to a non-well rate- such
lump sum.
(ii) where a lump sum, inclusive of a non-well rate,
has been imposed at the distribution of assessment-such lump sum, after
deducting the equivalent of the non-well rate.
(iii) where the distribution of the assessment has
been by soil rates-the difference between the actual assessment of the area
irrigated, and the amount which would have been assessed on that area, if it
had not been irrigated. cases nay occur which will not be sufficiently met by
the remission of only so much of the assessment as is based upon the profits of
irrigation from the well. Such cases should be refereed through the
commissioner for the orders of the financial commissioner.
IV in deciding whether to use the discretion given
to him by rule II, the collector shall consider whether the disuse of the well
is due to some cause beyond the control of the landowner, such as the sread of
salts in the soils, the loss of tenants or cattle, and extreme difficulty in replacing
them.
V. except with the sanction of the financial commissioner,
no remission’s shall be given under these rules unless the distribution of the
assessment of the estate has been made in one or other the ways described in
the note to rule II
VI. when a remission is granted, it shall take
effect from such harvest as the collector may determine.
VII. If a few well is made to irrigate the land attached
to a well in respect of which remission has been granted under these rules, or
if such well is repaired, the reimposition of the assessment will ordinary be
effected in accordance with the rules for the gran of certificates of exemption
contained in paragraphs 505 to 508 of the settlement manual.
VIII. Where a well for which a remission has been given
is again brought into use, and no certificate of exemption is granted, as, for instance,
on the return of tenants or by reason of replenishment of cattle, the deputy commissioner
shall reimpose the whole of that portion of the assessment which was remitted with
effect from such harvest as he may determine.
If in any case the collector thinks the whole should
not be reimposed he should report the case for the orders of the commissioner.
IX. these rules may be applied, so far as they are applicable,
to the grant of remissions in the case of their irrigation works constructed at
private expense, such as canals water-courses, dams embankments, reservoirs,
and masonry Jhhalars. They may also be applied to wells which, though only
partially lined with stone or brick, are expensive to make and may ordinarily
be expected to last for some years.
Change in the fixed land revenue roll necessitated
by the remission or reimposition of well assessment, either under these general
rules or under abalogous special lecal rules, as approved should be reported
once a year on 1st September
for orders in the form of a comparative demand statement prescribed by
paragraph 9 of Standing order No.31.
Commentary
The principles of natural justice were required to
be observed because the matter had to be determined by the Tehsildar and the
collector as quasi-judicial Tribunal and also under section 3(2) of Punjab land
revenue(special assessment) Act,1955 requires a speaking order.
558-A Suspension and
remission of land revenue when cultivable lands are rendered unfit due to thur,
sem, dhoes and sand - Damage to crops is also caused
by Thur, Sem,Chos and Sand,etc., which necessitates the suspension and
remission of land revenue. Accordingly the following rules have been sanctioned
in this behalf when the cultivable areas are rendered unfit for cultivation due
the these cases.
----------------------------------------------------
1. Short title and
commencement - (1) These rules may be called the Punjab Land
Revenue (thur, sem, chos and sand) remission and suspension rules, 1960.
(2) They shall come into force at once.
2. Definitions -
In these rules, unless context otherwise requires:---
(a) “Act” means the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887.
(b) “cho” means a bed of a torrent strating from the
siwalik hills:
(c) “frorm” means a form appended to these rules:
(d) “sem” means the rise or collection of sub-soils
water or moisture to such an extent that the land so affected becomes unfit for
cultivation: and
(e) “thur” “kallar” of “reh” means a white or ash
coloured substances which may or may not subside after rains but the existence
whereof betayed by the crispness of the crust swelling over the powered earth
underneath it.
3.1. Patwari to make entries
of all unfit and uncultivable lands. At the time of each harvest
inspection the patwari shall enter in the khasra girdawari all those fields
which may have been rendered unfit for cultivation due to thur, kallar, reh or
sem as thur, kallar reh or sem, as the case may be, along with the word khali.
He shall also enter all such fields which have been rendered unfit for cultivation
or grazing due to cho or deposit of send in consequences of heavy floods as
“Ghairmumkin cho” or “Ghairmumkin sand” as the case may be.
4.2. Entry as kharaba to be
made where production estimated less than twenty five percent.
Whenever a field affected by thur, kallar, reh, sem, cho or sand is sown with a
crop but the yield is less than twenty-five percent of the normal yield the
entry shall be “kharaba” together with the word thur, kallar, reh, sem cho cr
deposit sand as the case may be.
5.3. Only affected areas
considered. Wherever a pat of the yield is affected by thur,
kallar, reh, sem, cho or deposit of sand, only the area affected thereby shall
be taken into consideration.
6.4. Entries to be inspected
regularly by inspecting officers. All fields, for which new
entries as required by rule 3 and 4 are made shall be checked by the filed
kanungoes and at least fifteen percent of them by the tehsildar or naib-tahsildar
concerned. A specific note showing that such inspection has been made shall be
given by the inspecting officer. The revenue assistant or the sub-divisional officer
(civil) shall also check the girdawaris of at least ten percent of the villages
which are affected by thur, kallar, reh, sem, cho or deposit of sand.
7. 5. Entries to be changed
after three consecutive harvests. Where an entry is made for a
particular filed or a part thereof as required by rule 3 successively for three
harvests, and a similar entry has to be made in the fourth harvest word “banjar
jadid” shall be substituted for “khali” in the fourth harvest and if this entry
persists further for four succeeding harvests, it shall be changed into banjar quadim
in the eighth harvest in the case of lands affected by cho and deposit of sand,
the entry shall continue to be ghairmumkin cho or ‘ghairmumkin sand’ as the
case may be.
8. 6. Name of crop to be
shown if unculeivated land brought under cultivation.
Any field or part thereof for which the previous entry in the khasra girdawari
is ‘banjar jadid, thur, kallar, reh or sem” or “banjar quadim, thur, kallar, fer
or sem” or gharimumkin cho or ghairmumkin sand and which is again brought under
cultivation, the entry in the khasra girdwari shall show clearly the crop sown:
Provided that if the yield of the crop sown is less
than twenty-five percent of the normal yield it shall be shown as ‘kharaba’.
9. 7. (1) Land revenue to be
remitted from Rabi harvest - The land revenue of every field
of part thereof, for which an entry exists as banjar jaded quadim,thur, kallar,
reh, or sem, ghairmumkin cho or gharimumkin sand’ at the time of coming into
force of these rules shall be remitted with effect from the Rabi harvest following
the enforciment of these rules.
(2) The land revenue of every field or part thereof
for which an entry is made as banjar jadid/qadim, thur, kallar, reh or dem of
ghairmumkin cho of ghairmumkin sand, after the coming into force of these rules
shall be remitted with effect from the Rabi harvest such an entry is made in
that harvest and form the following Rabi harvest if the entry is made in the
kharif harvest.
10. 8. Revival of assessment
of land revenue. Recycle of assessment Subject to the precision of
rule 19,the remission shall cease and the assessment of land revenue remitted
under these rules shall revive after the field of part thereof, with respect of
which the remission was granted has produced four crops the yield of each of
which is more than twenty five per cent of the normal yield.
11. 9. Revival of assessment
to take effect from Rabi crop. The revival of assessment of
land revenue under rule 10 shall take effect from the fifth harvest if it is
Rabi and if the fifth harvest is kharif from the Rabi harvest following such
kharif harvest.
12. 10. Statements to be drawn
up by patwari. After the expiry of Rabi harvest every year and
within five days of the expiry of the Rabi girdawari of the village the patwari
shall draw up a statement in form a showing all the field number in which
remission under rule9 has to be given and another statement in form C showing
the field number in which assessment of land revenue is to be revived under
rule 10.
13. 11. Statements to be
checked up by officers. Every field kanungo shall
carry out a complete check of these statement with the relevant entries of the
khasra girdawari and record a certificate to that effect on them. The Tahsildar
or naib tahsilfar cimderned shall carruy out similar check of twenty-five per
cint enteies in Forms A and C. the assistant sollector and the collector may at
any rime carry out random checks of these forms.
14. 12. Tahsildar to forward
consolidated statement to the collector. The tahsildar
shall have a consolidated statements prepared for his tahsil in form B and
submit it together with the statement in form A to the collector by the twentieth
april, every year.
15. 13. Statements to be
checked and forwarded to tahsildar. After the statements in forms
A and C have been prepared and checked by the revenue officers the same shall
be forwared to the tahsildar concerned.
16. 14. Collector to suspend or
remit the land revenue. On receipt of form B the
collector may remit the land revenue, as proposed there in, if the total amount
to be remitted for the tahsil, does not exceed Rs. 3,000 or suspended it if it exceeds
this limit and forward the proposal for remission to the commissioner or the division
for sanction. The order or suspension or remission thus made by the collector
or the commissioner, as the case may be, shall be conveyed to the tahsildar
concerned immediately who shall give effect to it. Necessary changes in the
Dhal Bachh and other relevant papers shall made accordingly.
17. 15. Patwari to enter
statement in daily diary. The patwari shall enter in
his daily diary the statements of all fields mentioned in forms A and C for
each village at the time of their submission to the tahsildar.
18. 16. Patwari to furnish
parcha landowners and enter it in daily register.
A parcha in form D of the filed numbers mentioned in form C shall be delivered
by the patwari to the landowners concerned or in his absence to the lambardar or
sarpanch of the gram panchyat and a copy thereof shal be pasted on the
tesidential house of landowner in the village, within ten days of the
completion of the rabi harvest girdawari of that village and an entry to this
effect shall be made in his daily diary.
19. 17. Procedure for revival
of assessment. (1) after the parcha has been delivered in
accordance with the provisions of rule 18 of the landowner may within a period of
fifteen days of the date of its delivery file his objections with the tahsildar
or naib-tahsildar concerned who shall after making such inquiries as he may deem
proper pass such orders as he may deem fit. As far as practicable such orders
shall be passed every year before the 10th of
May.
(2) After the objections have been disposed of under
sub-rule (1) the tahsildar shall forward a consolidated statement in form E of
all the statements forwarded to him in form C along with a copy of each of the
orders passed by him on the objections preferred under sub-rule(1) to the
collector of the district who may confirm the revival of assessment of land
revenue with or without amendment.
20. 18. Statement to be
surnished by collector. The collector shall furnish
to the financial commissioner through the commissioner a statements shwing
seprately the total amount of land revenue remitted as well as the amount of
land revenue with respect to which the assessment has been revived under these
rules. Such statements shall be furnished before the 15th of June, every year.
21. 19. Repeal of existing
rules. These rules shall supersede all previous rules in
force in the state for suspension, remission or revival of assessment or land
revenue or cultureable areas rendered unfit for cultivation due to thur,
kallar, reh, sem, cho or deposit of sand (the forms mentioned in these rules
are attached to similar rules appearing in appendix II to F.C.’s S.O. no. 30).
559. Suspensions, usual
relief in case or ordinary calamities. The follwing instruction have
been issued as to the relief to be given in the case of ordinary calamities.
It will sometimes be found advisable to grant relief
from the beginning in the form of remissions. If, for instance, the amount of
revenue which it is decided not to collect is such that when considered with
referance to the recent history and present condition of the people, the nature
of the assessment and the character of the tract, it is practically certain
that it wil be impossible subsequently to collect it, it should not be kept unnecessarily
hanging over the heads of the revenue-payers, but hsould be remitted at once.
So again the special condition of certain tracts may justify the adoption of
initial remission as the rule. But, in view of the fact that remissions require
more careful investigation than is necessary for an order of suspension, it may
taken as a general rule that in cases of widespread calamity, where promptitude
is essential, relief should in the first instance by given in the form of suspension.
560. Exitent of crop failure
justitying relife. It is impessible to lay down a fixed criterion for
the determination of the exact point of cfop failure which should be deemed to
justify the grant of relif. It has been suggested that only those calamities
which are too severe to have been contemplated by the assossing officer as
inclide in the normal course of events should be recognised, and the principle
is sound in itself, but does not cover the whole case. An eight-anna failure of
crops in a precarious tract where it is of no unusal occurance would have been
taken account at assessment, and would not in this principle admit of ht egrant
of relief, whereas a similar degree of failure in a rich and stable tract, not
having been taken into consideration, would, on the same principle, be held to
justify relief. In this matter it has been decided to accept the conclusion
arrived at in 1882 and endorsed by the famine commission of 1901 that “relief
will not ordinarily be required when there is half a normal crop” it may indeed
be necessary to very the standard for special tract or under special
conditions, and the considerations indicated above should thaen be borne in
mind, but it should not be departed from except in rare cases and under
exceptional circumstances. On the other hand, it does not necessarily follow
that the failure of more than half a crop will always justify relief, as much
depends upon the nature of the harvests immediately proceding and upon the
importance of the harvest in question.
561. (1) Scale on which
relief should be given - (1) once it is decided that relief
is necesszry. It remains to deremine the scale on which relief should be
afforded. In dealing with the sale of relief to be given when the crops do not
reach half the normal standard, it would be fallacious to suppose that the
various degree of crop failure can be accurately dealt with by slavishly
following any arithmetical formula. At the same time, without the guidance of
arithmetical standard, it is impossible to ensure any kind of uniformity in the
grant of relief, and accordingly, although anything in the shape of servile
adherence to formula is to be deprecated, a standard scale of relief on an arithmetical
basis is now prescribed for general guidance, and a scale should be laid down
in this form for each districts or other suitable tract. When a district comes
under settlement, the revision of the scale for that distirct will be made a
part of the duites of the settlement officer. In deciding in the correspondance
between the degree of relief should increase, as the yield decreaes, more
rapidly than the degree failure,. The cultivator has to depend for his own
sustrnance and that of his family upon the margin left to him after his obligatory
payments have been deducted from the yield of his field. The amount required for
that substance will no doubt be larger in good than in bad years since in the
latter he must be content with a lower standard of living than in the former,
but there is a minimum standard below which it is impossible for him to go a
minimum which depends to some extion for subsistence being to this extant a
contant quantitive, it is obvious that a four anna crop will leave much less
than hald the margin which will be left by and eightanna crop out of which to
pay rent or revenue. The relief therefore should be more than double in the
former, of what it is in the latter, case. Accordingly, the following may be taken
as a suitable type in cases where no relief is given for a failure of less than
half the normal crop:---
crop (16 annas normal) degree of relief
6 annas and less than 8 annas 25 percent
4 annas and less than 6 annas 50 percent
less than 4 annas 100 percent
The above may moreover be looked upon as showing the
degree of elaboration which is considered suitable for such scales, and the
introduction of tables of relief containing much greater complication than the
type above incated is deprecated.
(ii) Caution regarding
use of scale. In regard to the above scale, it must be remember
that in judging the value of a crop and in deciding whether it is, for
instances equal to 6 annas and less than 8 annas, regard must of course be had
not only to the area matured, but also to the yield. Thus occasionally bad
conditions at showing time may be followed by very favourable conditions later
with the result that out turns on a reduced, natured area may be larger per
acre than the normal morever, the general rule that yield per acre falls as the
matured area decreases applied less fully to irrigated, than to unirrigated
lands. Other considerations, which should not fbe lost sight of in applying the
scale of relief, as district from judging the value of the crop, are given in
paragraph 563 (iii) infra. Revenue officer should bear in mind that, in dealing
with suspensions and remissions, the normal standard of ottern and area of crop
is that assumed by the settlement officer on which the assessment was based.
562. Differential treatement
of landowners and estates how far justiciable. The question of
suspensions with reference to the treatement of strong and of poor and
impoverisshed estates a distinction must be drawn between times of famine and
widespread scarity when suspensions on a large scale have to be given, and times
when the area affected is circumscribed and purely local. Famine or widespread scarcity
may be held for present purposes to be established if the area affected exceeds
that which could be inspected thoroughly by the revenue assistant in a month.
In this case no differentitation between rich and poor revenue-payers should be
attempted, and such discrimination, when exercised at all must be confined, to
cases of remission (see paragraph 583 infra) when the area is circumseribed of
purely local the collector should use his discretion and must ordinarily hold
the balance between the course of trating all the land-holders in one and the
same estate alike, to which he is ordinarily practically bound by motives of
convience and expediency, and the policy which would make a distinction between
the village which can pay without borrowing and that which cannot. In deciding
whether a suspension or remission of land revenue is called for any estate, the
collector should have regard to the considerration whether such relief is
called for in the interest of tenant, irrespective of those of the landlord.
Rich landlords are often willing to pay in the revenue demand, although there
has been failure in harvest, because the power which this gives them over
tanants who have statutary rights. Consideration for the interest of the
tenants of an estate may necessiate suspension or remission of theland revenue,
even where landlords do not wish for any such relief. It is only in cases where
government cannot secure the suspension of rent for tenants that discrimination
between rich and pooor landowners is permissible, and even in such cases only
the following three classes may be excluded form the relief affirded by
suspensions. Firstly, the men who are known to be bad landlors and
rack-renters; secondly, those well-to-do landlords who can pay without
imperilling their future solvency and thirdly the capitaliist, moneylending, and,
professional classes who hold land purely as an investment. It may indeed be
true, as pointed out by the famine commission of 1901 in paragraph 279 of their
report, that many members of this last class are small men who speculate with
borrowed capital; but there is no reason why they should not be held to their
contract,and should not take risk if investment in the land as much as of any
other form of investment. While however, authorizing the discrimination of
these three classes of landlords in tracts where the extension of drelief to
tenants cannot besecured, or where the rent is realized as a share of the produce, and thus is automatically adjusted to
the outtun of the harvest, government at the same time recognizes invidious
character of any arrangement by which relief granted tolandowners generally is
denied to an occasional money-lender or retired government offficer who here
and there may have invested his money in land, and it will, in their opinion,
be wise to abandon any attempt at discrimination, except in areas where the
classes to be discriminated represent a reasonable proportion of the landowners
or own fairly large tracts of land. But, at the same time, the collector should
remember that, while discrimination against people of th above three classes is
not prohibited, the general rule should be that discrimination between
individuals should not be attempted at this stage, but should be limited to
villages or in comparatively rare cases to such patties or tarafs of villages,
as are distinguished from one another in some marked way, either physically or
by the caste o tribe of the landowners or mortagafes in possession. In such cases
the washes of the village community should be ascertained, but the interests of
the poorer, rather than those of the well-to-do, members of community lector
should state brielfy the policy he has followed and the reasons for
discrimination where he has done so.
563. The danger-rate (i) when suspensions have to be granted in a large
scale, Collectors should always refer to the district suspension shceme drawn
up under paragraph 554 of the Settlement Manual. For each district, and where necessary,
for such assessment circle, and with the special permission of the of the Financial
Commissioner, for smaller, areas, a danger-rate will have been framed by the settlement
officer, or, if special orders have been given in this behalf, by the
Collector.
(ii) The danger-rate is intended as a rough guide to
the necessity for giving relief in insecure areas, and in no way supersedes the
necessity for oral and general enquiries whereby the need for such action may
be otherwise established. It is not meant that suspensions shall of course be
confined to villages to which attention is called by the danger-rate or of
necessity granted in such villages. Nor is it intended that the danger-rate should
be used for the purpose of determinating the scale on which relief should be afforded.
The relief will be granted in accordance with the crop standard referred to in paragraph
561 supra, after account
has been taken of the considerations mentioned in (iii) infra. But it may safely be said that any village in an
insecure tract in which at any harvest the incidence of the revenue instalment
on the matured area equals or exceeds the danger-rate, should be inspected by a
revenue officer, and the circumstances which bear on the question, whether
relief should be allowed or not, should then be fully investigated.
(iii) Amongst these circumstances are the extent to
which prices have risen since the land-revenue demand was framed by the
settlement officer, the character of the preceding harvests and prospects of
the next, the presence or absence of stocks for good or seed, the condition of
the cattle, the kinds of crops grown whether for food, for fodder, or for sale,
the character of the cultivation; whether dependent on rain, canals, river-spills,
hill-torrents, or wells, the nature of the rents; whether in cash or kind, the migration,
if any, of tenants, the relative importance of the kharif and rabi harvests, the power of expanding the area of
cultivation, the presence or absence of sources of income other than the crop,
such as grass, charcoal; the carrying trade, employment in cantonments, etc,.
the size of holdings and the number of rent receivers not themselves cultivators-in
short, all those circumstances which show the general condition of the landowners
and their capacity to pay the revenue.
CAUTION : - READ SEPARATE PARA FOR
564. Extraordinary grounds
for relief. Under the head “extraordinary” fall such
calamities as hailstorms and locusts. These are accidents which the settlement
officer could not foresee or take account of when fixing the assessment of an
estate. The assets are suddenly reduced by a cause which the husbandman is
powerless to control. He has no means of recouping such losses, which are as
likely to affect rich irrigated crops raised by a large outlay of money and
labour as the cheap millets and pulses grown on roughly-tilled lands, of which
the yield is normally insecure. In the case of a total and irrecoverable loss
of which no account was taken in the arrangement made at settlement between the
supreme landlord, the State and the landholders, it is but right that
Government should forego its claim. Remission of the demand, rather than suspension,
is required, and relief should be given to rich and poor alike because by the malignity
of fortune the basis of the arrangement between Government and the
revenuepayers has been disturbed. Pending receipt of orders sanctioning
remission, the Collector should himself order suspensions. In deciding whether
relief is necessary or not, and adequate discrimination between the persons
concerned will be secured if regard is had not merely to the field affected,
but to the property or holding in which it lies. If the field is cultivated by
the owner, and the loss is small compared with the total income of his whole
property, or if it is cultivated by a tenant, and the loss is small compared
with the total income of the holding, no relief need be given.
565. Discrimination between
holdings desirable. Fortunately hailstroms move in narrow, well
defined lines, and the damage done by locusts is also likely to affect some
holdings more than others. Relief therefore is as a rule required not for a
whole estate, but only for particular holdings. The correct method of calculating
remissions of land revenue necessitated by extraordinary calamities such as hailstorms,
visitations of locusts, floods, and the like, is to apply the bachh rates worked out for each
village concerned at settlement to the area actually damaged. No remission should
be given if the amount so arrived at is less than one-fourth of the total land revenue
of the holding.
566. Floods affecting lands
not usually inundated. Heavy floods which destroy
crops on lands not usually subject to destructive inundation may be classed as
“extraordinary” calamities. But in this case the question may arise whether the
water which has ruined the husbandman’s hopes in the autumn will not secure to
him an unusally large spring crop. If so, there is no call for remission, and
even suspension may be unnecessary.
567. Flooded lands under fluctuating
assessment. The floods of the great rivers of the
568. Relief to tenants.
Section 30 of Punjab Tenancy Act (XVI of 1887) provides that in the case of
tenants who pay fixed rent in cash or kind the order of a duly empowered
revenue officer (Collector or Assistant Collector of the first grade see
section 76(2) of the Act) is required to secure to the tenants the benefit of
the relief granted to the Land Lords. A separate order of this description for
each tenancy is not necessary. A general order may be passed applicable to a
whole estate or to an area in respect of which suspension or remission has been
allowed. The matter is left to the discretion of the revenue officer. In
considering whether he should pass an order suspending or remitting the payment
of rent by a tenant-at-will, he should carefully consider whether the issue of
such an order is desirable in the interests of both the parties; but more
especially of the tenant.
(ii) It will be observed that, when the Collector orders
recovery of suspended revenue, any rent of which the payment has been suspended
in consequence of the order suspending the revenue becomes realizable from the
tenant.
In the case of tenants who have not occupancy
rights, landlords may find difficulties in realizing suspended rents. The
likelihood of such difficulties might constitute a special reason for the
revenue officer refusing to pass an order suspending the rent when the revenue
is being suspended, but such an order should be refused in very exceptional
cases only.
(iii) If a
landlord collects from a tenant rent of which the payment has been remitted or
is under suspension, section 30 gives the power to realize from the landlord,
and refund to the tenant, the rent so realized , and it gives the further power
of realizing from the landlord by way of penalty an amount equal to the rent so
realized and refunded. It should be recognized that the power of imposing a panelty
is to be used with some discrimination. A landlord might be willing enough to recognize
the justice of requiring him to refund to a tenant rent which he had improperly
realized, but might resent the imposition of the penalty and endeavour to visit
his dissatisfaction on the tenant. In deciding whether the penalty should be
imposed in any case, the revenue officer should consider the possible effects
on the relations between the landlord and tenant; in many cases it would
obviously be to the disadvantage of the tenant that the landlord should regard
him as being the cause of his punishment. In the case of kind rents other than
those mentioned above, no orders are required because, where the landlord takes
a fractional share of the crop, the tenant gets relief automatically.
CAUTION: - READ
SEPARATE PARA FOR
569. Procedure in case of
suspensions and remissions - The grant of suspensions is a
matter within the discretion of the Deputy Commissioner. But the action taken
must be reported at once to the Commissioner, who may cancel or modify the orders
of his subordinate. The district suspension statement is forwarded to the
Financial Commissioner for information after the Commissioner has recorded his orders
on it and communicated them to the Deputy Commissioner. Even when the Deputy
Commissioner thinks that remissions should be given at once, he ought as a
first step to pass orders suspending the collection of the revenue.
Commissioners may sanction immediate remission of land revenue in any harvest
due to locusts, flood and hail and the like in the harvest for which the land
revenue is due up to a limit of Rs. 1,000 per district. They may sanction
remission of revenue which has been under suspension for more than three
harvests (paragraph 576 infra),
upto a limit of Rs. 10,000 for one harvest per district, if they are satisfied
that since the revenue was suspended due diligence has been shown in
collection. Remissions sanctioned by Commissioners must be reported at once for
the Financial Commissioner information. The Financial Commissioner may sanction
remission without limit.
570. Procedure in case of
suspensions and remissions - The grant of suspensions is a
matter within the discretion of the Deputy Commissioner. But the action taken
must be reported at once to the Commissioner, who may cancel or modify the
orders of his subordinate. The district suspension statement is forwarded to the
Financial Commissioner for information after the Commissioner has recorded his orders
on that and communicated them to the Deputy Commissioner. Even when the deputy
commissioner thinks that remissions should be given at once, he ought as a
first step to pass orders suspending the collection of revenue. The recovery of
land revenue/land holding tax/abiana should be suspended forthwith by the
deputy commissioner/executive engineer till final orders for remission are
passed.
The deputy commissioner/executive engineer is
competent to sanction remission of land revenue/land holding tax/abiana without
limit.
The remission of land revenue/land holding
tax/abiana shall be granted as follows:---
(1) where the loss exceeds 50%, there should be full
remission of land revenue/land holdings tax/abiana except in case of abiana on
suger-cane crop in which case the remission shall be 50%.
(2) Where the loss between 25% to 50%, the remission
of land revenue/land holding tax/ abiana should be 75% except in case of abiana
as on the crops of till, chillies, mash and maize sown in the month of august,
in which case there shall be full remission.”
570A. Suspended revenue
usually realized - Though there are circumstances under which
suspension ought to be merely a preliminary to remission, and others in which
the attempt to collect arrears should after full trial be abandoned, the
general rule is that suspended revenue shall be recovered whenever the return
of better seasons permits. If the expectation that the landowners would in bad
years meet their obligations from the stored-up surplus of past harvests has
had in too many cases perforce to be abandoned, there is the more reason for
recovering from the abundance of future years the amount which the State is
compelled to forego in the present (See the orders of the Government of India
on the Rohtak Settlement Report (Revenue Proceedings of September 1882); also
paragraphs 7 and 8 of Government of India circular No. 58, dated 18th October 1882). As in the case of suspensions, the
Collector is required to take account of the value of the crop harvested, as
well as of the area and outturn, so, in considering the extent to which
recoveries of suspended revenue can be made, it is necessary not to overlook
any rise in prices which may have occurred since settlement, and which may
cause the value of the estimated produce of subsequent harvests to be
materially greater than that which the settlement officer adopted for
assessment purposes.
571. Care required in
recovery of arrears.- Prudence in the realization of
suspended revenue is not less important than prudence in the grant of suspension,
and it is a matter in which mistakes are just as likely to occur. It has sometimes
been asserted that landowners set no store by suspensions, coupled with an obligation
to pay the arrears so created in the future. Where this feeling exists, it has generally
sprung from past experience of ill-considered action in the matter of the recovery
of balances. The old practice of fixing in the suspension order the instalments
by which the arrear was to be liquidated was a direct encouragement to such
action, and has therefore been forbidden.
572. Instructions on
subject. Recovery of suspended revenue after famine.- The
following instructions have been issued on the subjects:---
(1) When, owing to famine or widespread calamity,
suspension have been made on a large scale, the people affected should ordinarily
be allowed to reap the full benefit to the first good crop or average harvest
following the famine or calamity, and should be required to pay nothing for it
beyond the current dues of the harvest, no arrears of revenue being collected
until the second average crop subsequent to such a calamity as is now under contemplation
has been reaped;
(2) Limit in terms of land
revenue.- For every district, and, where, necessary, for every
tract in a district which has distinguishing physical features of its own
affecting agriculture and the otturn of crops, a limit shall be prescribed in
terms of the land revenue for the time being assessed within which suspended revenue
may be collected with any instalment, in addition to the current demand. This
will be fixed by the settlement officer at settlement with the sanction of
higher authority, or, under special orders by the Deputy Commissioner with like
sanction at other times. The rabi and kharif harvests, respectively, but must
be fixed for each harvest.
(3) Exceptions to rule (i).- It is recognised that there may
be tracts where the first of these rules would be unnecessarily liberal owing
to the leniency of the fixed demand and the exceptional fertility of the soil
in good years. On the other hand, these circumstances will have been taken into
account in fixing the limit referred to in the second of the two rules. It may
therefore conceivably be better in such a tract to collect a small amount of suspended
revenue with the first good or average crop after the calamity, and to take a
somewhat smaller amount with the second.
Proposals for limiting the operation of rule (i) should be included by settlement officer in the
scheme for suspensions which it is their duty to drawn up(vide paragraph 554 of the Settlement Manual), or should
be made by the Deputy Commissioner, if at any time specially instructed in this
behalf.
Commentry
No special charge can be levied on
573. Differential treatment
in collecting suspended revenue of rich and poor landowners - (1)
When, owing to famine or widespread scarcity suspensions have had to be made on
a large scale, no differentiation between rich and poor revenue payers will
have been made, but in making proposals subsequently for their collection;
differentiation between individuals may be necessary. A distinction should, in
the first place, be drawn between the classes who cultivate the soil, whether
as owner or as Government occupants or tenants, and the landlord class who hold
estates which are cultivated by tenants. A man need not be excluded from the
former class merely, because is holding is somewhat too large for him to
cultivate himself and a portion of it is in the hands of tenants, nor should
the fact that a landowner who is in the main a rent receiver, cultivates his
own home farm, transfer him from the latter to the former class; and it will
not, as a rule, be difficult to distinguish the two classes with fair accuracy.
Of course no discrimination between one kind of revenue payers and another should
be made in the case of persons belonging to the cultivating class. But
suspended revenue should always be collected form the classes of land- lords
described in paragraph 562 supra if
the rent of their tenants has not to be remitted.
(ii) Report on policy
followed. In reporting his proposals to the Commissioner,
the Collector should state briefly the policy he has followed, and in cases where
he has made a difference between the rich and poor, the extent to which the difference
has been made.
574. Procedure in
realization of arrears. A Deputy Commissioner is
required, at least one month before the first instalment of the revenue of each
harvest falls due, to consider the circumstances of every estate in which there
are arrears due to suspensions and decide what portion, if any, of the balance
can be recovered in, addition to the demand of that harvest. He should issue
the necessary orders, and put them in force. The orders, and the reasons for
them are embodied in a statement which is sent to the Commissioner, who
modifies them, if he thinks fit, and forwards the statement to the Financial
Commissioner for information. It is for the Commissioner to see that the report
of each district reaches him not later than one month before the first
instalment of the land revenue falls due, and that it contains a sufficient explanation
of the orders issued with reference to the circumstances of the current harvest.
575. Remarks on the
suspension of fixed land revenue and the remission and realization of arrears.
In districts where suspensions are frequent it will usually be advisable for
the Deputy Commissioner to meet, at each tehsil headquarters, the
Sub-Divisional Officer or Revenue Assistant, the tahsildars, naib tahsildars,
and in exceptional cases, important landholders of the area concerned, and discuss
with them informally, zail by
zail, the suspension,
remission or collection papers.
This will enable the Collector not only to know the
villages of his district, but also to learn the worth of his various assistant,
official and non-official. In deciding what arrears, if any, can be collected,
and to ensure the equitable working of the schemes prepared at settlement, the
incidence of the current demand plus the
arrears proposed to be realized on the area matured crops should be compared
with the normal incidence in past years. (See columns 23 and 24 of the Abstract
Village Note Book.) The office kanungo will check any statement made with
regard to previous harvests or any other points raised, and, with the
Settlement Officer’s notes and statistics contained in the village abstract
note-books and Lal Kitab before
him, the Collector will easily decide what each village can really pay,
especially where he is able to correct his opinion by what he or the Revenue
Assistant or Sub-Divisional Officer has seen of the village in his tour. It is
possible that new villlages may be mentioned, for which papers will need to be prepared.
It is specially desirable to inspect villages where permanent deterioration may
justify the remedy described in paragraph 582 below.
The amount to be recovered should always be
expressed at so many annas in the rupee of the full demand of the harvest in
regard to which the suspension was sanctioned.
Collections should always be first applied to meet
the current demand.
576. Remission of arrears (i)
It has been usual in the Punjab, in case of ordinary calamities of season, to
suspend revenue first; and, if the experience of three years has proved that it
cannot prudently be recovered within that time, to remit the arrears then
outstanding Government has, however, now decided that the question of the
remission of the outstanding arrears should be taken into consideration after
the laps of three harvests if it has not been found possible to recover them
during his period, not- withstanding due diligence on the part of the
Collector. It should not however, be considered hard-and-fast rule that in the
case of ordinary calamities, remission shall under no circumstances be given
immediately, or, on the other hand, that all arrears must be wiped out which
remain unrealized for three harvests. In unirrigated tracts with large holdings
no harm will be done by keeping the account open for more than three harvests
if care is taken to cover more than the current demand only when this can be
done without hardship to the people. But large arrears ought not to be kept hanging
over the heads of landowners for an indefinite period. In future, in estates in
which the land revenue has been suspended, and has not been recovered for three
harvests, the crop statistics of those three harvests should be invariably
examined with particular care at the next harvest, together with the statistics
of that harvest and the Collector should decide whether any of the accumulated
land revenue can prudently be recovered and, if so, how much, of whether any
part of it should be remitted.
In connection with the working of the three harvests
rule it is first necessary to make clear how the three harvests in question are
to be calculated. The easiest way to do this is by a concrete example. Let it
be assumed that a Collector is considering, when all the figures of the rabi
1930 crop are before him, whether he should propose any remissions of suspended
revenue of preceding harvests. The latest harvest he can consider in this
connection is kharif 1928.
But, however bad the intervening harvests may have
been in the villages under consideration, if the greater part of the annual
land revenue demand on them and of their annual cropping falls in the kharif,
he should not propose any remission of land revenue suspended from kharif 1928,
or earlier, with the rabi harvest 1930; he should wait till the following
kharif to consider the matter seriously. To this point particular importance is
directed.
If, however, the incidence both of annual land revenue
demand and annual cropping of the villages in question is fairly equally
divided between the kharif and rabi harvests, he should, when dealing with past
arrears of suspended revenue, take the following points into consideration,---
(a) whether any money due on account of past
suspended arrears for any harvest can be recovered with the present demand;
(b) whether all or any part of those arrears should
remain under suspension; or
(c) whether he should recommend for remission any
portion of the demand suspended from kharif 1928; no later.
And, in arriving at a decision on these important
points, he should of course be guided by the settlement statistics of the
village in question and their crop figures and other relevant statistics for
the harvests from kharif 1928 to rabi 1930. It may well be that, having done
so, the Collector will decide not to recommend remission at once but to leave
the arrears, even though they may have been under suspension from kharif 1928, under
suspension for yet another harvest or even more. Such a decision would be in no
way contrary to these instructions. The principle object Government is aiming
at in this matter is to prevent large burdens
of suspensions accumulating against villages over a group of harvests.”
(ii) General conditions
regarding scale of remissions. In the case of fullyassessed tracts
with an out-turn which is fairly constant, the amount of revenue under suspension
at any given time should ordinarily be limited to the equivalent of the revenue
demand of an ordinary year. In this case it would not follow that, when
suspensions exceeded the limit, the whole amount suspended should be remitted,
and, logically speaking, only the balance by which they were in excess should
be so dealt with. But, in the case of calamities so severe as to call for heavy
suspensions, greater liberality than this will no doubt be desirable. An
absolute and general rule that the amount under suspension should never exceed
a year’s revenue would be open to objection; since there are many areas of
fertile soil, where there is no irrigation and the rainfall is uncertain in amount,
and where, on account of this uncertainty, the revenue is pitched so low, that
in a really bumper year the people could pay very much more than the revenue
assessed without the slightest inconvenience.
(iii) Special scale for
districts. In deciding whether to propose the remission of the
arrears of any particular harvest or harvests in an estate the Collector should
consider-
(a) the proportion which the total of all outstanding
arrears bears to the annual land revenue of the estate,
(b) The length of time during which, not
withstanding due diligence, the arrear of the particular harvest or harvests
has remained outstanding.
In the case of closely-cultivated and fully-assessed
tracts where the holdings are small, it will often be right, when the arrears
exceed one year’s demand, to remit a portion of them, even though the arrears
have not been outstanding for three harvests in the case of precarious barani
tracts; where the surplus of good years is very large, and the revenue rates
are low, the mere fact that arrears exceed one year’s demand, or have been outstanding
for three harvests, is not a sufficient reason for remission. In such tracts good
and bad seasons often come in cycles, and the main point is to see that, in the
case both of the current demand and of arrears, collections are only made of
when the people have the wherewithal to pay. The details of these arrangements
will be settled for each district in which suspensions on a large scale are
likely to occur.
(iv) Remission of arrears in
the case of fluctuating and fixed assessments- When
in any tract a system of fluctuating assessment is introduced at resettlement,
it is usual to remit all outstanding balances of suspended land revenue on the
ground that the new fluctuating assessment is supposed to be adapted to the
assets of each harvest, and should not therefore, be increased. But, in the
case of fixed assessment, this condition does not apply; and, although it is
true that Government contemplates taking a certain sum within the term of years
for which the settlement runs, this principle applies equally to the expiring
as to the new, settlement. As regards fixed assessments, therefore, the only
case in which the general principle that all arrears should be remitted on the
introduction of a new assessment can be accepted is when the revision (whether
of a tract or of an individual village) has resulted in a material reduction of
the fixed demand. In such a case there is a practical admission that the
previous demand was too high, and the arrears should invariably be remitted.
All other cases will be dealt with on their merits, though; if proposals for
remission are made immediately after a revision of assessment, they will be
treated with somewhat greater leniency than in ordinary cases, especially in
the case of estates which are themselves, apart from general seasonal
calamities, weak estates. When reporting the collections of suspended revenue
which he proposes to make with the rabi installment, the Deputy Commissioner
should also report any recommendation he has to make regarding the remission of
arrears.
577. Control by
Commissioner- The initiative, which the Deputy Commissioner exercises
in regard to suspensions and the collection of arrears is subject to the strict
control of the Commissioner. The latter has necessarily a wide experience than
most of his deputies, some of whom are sure to be very junior officers. The
charge of divisions changes far less often than that of districts. A
Commissioner, therefore, should be able to supply the ripe judgement and some
times even the local knowledge which a subordinate may lack, and can exert his
influence to ensure that the policy pursued in different districts, where similar
conditions exist, shall follow broadly the same lines. If the question of
suspension and of the recovery of arrears is fully discussed with Deputy Commissioners
should be necessary, Government expects the Commissioner’s control of the
matters dealt with in this chapter to be strict, and that he will not hesitate
to modify the Deputy Commissioner’s orders, both as regards suspension, and
collection, if they appear to be ill-considered or not in accord with the
instructions on the subject. Where the crop has been markedly inferior,
Commissioners should place themselves in close communication with their
Collectors at an early period of the harvest with a view to determining what
measures of relief generally will be necessary. This is particularly necessary
in the case of junior officers and those who have not had much revenue experience.
578. Suspension and
remission of cases- It was formerly the practice in
the
Financial Commissioner’s circular
letter No. 3 dated 20th April, 1907, and Punjab Government notification No.
157-Revenue, dated 18th duly, 1907. See as to the village headman’s pachotra, paragraph
308, and as to the zaildar’s inam, paragraph 341 of this manual.
(2) Local rate on fluctuating land revenue is calculated on the
amount assessed according to rates fixed at settlement and therefore is
not affected by the grant of special remission.
579. Survey of Deputy
Commissioner as regards detection of deterioration of estates- So
far, we have dealing with evils of a temporary nature which can be met by resorting
to suspensions, and in extreme cases to remissions of the demand of particular harvests.
But, where estates are met with in which the revenue is always collected with difficulty,
it is necessary to enquire whether some more drastic remedy is not wanted.
The fact that the Director of Land Records is bound
to specially watch tracts in which symptoms of deteriorating appear in no way
absolves the Deputy Commissioner from the duty of himself detecting at an early
stage signs of decay in any part of his district whether in a single estate or
in groups of villages, large or small. And, the fact of depression being proved
a persistent endeavor must be made to find out and apply the proper remedy.
580. Nature of enquiry-
As regards each village affected, the first step to take is to study
the settlement officer’s note concerning it and the grounds of its assessment.
The next is to trace its later history, as evidenced by the annual statements,
especially the area, crop and ownership statements, in the village notebook.
The Deputy Commissioner may be fortunate enough to find remarks by some of his
predecessors or their subordinates on the state of the village in their time1. Having thus, got a clear idea of the facts so far
as they have been recorded, and having heard what the tahsildar and the Revenue
Assistant have to say, he will be in a position to make an enquiry on the spot.
He may find,---
(a) that the demand imposed at settlement was from
the first too high, and that there has been no growth of assets to make its
present incidence fair;
(b) that the demand was originally fair, but has
ceased to be so because the assets have fallen off; or
(c) that the demand is fair, and the difficulty lies
in the character of the people or of the headmen.
1. 1. See paragraphs 404 and 407 of this
manual.
581. Reduction on
account of over assessment-If the assessment of a tract as
a whole has worked well, a prudent man will be slow to conclude that the
settlement officer failed to gauge the resources of a particular estate. But,
once he is satisfied that over assessment exists, he should not hesitate to
report the fact and propose a reduction. To maintain an excessive demand is
unjust to the people and discreditable to the administration. It is also the
surest way of involving Government in ultimate pecuniary loss. There is a
tendency to think that any revision of assessment, even though it affects but a
single village, must be a difficult and intricate business. As a matter of
fact, it ought to be extremely simple. This elaborate calculations of the value
of one fourth net assets made at a general reassessment are out of place. It is
enough to show that the demand is high compared with that of similar estates in
the neighbourhood, whose fiscal history proves that they are properly assessed,
and to lower it sufficiently to make its incidence fair as judged by that standard.
Care should, however, be taken that the land revenue imposed on such land does
not raise the total assessment of the circle in which it is situated to more
than one fourth of the net assets of the circle.
582. Action where
difficulty springs from reduction of assets- Where an
assessment originally just has become burden some through a fall in assets, the
Deputy Commissioner should ascertain whether the deterioration is due to any
lasting or incurable cause, or to one which the landowners can be helped to
remedy. In the former case only will he propose to lower the revenue, with due
regard to section 48B of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887. Where the evil can
be cured, it is his duty to nurse the estate, helping the landowners to effect
improvements by the grant of takavi, and during the period of restoration
suspending or proposing to remit, revenue in harvests in which relief is really
required.
583. Action where
difficulty is due to misconduct of landowners- Where
the assets are sufficient but the people are idle and bad revenue payers, they
should be treated with firmness. The headmen may be the persons at fault. The
action to be taken in such cases has been noticed in paragraphs 518 and 519
supra. If the headman can show that some of the shareholders are to blame, the
coercive provisions of the Land Revenue Act should be firmly applied.
CHAPTER
XVII
LAND
REVENUE ACCOUNTS
584. Means of checking
collection of land revenue good-The machinery for checking the
collection of land revenue and cesses is excellent and if used with care and intelligence,
it is easy to prevent fraud and to enforce punctuality. It need only be dealt with
very briefly here. For details the reader must refer to Financial
Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 31.
585. Accounts kept by
agricultural year- All general assessments are
made for, and all revenue accounts are kept by, the agricultural year opening
with the kharif and closing with the rabi, and for the purpose of collection
and balance statements this year is considered to begin on the Ist of October.
586. Classification of
land revenue-In revenue accounts land revenue is classified as fixed
fluctuating, and miscellaneous.
587. Fixed land
revenue-The meaning of the first two terms as applied to
village assessments has been explained in the XXVIIth chapter of the Settlement
Manual. But their signification for account purposes is somewhat wider. Thus,
“fixed land revenue” includes not only the fixed assessments of estates
announced by a settlement officer but also the income from Government lands
leased for a term of years. Of course what a tenant of the State pays for such
land is rent and not land revenue. But it is important to bring on the fixed
land revenue roll all items which do not vary from year to year, in order that
their realization may be subject to a strict check. As a matter of convenience rents
of Government lands generally take the form of a land revenue assessment with
the addition of a malikana or proprietary fee.
588. Fluctuating land
revenue-“Fluctuating land revenue”falls under two main
heads,---
(a) items permanently excluded from the fixed land
revenue roll; and
(b) items temporarily excluded from it.
The former includes not merely fluctuating
assessments of the kinds described in the Settlement Manual, but also
collections from estates held under direct management.1 Fortunately the latter is a head of account which it
is very rarely necessary to employ. An example of an item temporarily excluded
from the fixed land revenue roll is the income derived from a lapsed jagir till
its assessment can be added to that roll. This cannot be done till the orders
of the Financial Commissioner have been received on the yearly statement of
lapsed assignments in which the resumption has been reported.
1. See paragraph
531-533 of this manual.
589. Miscellaneous land
revenue-“Miscellaneous land revenue”is the head under which
are grouped receipts of various kinds, some of which are not connected with the
land at all.
One important head is tirni or the income from fees
levied for grazing in the vast tracts of Government waste lands, which are so
marked a feature of some of the south western districts.
590. Accurate demand
statement necessary- To ensure the regular
collection of the revenue it is essential to have accurate demand statements
drawn up yearly and periodical returns of collections and balances. It will be
the simplest plan to notice separately the procedure as to each of the three
main heads of account.
591. Fixed land revenue
roll- The demand statement is known as the land revenue roll
or in the vernacular as the kistbandi. When a general re-assessment of a
district has been finished there is no difficulty in drawing up an accurate
kistbandi showing the demand for the whole district on account of fixed land
revenue. After the Commissioner has sanctioned the new jamas reported in the
detailed village assessment statement2 the
settlement officer prepares
(a) a comparative demand statement showing the fixed
assessments of each estate for the last year of the old and for the first year
of the new, settlement; and
(b) a list of progressive and deferred assessments,
if any have been sanctioned.
2. 2. See appendix XVII of Settlement Manual.
The kistbandi for the first year of the new
settlement is based on the former of these statements. Copies of both are kept
in tahsil and district offices for use in preparing future land revenue roll1.
1. For further
particulars see appendix XVIII of the Settlement Manual.
594. Detailed fixed
land revenue roll of tahsil- As soon as possible after the
Ist of September each tahsildar has prepared for his own tahsil a detailed
kistbandi, which shows the fixed land revenue, both khalsa and assigned, and
the local rate payable by the landowners of each estate and the service
commutation, if any, due from jagirdars. This is sent to the district office,
where it is checked by the sadr wasil baki navis, countersigned by the Deputy
Commissioner, and returned to the tahsildar before the Ist of October. It is then
the duty of the tahsildar to collect at the times when the different
instalments fall due the amounts shown in the statement. It is a matter of
practical importance that the kistbandis received from the tahsils should be
returned to the tahsildars by the Ist of October, for the demand statements in
all the khataunis should be filled up as regards the principal items, fixed
land revenue and cesses, before the first instalment of the kharif demand falls
due.1
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________
1. 1. See paragraph
507.
595. Abstract district
revenue roll-With the help of the detailed tahsil kistbandi an abstract
land revenue roll showing the total demand for the district is drawn up and submitted
through the Commissioner to the financial Commissioner for sanction. A memorandum
of increases and decreases as compared with the kistbandi of the previous year
is appended to the roll, an order of the Financial Commissioner being quoted as
the authority for each change. It is, therefore, very easy to check the roll
and difficult to falsify it.
596. The tauzih-Each
tahsildar submits monthly to the Deputy Commissioner a tauzih or collection
statement showing the progress made in the realization of the land revenue, fixed,
fluctuating and miscellaneous, and the balances remaining for recovery. An abstract
of these statements is sent to the Commissioner’s office. If the Deputy Commissioner
examines this with care before signing it he can see at once whether the collections
are backward anywhere and a very little enquiry will elicit the reason. With the
tauzih of the month in which the last instalment of the revenue of either the
kharif or rabi harvest falls due, a village list of balances of fixed land
revenue for that harvest is send up. In the last column of this statement the
cause of each balance ought to be briefly explained. Here therefore the Deputy
Commissioner ought to find what he wants. When the tauzih has been disposed of,
the village list of balances is returned to the tahsil and resubmitted with the
necessary corrections with each succeeding tauzih till the balances have been
realized. The district revenue accountant should understand that it is his duty
to scrutinize these statements of balances, and himself bring cases of
unpunctuality to the Deputy Commissioner’s notice.
597. Inspection of
tahsil revenue accounts by Deputy Commissioner- At
least once in the year the Deputy Commissioner should himself thoroughly
overhaul the revenue accounts in every tahsil office. Where this duty is
efficiently performed, and the tehsil establishment sees that the head of the
district understands the method of check and the uses of the different
registers and returns, and cannot be put off with perfunctory explanations,
peculation will not be attempted, accounts will not be fudged, and any tendency
to slackness in collection will be checked.
598. Duty of
Commissioner as regards collections-The abstract tauzih forwarded
to the Commissioner’s office should be carefully scrutinized there before it is
sent to the Financial Commissioner. All the necessary control over the progress
of the land revenue collections of a division should be exercised by the
Commissioner and interference on the part of the Financial Commissioner ought
not to be required.
599. Balances of fixed
land revenue-During the year causes are sure to arise which justify
the failure to collect some part, great or small, of the demand shown in the
fixed land revenue roll. A bad harvest may make it imperative to suspend a
portion of it. Again land under assessment may be destroyed by river action or
purchased by the State.
Properly speaking, there are only two classes of
balances, “recoverable” and “irrecoverable” but a third class is recognized
under the name of “undetermined”.
600. “Recoverable”
balances-A “recoverable” balance is an arrear which has
arisen either because the collection of part of the demand has been suspended
by order of the Deputy Commissioner, or because the tahsildar has failed to
realize revenue as regards which no such order exists. If at the end of the
year there are large recoverable arrears not “under suspension” one of two
things must have happened. Either the Deputy Commissioner must have failed to
suspend revenue which he ought to have suspended or he has not enforced
punctuality on the part of his subordinates. If enquiry shows that the former
is really the case, only a weak man will hesitate to repair the blunder by
passing the necessary suspension order and reporting to the Commissioner the
action taken.
601. Notes on balances
in March and September tauzihs-On the tauzih for the month of
March the Deputy Commissioner records a brief note showing what part of the balance
of the kharif revenue shown is recoverable, and how much of this is under suspension.
If a recoverable balance not “under suspension” exists, the reason should be explained.
A similar note as to the balances of both harvest should be added to the tauzih
for the month of September.
602. “Irrecoverable”
balances-“Irrecoverable” balances consist of arrears for
whose remission an order of the Financial Commissioner has already been
obtained. Familiar examples are the orders passed on diluvion returns or on the
annual statement showing reductions of revenue on account of the acquisition of
land for public purposes. Or again sanction may have been given to the
remission of revenue previously under suspension.
603. “Undetermined”
balances-“Undetermined” balances are simply balances which are
in reality irrecoverable, but show remission has not yet been sanctioned by the
Financial Commissioner.
604. Balance
statements-As soon as possible after the end of September
reports on the balances of the year which has just closed and on those of
previous years are sent to the Commissioner. The object of these statements is
to obtain the sanction of the Financial Commissioner for clearing the accounts
of balances which cannot be realized. The executive order remitting revenue
must be distinguished from the audit order to strike off a balance. The latter
cannot be dispensed with, though it is the necessary sequel of the former.
605. Demand statements
of fluctuating land revenue-When the assessment is a fluctuating
one determined by the application of money rates to the acreage of crops which
have come to maturity, demand statements are submitted after each harvest to
the Financial Commissioner. The demand for the whole year cannot be determined
till the spring crop is ripe.
606. Demand statement
of miscellaneous land revenue-In the case of miscellaneous land
revenue the demand statement drawn up at the beginning of the year is a mere estimate
which is useless for audit purposes. The amount due under most heads cannot be known
when the return is prepared, and in some cases is only ascertained at the end
of the year. But, as it is essential to secure that check on collections which
an accurate record of the demand supplies, a running register is kept up both
in the district office and in each tahsil, in which every item of demand is
posted as soon as it is known. The total under each head at the end of every
month represents the demand to date. The form of this register will be found in
paragraph 29 of Financial Commissioner’s Standing Order No.31. A single example
will explain its use. One head of account in the register is “lapsed revenue
free holdings”. Under this are columns to show the demand and the collections.
As soon as the deputy Commissioner has ordered the resumption of an assignment,
the file is sent to the sadr wasil baki navis, who makes the necessary entry in
This copy of the running register, and notes that he has done so. The file is
then sent to the tahsil, where the tahsil wasil baki navis does the same. No
file, which contains an order creating a demand on account of miscellaneous
land revenue, is accepted in the record room without notes by the district and
tahsil revenue accountants showing that the demand has been brought to record.
The entry in the register is the tahsildar’s authority for collecting the
amount.
607. Tauzihs of
fluctuating and miscellaneous land revenue-The demand collections
and balances under the different heads of fluctuating and miscellaneous land revenue
are shown in separate parts of the monthly tauzih referred to in paragraph 596.
In the case of miscellaneous land revenue the demand entered is the total to
date as given in the running register.
608. Balance statements
of fluctuating and miscellaneous land revenue-As
irrecoverable balances of fluctuating and other land revenue are remitted only
and not also struck off by separate order, it is unnecessary to submit balance
statements for such demands, the balances will be sufficiently reported in the
tauzih. Commissioners are competent to remit balances of such revenue and,
where such remissions are required, Deputy Commissioners should obtain the
necessary sanction upon a special report. 609.
Mutation fees-The accounts relating to mutation fees are audited
by the Director of Land Records.
CHAPTER
XVIII.
STATE
LOANS TO AGRICULTURISTS.
610. Large improvements
must be made by Government. In a Country in which the prevailing
land tenure is the ownership of the soil in small parcels by peasants who till their
own fields, improvements involving a large expenditure of capital must be made
at the cost of the State. To this class belong the great perennial canals,
which are a special feature of the
611. Duty of State with
reference to improvements made by landowners. It is at once the
duty and the interest of the State so to regulate its land revenue assessments
as to ensure that improving landowners shall obtain a proper return for their
expenditure. It is equally its interest and its duty to advance money for
improvements if landowners find it hard to raise loans for that purpose in the
open market. The former branch of the subject is dealt with in paragraphs
501-508 of the Settlement Manual; the latter will be discussed in the present
chapter.
612. Why Government
loans are necessary. It is notorious that in
613. Early rules on the
subject. The grant of agricultural loans to private persons
was a feature of our Indian administration from a very early date. Section XXII
of Bengal Regulation II of 1793 forbade Collectors to advance money on account
of taccavi without the
express sanction of the Board of Revenue and section XL of Regulation XIV of
1793 provided that “arrears of taccavi, of
any money advanced by Government to proprietors…………..for making or repairing
embankments, reservoirs, or water-courses, of other improvements to their
estates” might be recovered as if they were arrears of land revenue. Soon after
the annexation of the Punjab the Board of Administration announced that it was
prepared to sanction advances for the repair of old wells, for the sinking of new
ones, and for the excavation of water-courses ( Board of Administration
circular No. 41 of 1850.). The power of sanctioning taccavi for works of permanent utility
was delegated to Commissioner, but they had no power to give loans for the purchase
of bullocks or seed (Board of Administration circular No. 13 of 1851.).
614. System discredited
in 1859. Seven or eight years later the system had become discredited
owing to want of care in working it, and orders were issued to the effect that “the
Lieutenant-Governor desires to discourage such advances as much as possible,
and in particular deprecates their being made to impoverished villages
suffering from overassessment and entitled to a reduction of revenue, and that
hence- forth no taccavi advance
shall be made except in cases where security for prompt repayment can be obtained.”
(Book Circular LXXIV of 1859). The remarks on the subject in Cust’s Revenue
Manual are coloured by the economic doctrine of laisser aller in farvour 60 odd year ago.
He wrote:---
“Undue interference with the landowners, though with
the best intentions, is to be deprecated and generally fails…. It is notorious
that every village has its banker and….. as along as credit exists, so long
will advances for purely agricultural purposes in ordinary times and in
ordinary cases be forthcoming, and the Government had better leave the matter
alone…… As a general rule the practice should be discouraged; it is one for
exceptional periods, and in a newly conquered country. The people should be
left to their own resources and credit as regards works of permanent utility.
Advances for bullocks and seed are wholly to be condemned. In a financial point
of view it must be remembered that we are paying 5%, for the money advanced,
and there is no necessity for the sacrifice( Cust’s Revenue Manual) pages
135-138.).
These views have long since been abandoned.
The Government of India resolution No. 6-204-16,
dated 30th November,
1905, in which a very liberal taccavi policy
is advocated contains the following note of warning:---
“The Governor-General in Council thinks it necessary
to utter a word of caution against what he considers to be a very real and
practical danger, namely, the danger of creating , by too active a policy, a
forced and spurious demand for these advances. Even under the most favourable
circumstances irrigated cultivation requires, at all events in the case of
wells, more capital then dry cultivation; and in many parts of the country,
where the wells are costly and their results uncertain, and where physical
conditions make it possible to irrigate only a small area from each well, only
the highest form of cultivation, which entails very considerable annual
expenditure, is likely to be profitable. In such a case it is worst than useless
to encourage a peasant to contract a debt for the construction of a well, the
profitable working of which is beyond his resources; and the Government of
India, while they are anxious to see the system of advances administered in a sympathetic
spirit and made as simple and liberal and elastic as possible, trust that no excessive
inducements will be held out to individuals to apply for loans which they may find
it difficult to repay, and that any increase of demand will be spontaneous and therefore
healthy.” (Government of
615. Act XXVI of 1871. The
first legal enactment on the subject of loans for agricultural improvements,
which affected the
Taccavi loans
will be popular where they are obtainable without much trouble, and without
payment of many douceurs to the underlings of the revenue department, and where
the recovery of the instalments is made with consideration in seasons of
scarcity.
These requirements depend mainly not on the
provisions of any Act or rules, but on the willingness of those responsible for
their working of to take pains and to exercise a watchful supervision over the proceedings of
their subordinates.
616. Act XIX OF 1883.
The Act on the subject now in force is Act XIXof1883. It is a short and simple
enactment, and leaves much to be provided for by rules to be issued by the
local Government. (Section 10 of Act XIX of 1883.)
617. Persons to whom
loans may be made. Loans may be granted for the
purpose of making an improvement “to any person having a right” to make that
improvement, or, with the consent of that person, to any other person. (Section
4(1). As regards the right tenants to make improvements see paragraphs 70,71
and 72 of this manual.) The 9th section also provides for loans to several persons
or to all the members of a village community on their joint liability. In the 7th paragraph of resolution No. 6-204-16, dated 30th November 1905, the Government of India strongly
endorsed the “opinion recorded by the Irrigation Commission (of 1903) that the
joint personal security of several persons may often be accepted as sufficient
to ensure the repayment of a loan, and recommend for the consideration of local
Governments the rule now in force in Madras to the effect that when a loan is
applied for by the members of a village community or by a group of Cultivators on
their joint personal security, the Collector may, at his discretion, advance on such security an amount not exceeding five
times the annual assessment of the land held by the applicants.”
618. Definition of
“improvements”. The definition of “improvement” is a wide one and covers
much the same ground as that contained in the Tenancy Act ( Section 4(2) compare
paragraph 75 of this manual). It may be expanded by notification so as to include
“such other works as the Local Government, may, from time to time, by notification
in the local Gazette, declare to be improvements.”(Section 4(2)(f).) The vast majority
of the improvements for which loans are taken come under the first clause of
the definition , namely, the construction of wells, tanks, and other works for
the storage, supply, or distribution of water for the purposes of agriculture,
or for the use of men and cattle employed in agriculture. (Section 4(2) (a) of
Act XIX of 1883.)
619. Period for
repayment. The period allowed for repayment is ample. It “shall
not ordinarily exceed thirty –five years” from the date on which the loan has
been completely taken up. The
In the resolution quoted above it is remarked that,
‘Government of India are of opinion that in the case of ordinary improvements a
twenty years’ term for repayment is generally sufficient for the following
reason. An examination of interest tables drawn up to show the amount of the
annual or half-yearly instalments required to discharge within different periods
a loan or Rs. 100 at 6 or even at 5 percent, will prove that to extend the
period of repayment beyond twenty years effects no substantial reduction in the
amount of the annual or half yearly instalment; so that such an extension
affords no great immediate advantage to the borrower; while it burdens him for
a longer term with the duty of making repayments. A still stronger reason is to
be found in the consideration that the amount of funds available for making
such loans is limited, and that the rate at which fresh loans can be made
depends to a large extent on the rate at which the money already out on loan is
repaid to Government, so that it may be utilised by being re-issued in the form
of further loans. Thus to extend the terms generally adopted for repayment
would reduce the number of improvements which could be aided by means of the
total sum available, and render it less effective for the purpose in view. The
Government of India therefore are of opinion that the ordinary term for the
repayment should not exceed twenty years, but they have no objection to a local
Government taking the power to grant a longer term in special cases.”
620. Arrears
recoverable as arrears of land revenue. In order to
protect the treasury from loss and to enable it to lend on easy terms as
regards interest, large powers are taken to enforce recovery by executive
action. Instalments of principal and interest which are overdue may be realized
from the borrower or is surety (if one has been required), as if they were
arrears of land revenue due by them. (Section 7(1)(a) and(b).) The land for
whose benefit the advance has been made can be dealt with as if it was land in
respect of which an arrear of land revenue exists. (Section 7(1)(c), see paragraph
521 et seq. of this manual.)
621. Lien of Government
on land for improvement of which loan is given, and on land hypothecated as
security.) In the rare case of other property being hypothecated
as security for repayment it can be sold as if it were immovable property of a
land revenue defaulter other than the land on which an arrear is outstanding. (
Section 7 (1) (d) see paragraph 539 of this manual.) The lien of Government
over the land for which the loan is granted and over the property (if any)
comprised in the collateral security takes precedence of the right of any
mortgage over it , even though the mortgage be of earlier date than the
advanced . (Proviso to Section 7(1).) In actual practice it is unusual to give taccavi, unless the land for whose
improvement it is required is free from encumbrances, but the provision of the
law referred to above makes it needless to institute very elaborate enquiries
regarding title. If the surety or the owner of any property hypothecated as
collateral security pays an arrear, he can require the Deputy Commissioner to
recover the amount on his behalf from the borrower.(Section 7(2)).
622. Interest. (i)
Interest will be charged at the rate notified by the Provincial Government from
time to time.
(ii) If taccavi is
paid at any time between June 1st and
November 30th,
six months’ interest will be charged with the following rabi instalment, and if paid at any time between December
1st and May 31st , six months’ interest will be charged with the following
kharif instalment. Loans
repaid during the harvest in which advances were made will be charged interest
for six months.
(iii) Penal interest will not be charged on
instalments that have been suspended by order of competent authority, but in
other cases it will ordinarily be charged at a fixed rate of 6 percent per
annum, simple interest (equivalent to one pie per rupee per mensem), on the
principal overdue, when the delay exceeds one month. Compound interest will in
no case be charged . The Collector may remit or reduce the penal interest if he
is satisfied that the levy of such interest would be productive of hardship.
(iv) The debtor may at any time pay the whole amount
with interest due up to the date of payment and thereby close the transaction.
623. Allotment of
funds, and power of sanction. The Financial Commissioner informs
Commissioners as to the amounts placed at their disposal for taccavi loans
during each financial year. Commissioners may divide the allotment between the
districts of their divisions at their discretion; but expenditure in the
division must be kept within the amount assigned. Deputy Commissioners
distribute their allotments over tehsils according to requirements in order to
avoid delay which occurs when a tahsildar has to apply for funds to district
headquarters.
Within the limits of the funds allotted to them for
the purpose, the following officers are empowered to grant loans under the Land
Improvement Loans Act, XIX of 1883:-
Tahsildars up to Rs. 1,000
Assistant and Extra Assistant Rs. 1,000
Commissioners upto
Collector upto to Rs. 2,500
Commissioner upto Rs. 10,000
Financial Commissioner Rs. 50,000
Officers subordinate to the Collector will only
exercise these powers when permitted to do so by the Collector.
The limits apply to the amount which may be granted
in any individual case.
Commissioners may, in very special circumstances, on
the recommendation of the Collector, invest selected naib-tahsildars with the
powers of a tahsildar as regards the granting of loans.
624. Loans should be of
adequate amount. Care must be taken in cutting down the amount
applied for. The grant of an inadequate sum defeats the object of the Act and
is very likely to lead to the misapplication of the loan. It is better to
refuse an advance outright than to give one which is not sufficient to ensure
the completion of the projected work.
625. Collateral
security not usually required. The applicant’s interest in the
land to be improved is usually amply sufficient to cover the loan, and, when
this is the case, no collateral security
need be required. (See paragraph 9(1)(A)(a) of Financial Commissioners Standing
Order No. 32)
626. Repayment. In
order to prevent misapplication, loans for improvements should ordinarily be
made instalments; but this is not necessary with the small sums usually given
for seed, bullocks and fodder. Repayment should not begin until, assuming reasonable
diligence on the part of the landowner, the improvement will yield a return.”
The Government of India think that within reasonable
limits the convenience of the borrower may be consulted, and that the object
should be to ensure that payment, either of principle or interest , is never
exacted before the date when, by the exercise of such due diligence as may
reasonably be expected of an Indian peasant, the profits of the improvement
might be expected to cover the payment. This period of grace should not, however,
exceed 21/2 years
in any case, and interest should be charged during its currency” (resolution
No. 6-204—16 , dated 30th November
1905, Paragraph 6.) Instalments are recovered half-yearly on the dates on which
the first instalment of the land revenue of each harvest falls due. Repayments
are so arranged as to permit of the realization of an equal sum in each
half-year. Recoveries may not be spread over a period of more than twenty years
except with the sanction of the local Government. (See paragraph 15 of Standing
Order No.32.). A less term is often sufficient and the rules require advances
to be repaid within as short a period as is consistent with the object for which
they are made.
627. Considerations
bearing on period of recovery. The spreading of repayment over
an unnecessarily long period means actual loss to the borrower on account of
increased interest charges . For instance, if he chooses to repay a loan of Rs.
100 in 10 annual instalments and begins his repayments after one year, he will
pay altogether 10 instalments or Rs. 12-10-0 or Rs. 126-4-0 in all: if he
begins his repayments after two years, he will pay 10 instalments of Rs. 13-3-0
or Rs. 131-14-0 in all: if he spreads the repayments over 15 years and begins
his repayments after two years, he will pay 15 instalments of Rs. 9-11-0 or Rs.
145-5-0 in all; if repayment is spread over 20 years he will pay 20 instalments
of Rs. 8 or Rs. 160 in all. For an ordinary well the best arrangement will
generally be that repayment should begin after two years and that repayment
should be made in 15 annual instalments of Rs. 9-11-0 or Rs. 145-5-0 in all, or
in 30 half-yearly instalments of Rs. 4-15-0 or 148-2-0 in all.
(See tables of equated payments appended to
Financial Commissioners’ Standing Order No. 32)
Payments should be made in 15 annual instalments of
Rs. 12-0-0, or Rs. 180-0- in all, or in 30 half-yearly instalments of Rs.
6-2-0, or Rs. 188-12-0 in all. (See tables of equated payments appended to
Financial Commissioners’ Standing Order No. 32). If this is understood by the
borrower, the first thing to consider is his reasonable wishes. If the security
is good, there is no great object in increasing or curtailing the period of repayment
which the borrower desires and for which he can give good reasons. The matters
which should weigh with him and with the Deputy Commissioner are the cost and
durability of the improvement made, the necessary expense of maintenance, the
rate and amount of the probable return, and the period from which it will begin
to accrue. The debtor can of course at any time repay the whole amount still
due on the loan, and thus close the transaction.
628. Loans usually
recovered easily. We have seen that the law has supplied the Deputy Commissioner
with very powerful weapons to enforce the repayment of loans. But it is only in
the rarest instances that resort to them is necessary, and taccavi is generally recovered with
ease and regularity.
629. Suspensions and
remissions. Instalments may be suspended on proof of failure of crops
or other exceptional calamity.
In areas under fluctuating assessment, the Collector
of the district may order such suspension upto a limit of Rs. 5,000 for a
single tahsil, or a total of Rs. 10,000 for the whole district in any one
harvest, provided that the amount involved at a time in any one case shall not
exceed Rs. 1,000.
In areas under fixed assessment the same limits
shall apply, except that in those cases in which suspensions of taccavi follow suspensions of land
revenue, the Collector may exercise unlimited powers.
Proposals for suspensions in excess of these limits
shall be submitted by the Collector of the district to the Commissioner of the
Division who shall have unlimited powers of suspension as in the case of land
revenue.
All suspensions of taccavi , whenever granted, shall be
reported without delay through the Commissioner of the division for the
information of the Financial Commissioner.
A suspended instalment should not be made payable in
the ensuing year with the instalment of that year, but the effect of suspension
should be to postpone for one instalment period the payment of all remaining
instalments due on the loan . When a man borrows money he should be required to
repay the loan with interest ; but time should be given him to make those
repayments in such a manner as will not be ruinous to him. As regards
remissions, the Government of India are of opinion that it is a sound principle
not to remit repayment of a loan so readily as remissions of ordinary land
revenue are granted, and that as a general rule the risk of the failure of an
improvement should be borne by the borrower as this affords the best guarantee
that the money will be judiciously applied, but they will have no objection to
a local Government’s remitting outstanding instalments or a part of them, when
a work fails from causes beyond the borrower’s
control ; and when recovery of the loan in full would occasion serious hardship.
(Government of India resolution No. 6-204-216,, dated 30th November, 1905). The Commissioner can sanction
remissions not exceeding Rs. 1,000 in each case. For larger amounts the orders
of the Financial Commissioner are required. (Rule 8 of Land Improvement Loan
Rules).
630. Remarks on
procedure. Instructions have been issued with the object of
marking the grant of loans prompt and easy. To ensure that this object is not
defeated the Deputy Commissioner should set his face against all vexatious
formalities, and especially against repeated summonings of the applicant to the
tahsil. There is no reason why an ordinary taccavi case should occupy more than
three weeks from first to last. Revenue officers of any grade can receive
applications, which may be written or oral. (See paragraph 4 of Financial
Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 32) In the case of the latter a few questions
put to the applicant by the revenue officer will enable him or his reader to
fill up the very simple printed form of application. On the back of that form
there is a note stating the different points regarding which a report is
necessary. Landowners should be encouraged to present their applications to
revenue officers in camp in order that the enquiry may be made at once, and
that the necessity of summoning the applicant and his headman to the tahsil may
be avoided. In an ordinary case the simple enquiry called for can be made with
the greatest ease. All that is required is for the revenue officer to see the
land for whose improvement the loan is asked , to obtain an extract from the
entries regarding it in the last annual record, and to put a few questions to
the applicant, the village headman and the patwari. If however the necessary
information cannot at once be obtained, the enquiry can be made by a field kanungo, if the loan does not exceed
Rs. 500. The tahsildar must state in his report whether the applicant wishes to
receive payment at the tahsil or at the sadr. In the former case his attendance at the district office
is usually quite unnecessary . When the tahsildar decides to recommend the loan
he sends the file to the district revenue accountant (wasil baki nawis) and, if the applicant is to
receive the money at the district office , gives him a slip containing the date
on which he is to appear before the Deputy Commissioner. The date should be so
fixed as to give the revenue accountant time to check the file carefully before
it is brought before the Deputy Commissioner for orders. The Government of
Such a system has been approved by Government for
adoption under certain conditions. Needful instructions will be found in
paragraph 7(2) of the Standing Order above referred to.
631. Order Sanctioning
loan. The order of the officer sanctioning the loan is in
a prescribed form, at the foot of which is a statement over the signature of
the borrower that he has understood and agreed to the conditions stated in the
order ( See paragraphs 18 and 20 of Financial Commissioner’s Standing Order No.
32.). One of these is that the loan shall be applied solely to the purpose set
forth in the order, and that, if any part of it is misapplied, the whole shall
be at once recoverable. The Deputy Commissioner may, and as a rule ought, to
declare in the order the period within which the work must be completed. If he
does so, failure to finish it in the time specified is declared to amount to misapplication.
Of course a condition of this sort must be enforced with great discretion.
632. Inspection of
works.- Works which are being constructed with the aid of taccavi loans ought to be onspected
from time to time by revenue officers. When they go into camp they should take
with them a list of all unfinished works for which loans have been granted in
the tract which they mean to visit, and make abrief report of the state of each
work to the Deputy Commissioner, and care should be taken to provide for a
similar inspection of works near the revenue officers’ headquarters. In
addition to these casual inspections, works for which advances have been made
in a lump sum should be inspected and reported on as soon as possible after the
date (if any), on which their completion was directed in the order granting the
loan. In the case of an advance made by instalments the work should be reported
on before each instalment subsequent to the first is paid, and also as soon as
possible after the date (if any), on which its completion was ordered. Great
care must be taken that the completion of the work is not delayed because the
inspection preliminary to the payment of an instalment is not made promptly.
If the Deputy Commissioner is satisfied that the
first instalment has been misapplied, he should order it to be recovered, and
make no further payment.
633. Act XII of 1884.- The
Agriculturists’ Loans Act, XII of 1884, which replaced an earlier Act, Xof
1879, enables the local Government to make rules as to the grant of loans “to
owners and occupiers of arable land for the relief of distress, the purchase of
seed or cattle, or any other purpose for specified in the Land Improvement
Loans Act 1883, but connected with agricultural objects ( Section 4). As in the
case of a loan under Act XIX of 1883, an advance may be made to several persons
or to all the members of a village community on their joint and several
responsibility ( Section 6).
634. Object for which
loans may be made.- It has been ruled that “ the
relief of distress’ means” the relief of agricultural distress, that is to say,
distress directly due to calamity in agriculture, such as the destruction of
crops by drought or floods, hail or blight, or the loss of cattle by disease.
It must be satisfactorily shown that the distress to be relieved is directly
traceable to the failure of some agricultural process, or to damage to crops,
articles of husbandry, or cattle.” The words “ any other purpose not specified
in the Land Improvement Loans Act 1883, but connected with agricultural
objects” must be interpreted as referring to purposesdirectly connected with
agriculture and its processes.
They would cover, for example, the advance of money
to buy agricultural implements, such as a sugarcane mill, or to construct
indigo vats. But a loan to a village community to enable it to build a new abadi on a healthier site would lie outside
the scope of the Act.
Doubtful cases should be referred to the Financial
Commissioner. The grant of loans to agriculturists for the prosecution of
industries subsidiary to agriculture was considered by the Government Of India
in 1916, and it was ruled that ‘loans should be given only to facilitate
processes which are ordinarily practised by agriculturists or are necessary to
the marketing of their crops.’ “The grant of loans, it was said, should be
restricted to the case of such operations as, from a sound economic point of
view, may be performed by an agriculturist in respect of his own produce r of
simple industries dealing with raw produce which can be carried on by
individuals or small combinations of cultivators without expert supervision.
Where it is the custom of a particular class of agriculturist to enter upon a
preliminary stage of preparation of the raw produce before it is put on the market,
as a part from manufacturing it as a completed article of commerce, the
provision of appliances for this purpose would fall within the category of the
purposes for which loans may be granted under section 4 of the Act. Weaving
cannot, in the opinion of the Government of India, be regarded as being in the
definition.” ( Government of India, Department of Revenue and
Agriculture,circular No. 178-143-15, dated 7th March
1916.)
635. Advances to
tenants-at-will.- Advances may be made to tenants-at-will, as well as to
owners and occupancy tenants. In a tract where much land is mortgaged to
moneylenders the case of such tenants is a difficult one to deal with. The
mortgagees will very likely refuse to supply seed themselves or to be surities
for the repayment of advances to be made by Government to their tenants. And in
the case of a landless man it is not safe to grant even a small loan without
security.
636. Arrears
recoverable like arrears of land-revenue.- Like Act XIX of
1883, the Agriculturists’ Loans Act of 1884 provides for the recovery of
overdue instalments of principal and interest from the borrower or his surety
as if they were arrears of landrevenue due by them (Section 5 of Act XII of
1884.). It makes no allusion to the hypothecation of immovable property as
security, and this should rarely be required.
637. Term of loans.- A
maximum period of ten years is allowed for the recovery of a loan ( See
paragraph 23 of Financial Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 32.). But ordinarily
advances for the purchase of seed should be repaid from the crop produced from
the seed and those for the purchase of plough cattle within two years. In
practice loans under the Act are almost invariably made for one or other of
these purposes.
638. Interest on, and
recovery of loans.- The rules (See rules 2, 3, 5, 7
and 8 of Agriculturists Loans Rules, ( volume II, Punjab Land Acts.) as regards
interest, and recovery, suspension, and remission, of loans are practically the
same as those dealing with the same matters issued under Act XIX of 1883.
639. Use made of Act.- It
is not the object of Act XII of 1884 to supplant the village sahukar as the source from which the
peasant landowner draws the small temporary loans which he constantly requires
in carrying on his business. It usually comes into play when the village
bankers have for the time being ceased to lend altogether. Hitherto therefore no
great use of the Act has been made except in seasons of severe and prolonged
drought.
Small capitalists in rural districts are a very
timid race, and the difficulties under which the people labour at such a time
are much aggravated by the drying up of credit. Unless therefore the State come
to their aid, tracts which have suffered from scarcity would recover slowly
even on the advent of better seasons, and many a man would be ruined outright
for want of a little ready money at a critical period to provide himself with
the means of tilling his fields. The resolution of the Government of India
quoted above certainly encouraged liberal advances under the Agricultural Loans
Act ‘ where funds are available’ even in ordinary times. (Resolution No. 6-204-16,
dated 30th November
1905, paragraph 11.)
640. Advances for
purchase of seed and cattle. Care should be taken only to
make these advances at a time when they can immediately be put to a profitable
use, otherwise they are sure to be misapplied . Loans for the purchase of seed
should only be made when the land is irrigable, or has received from rain,
floods, or percolation sufficient moisture for the seed to germinate. They
should be made more readily for the rabi than
for the kharif, as the cost of seed
per acre is much higher, for instance, in the case of wheat than in that of
millets . It is useless to advance money for the purchase of plough or well
cattle unless the borrower has the means of keeping them alive. The want of
fodder is one of the worst evils from which drought-stricken tracts in the
641. Caution as regards
loans in tracts afflicted by rinderpest. Special caution
is necessary in granting loans for the replacing of cattle which have died from
rinder pest.
The virus of that disease retains its vitality for
at least seven or eight months. All the discharges from an infected animal
during its illness contain the poison in large quantity.
It is therefore worse than useless to help the owner
to buy healthy stock unless his village has been free from disease for about a
year, and it is known for certain that disinfection has been thoroughly carried
out.
642. Advances for
purchase of fodder. (I) Experience has shown that
when fodder becomes excessively dear in one part of the province, it can be
profitably imported by rail from a considerable distance. If it is obtainable
in this way , but only at a price which is beyond the means of the poorer
landowners, it is reasonable to make small advances to enable them to buy the
food necessary to keep their agricultural cattle alive. Loans for the purchase
of fodder should only be made in small sums not exceeding Rs. 20 in each case, or,
if the advance has to be repeated, on each occasion. These loans are subject to
the ordinary rules regarding taccavi advances
contained in the Financial Commissioners’ Standing Order No. 32. It is the
custom where herds are kept for pastoral purposes to drive them in seasons of
drought into the low hills or the river valleys . There is therefore no object
in giving taccavi to
graziers.
(ii) But loans may be made to selected zamindars and
registered Co-operative Societies for purchase and storage of dry fodder in
scarcity tracts on condition that,---
(a) the amount to be so stored should be not less
than 4,000 maunds, and
(b) the advance should not exceed annas 8 for each
maund so purchased and stored .
(iii) The minimum amount of fodder to be stored
being 4,000 maunds at anans 8 per maund, it is necessary to provide for greater
security by hypothecation of property as a preferable alternative to combined
security.
643. Procedure must be
exceedingly prompt. It is essential that advances
under Act XII or 1884, which are usually small in amount, should be made
without any delay. A poor man who wishes to take advantage of long looked for
rain to plough or sow his fields cannot wait while files are being sent
backwards and forwards between the tahsil and the district office. The rules
therefore provide that within the limits of the funds allotted to them for the
purpose the following officers are empowered to grant loans:---
For cattle and other
For seed
Objects including
Agricultural
implements
Rs. Rs.
1. Tehsildars up to ………. 250 100
2. Canal Ziladars up to ……….. … 100
3. Reclamation Zailadars up to …. … 100
4. Deputy Collector, Reclamation….. … 100
5. Assistant Land Reclamation Officer up to.. … 100
6. Assistant Commissioners and Extra
Assistant Commissioners up to …. 300 100
7. Land Reclamation officer up to…. … 250
8. Collectors up to………. 500 250
9. Commissioners up to ………. 2,500 750
10. Financial Commissioners up to ….. 10,000 3,000
Officers subordinate to the Collector will exercise
these powers only when permitted to do so by the Collector:---
The limits apply to the amounts which may be granted
in any individual case. For the granting of these loans the Commissioner may,
on the recommendation of the Collector invest selected tahsildars with the
powers of an Extra Assistant Commissioner, and, in very special circumstances
invest selected naib-tahsildars with the powers of a tahsildar.
In time of famine it may be necessary to enlarge
powers of tahsildars, Assistant Commissioners and Extra Assistant Commissioners
and Collectors, and this may be done by the Commissioner subject to a report to
the Financial Commissioner. (Rule 1 of the Agriculturists Loans Rules) He
should satisfy himself that the selected officer understands fully the
circumstances under which loans should be made. It is a good thing to let him
take the money which is likely to be required into camp and distribute it on
the spot. This plan for the distribution of taccavi, which has been sanctioned by
the orders referred to in paragraph 630, is particularly suitable in the case
of advances under Act XII of 1884. The money required can be drawn on abstract
bills and accounted for in the same way as contingent expenditure(See paragraph
29 of Financial Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 32).
644. Employment of
special officer. When the total amount is advanced will be large the
Commissioner may find it necessary to apply to the Local Government to post an additional
Extra Assistant Commissioner or tahsildar to the district. He can be given the powers
of a Deputy Commissioner under the rules, but will of course be as completely under
the orders of the district officer as any other member of his establishment. If
the extra officer has no previous local experience, it will usually be best to
make him relieve one of the ordinary district staff who can then be employed
solely on taccavi work.
645. Further orders of
Government of
646. Grants in aid or
irrigation works in insecure tracts. “The Irrigation Commission (of
1903) have made certain proposals with the view of encouraging irrigation in specially
precarious tracts. They recommend that in selected areas, which have suffered severely
in recent famines and have not since obtained by irrigation or otherwise protection
sufficient to guarantee them against the recurrence of similar calamities, landowners
should be encouraged to apply for loans ordinary conditions sufficient to pay for
a portion of the cost of the contemplated improvements , and that Government
should make a free grant of the remainder of the cost, the proportion of the
free grant to the total cost depending on the property of the applicant and the
marginal profit from irrigation, the suggestd maximum being half the total
amount required upto a limit of Rs. 500 The Government of India have no
objection to free grants being made under such circumstances, i.e., when they
are applied to works the success of which is calculated to reduce future
expenditure on famine relief.” (Any grants that may be made are chargeable to
provincial revenues.)
647. Loans in times of
famine. “The foregoing considerations are applicable to the
case of loans made in ordinary times, and it remains to consider the case of
loans made to agriculturists in anticipation of scarcity or during the currency
of famine. As regards such loans the Government of India agree with the opinion
expressed by the Famine and Irrigation Commissions that loans to agriculturists
are especially required in the very early stages of famine as a measure of
moral strategy and to put heart into the people, and that a system of advances
when made in good time and with prudent forethought is a most efficient form of
relief, and one which can to a very great extent be freed from the pauperizing
influences of State Charity . These principles have been incorporated in the revised
Famine Codes and will no doubt be acted upon when occasion arises. It has been usual
in most provinces to make advances in famine times in low interest or free from
interest altogether, and to remit them with great generosity. The Government of
Chapter-XIX
Rural
Co-operative Credit Societies
648. Condition in
Europe- Amongst the factors influencing the political and economic
revolutions of the middle of the nineteenth century in Europe was the rapid increase
in the import of wheat from the newly exploited plains of
649. The problem in
India-In India the problem to be faced had not arisen from
outside competition but from internal causes, amongst them being the ever
increasing pressure which a rapidly growing population exert on the soil, while
the capriciousness of the seasons, on which the success of the harvests
depends, continues to give unceasing cause for anxiety as to the food supply.
The report of the Famine Commission of 1880 contains
a list of eighteen famines and four periods of scarcity not amounting to famine
in India in the period 1769 to 1878; and it gives expression to the conviction
“that Indian famines are necessarily recurring calamities against which such
precautions as are possible must be taken beforehand, and that it is the duty
of the Government to do its utmost in devising some means of protecting the
country, and to persevere in its attempts till some solution of the problem has
been obtained.” After dealing with the obligation of Government to afford
relief, the Commission urged that it is important that the measure should be so
framed “as to avoid every tendency to relax in the people the sense of the
obligation which rests on them to provide for their own support by their own
labour, to cultivate habits of thrift and forethought, and as far as possible
to employ the surplus of years of plenty to meet the wants of years of
scarcity.”
Amongst the principal rules of action advocated was
“to give loans both to small landed proprietors who are in need of such
assistance, and also to larger proprietors who may be trusted to apply the
money usefully.” Concerning these loans, the Commission wrote that “the
suspension of revenue does not entirely provide for the case of the small agriculturist
who finds himself without the necessary means either of subsistence or of preparing
his lands for tillage and who, if he is obliged to have recourse to the money lender,
can only obtain a loan on ruinous terms. It should, therefore, be the policy of
the Government to advance money freely and on easy terms on the security of the
land, whenever it can be done without serious risk of ultimate loss. Shortly
after the publication of this report Mr. Wedderburn of the Bombay Civil Service
proposed the establishment of an Agricultural Bank at
650. Co-operative
credit recommended. In 1892 the Government of
Madras placed Mr. Nicholson on special duty to enquire into the possibility of
introducing a system of agricultural or other land banks. His report in two
volumes (1885-97) was reviewed by the Mardras Government in 1899. About the
same time Mr. H.Dupernex, I.C.S., began to experiment with village banks in the
United Provinces. In 1990 be published a little book “Peoples’ Banks for
Northern India:” meanwhile in the Punjab, Mr. Maclagan, I.C.S., was trying to
start rural banks in Multan, and his example inspired his former Assistant, the
late Captain Crosthwait to make tentative efforts in what are now the Bhakkar
and Leiah tahsils of Mianwali and Muzaffargarh, respectively. The problem
appeared to be ripe for discussion, and the Government of India assembled a
committee at
In May 1901 appeared the report of the Famine
Commission, presided over by Lord Macdonnel. It contained a clear statement of
the united opinion of those who had recently given the closest consideration to
the problem of rural finance: “We attach the highest importance to the
establishment of some organization or method whereby cultivators may obtain,
without paying usurious rates of interest and without being given undue
facilities for incurring debt, the advances necessary for carrying on their
business.
Agriculture, like other industries , is supported on
credit. The sahukar,
or bania, has, from being a
help to agriculture , become in some places an incubus upon it. The usurious
rates of interest that he charges and the unfair advantage that he takes of the
cultivator’s necessities and ignorance have, over large areas, placed a burden
of indebtedness on the cultivator which he cannot bear….. It should be
understood from the outset, and made perfectly clear to all concerned, that the
establishment of a village bank does not imply the creation of an institution
from which the villagers may draw money at their discretion…………It is not
intended to frighten the village money-lender by permitting a village bank to
enter into competition with him over the whole field of his business ; still
less is it the intention to encourage borrowing for unproductive purposes.
No association, borrowing on the joint
responsibility of its members, would be justified in devoting any of its funds
to loans for unproductive purposes. It does not consequently enter into the
scope of a village bank’s operations to lend for marriage festivities or for caste
feasts or for similar objects. If people wish to borrow money for such purposes
or for any other purpose unconnected with agriculture, they must still go to
the village sahukar or
bania. The
co-operative agricultural bank only aims at freeing the great business of the
cultivator’s life from the terrible burden which now presses on it owing to the
usurious interest taken for agricultural loans.”
The Commission favoured the establishment of credit
associations on Raiffeisen principles which they proceeded to enunciate.
651. Acts of 1904 and
1912. The results of much careful consideration and
prolonged enquiry and discussion was the enactment of the Co-operative Credit
Societies Act of 1904. This was introduced and explained in an able and clear
statement by the late Sir Denzil Ibbetson, published as a resolution of the
Government of India(Revenue and Agriculture ) No. 1-63-3 dated 29th April, 1904. It was subsequently repealed and replaced
by the Co-operative Societies Act, 1912. In 1914 the progress of the
cooperative movement during the preceding ten years was reviewed in a
resolution of the Government of India (Revenue and Agriculture) No. 12-287-1,
date 17th June,
1914 and a Committee was appointed under the presidency of Sir Edward Maclagan
to examine whether the movement was progressing on sound lines, and to suggest
any measures of improvement which seem to be required. The report of this
committee published in 1915 should be studied by all who have at heart the
interests of the mass of the people.
652. The rural problem
as described by the committee on co-operation. To
committee on co-operation considered it desirable to explain that the chief
object was to deal with the stagnation of the poorer classes, and more
especially of the agriculturists who constitute the bulk of the population.
They proceeded:---
“It was found in many parts of India, as in most European
countries, that in spite of the rapid growth of commerce and improvements in
communications, the economic condition of the peasants had not been progressing
as it should have done, that indebtedness instead of decreasing had tended to
increase, that usury was still rampant, that agricultural methods had not
improved , and that the old unsatisfactory features of a backward rural economy
seemed destined persistently to remain . The more obvious features of the
situation presented themselves in the form of usury and land-grabbing on the
part of the money–lending classes, while the agricultural classes either
hoarded their savings or owing to thriftlessness and indebtedness showed
themselves unable to withstand bad seasons and to meet organised trade on equal
terms. The depression of the rural classes was further characterised by an
underlying absence of any desire for education or advancement and a certain
resigned acceptance of oppression from those who by wealth or social position
occupied a superior position, an attitude which though often spoken of as
‘conservative’, has frequently little of intentional conservatism about it, but
is due rather to ignorance to a traditional subservience in the past, and to an
absence of ideals for the future. The peculiar feature of co-operation as a
remedy for stagnation is that it is intended to meet not only the more obvious
material evils but also the underlying moral deterioration to which the poorer
classes have so long been exposed.
“The stagnation of the agricultural classes in the
greater part of the country has for many years attracted the attention of
Government, and various remedies have been tried for improving their material
condition . A system of State loans was introduced. Post Office Saving Banks
were opened, the Civil law relating to debt was frequently and extensively
amended, special legislation was initiated at various times in different areas for
dealing with tenant right, the alienation of land, the general settlement of
debt and the curbing of usury. But although much has been done by some at any
rate of these measures to help the peasant community, the general effect of the
action taken can only be described as partial and incomplete. The further
efforts which have been made by sanitation and education to improve the
environment and the intellectual condition of the poorer classes have not been
more successful. Without, therefore, abandoning the class of remedial measures
previously attempted, the Government turned to co-operation as the most hopeful
method of dealing with the problem before it. The theory of cooperation is very
briefly that an isolated and powerless individual can by association with
others and by moral development and mutual support obtain in his own degree the
material advantages available to wealthy or powerful persons, and thereby
develop himself to the fullest extent of his natural abilities. By the union of
forces material advancement is secured, and by united action self reliance is
fostered, and it is from the inter action of these influences that it is hoped
to attain the effective realisation of the higher and more prosperous standard
of life which has been characterised as ‘better business, better farming and
better living.’ We have found that there is a tendency not only among the
outside public but also among supporters of the movement to be little its moral
aspect and to regard this as superfluous idealism. Co-operation in actual
practice must often fall far short of the standard aimed at, and details
inconsistent with cooperative ideals have often to be accepted in the hope that
they may lead to better things.
We have in our report been compelled to deal mainly
with the co-operative organization from a business stand point. But we wish
clearly to express our opinion that it is to true co-operation alone, that is,
to a co-operation which recognises the moral aspect of the question, that
Government must look for the amelioration of the masses, and not to a pseudo-co-operative edifice, however
imposing, which is built in ignorance of cooperative principles. To this point
we shall return when we deal with the constitution of co-operative societies,
but in the meantime we desire to point out that the combination of the material
with the more or less intangible moral element constitutes an important difference
between co-operation and the other remedies adopted by Government for dealing
with agricultural stagnation.”
653. Advantages gained
by cooperation. To the above may be appended the following extract
from the resolution of 1914:---
“The aim of those who form themselves into societies
is primarily economic. There object is to obtain money or the other necessities
of production at cheaper rates, or to sell their produce at higher prices than
those which prevail in the market to which they would individually resort. If
this object can be attained over a considerable portion of
“In no direction is co-operation more full of
promise than in the improvement of agriculture. From the first it has enabled
cultivators to grapple with the difficulties caused by bad finance and an
undeveloped system of rural economy, but during the last two or three years it
has begun to show how it can assist them in winning a better living from a
reluctant soil and treacherous seasons. In time of need, Government has never been
backward in helping the peasant. Loans for the purchase of seed and cattle have
been generously given, lenient treatment has hastened recovery from seasonal
disasters, and by the greatest gift of all- irrigation- the liability to such
disasters has been prevented over large areas. But more helpful than any of
these gifts is the teaching which the Agricultural Department is setting before
the people. The field, however, is to wide, and the skilled workers so few,
that mere departmental efforts can never suffice to bring home to every
cultivator the benefits that agricultural science offers. It is here that
cooperation has stepped in . It has, in some provinces, provided the means
whereby, as each improved variety is perfected and made ready for use, seed can
be conveyed from the Government farm to every village over large areas and can
be multiplied a thousand fold; it has enabled the purity of the seed to be
maintained, and the best price to be secured for the produce; it has placed
with in reach of the cultivator cheap manure and implements tested and approved
by experts; it has supplied to cattle –breeders bulls of superior strains for
the improvement of the village herds; and it has provided the means by which
useful information can be disseminated.
The association of co-operation with agricultural
improvement may assume different forms. In one place the co-operative society
may perform the functions of an agricultural association; in another
agricultural societies or unions may have a separate existence, but may work in
the closest touch with the co-operative movement. But wherever agriculture and
co-operation have experienced the assistance which each can derive from
association with the other , they are fast developing truly organic connection and
there can be little doubt that before many years this will be the case
throughout
It has indeed been stated by outside observers that
the efforts of these two departments have made a deeper impression on the life
of the people than any of the other measures which Government is engaged in
promoting.
But these direct economic improvements are not the
only benefits which cooperation is conferring on the country. Co-operation has
been, in the widest sense of the term , education, both intellectual and moral
When men are associated for business purposes, they feel the need of education.
There are tangible reasons for learning to keep accounts, to sign pro-notes, to
read pass–books and receipts, and knowledge of this kind must lessen the
chances of fraud, while members who are able to read simple cooperative literature
will take a more intelligent interest in their society and in the progress of
the movement. Illiteracy is a hindrance to the movement, and just as co-operation
leads to a demand for literacy, so literacy encourages the demand for
co-operation. The effect of co-operation, however, extends beyond this, It does
more than merely provide cheap credit; it encourages thrift. The criterion for
admission to a society is a man’s character and not his wealth, and men, when
brought together for their common weal and when pledging their common credit,
have influenced each other’s conduct and advanced each other’ s interests in
ways previously undreamt of in this country . The fact that the members are
ultimately responsible for the payment of the debts of each and every member,
operates as a powerful check on expenditure on unproductive purposes greater than
that absolutely required by public opinion, and marriage expenses have
accordingly been curtailed. Drunkards and gamblers have been reformed or
excluded from societies.
Self-restraint, punctuality, straight-forwardness,
self-respect, discipline, contentment and thrift have been encouraged. In some
areas litigation has markedly decreased. In others the common funds have been
used to start schools, to provide scholarships, to distribute quinine, to
provide drinking wells, to clean streets. The impetus of co-operative credit
has led on to saving banks, benefit funds and provision for the poor. Those who
have first hand knowledge of co-operative societies are emphatic in their
appreciation of the change which the movement is making in the character of the
people affected by it, and it is important to bear in mind that co-operation is
not merely a device for obtaining cheap money, or for increasing the economic
resources of members, but is also a potent educational influence and, as such,
is deserving of the warmest support from those who have the welfare of the
people at heart. The managing bodies of the societies have frequently been
entrusted with the arbitration of disputes and with other duties which belong
to the traditional village panchayats and
there is some reason to think that the continuity of aim, and the solidarity of
feeling in herent in the movement, may lead to a revival of the corporate
village life which has been so weakened by the disintegrating influences of
modern times. “
654. Benefits peculiar to
co-operation Before proceeding further it may be well to indicate
the grounds on which the co-operative method claims to be more worthy of encouragement
than its rivals.
The taccavi system
described in the previous chapter possesses many advantages.
It is based on the credit of the supreme Government
which does not desire to derive any profit from it. This credit enables
Government to borrow at from 5 to 6 per cent interest and to re-lend this monet
at 7-7/24 percent. The difference represents the cost of administration of the
system plus allowance for irrecoverable loans. Its great advantage is the low
rate of interest charged, and it might be assumed that this alone would ensure its
popularity. The very fact. however, that co-operative credit has made such
headway in the country suggests that the taccavi system is not free from
defects. In order to be able to lend at such a low rate, it is necessary in the
interests of the general tax-payer that Government should have adequate
security for the money advanced and a certainty of its ability to recover the
principal. The powers considered necessary (see paragraph 620 of this manual ),
are liable to prove harsh in the hands of unsympathetic officials, and the machinery
available for working the system is apt to involve the borrowers in delays and vexations
attendant on the direct receipt of loans from Government treasuries.( Cf Committee’s report, paragraph 206.)
Moreover, as security, Government obtains a charge
on the land and crops and can in the last resort sell proprietary rights by
auction. The protective provisions of the Land Alienation Act and Civil
Procedure Code do not curtail the right of Government to realise on its
security. An agricultural bank would insist on a direct charge on the land or crops;
it is doubtful if it could afford to lend merely on personal security. As Government
realises no profits from its taccavi transactions,
it would seen that an agricultural bank would have to lend at a higher rate, if
its share-holders were to receive dividends. It would be a stranger to its
clients, serving their needs on a business basis, the welfare of the one would
be of no interest to the other.
655. What co-operation means.
Co-operation claims to be more than a methods of doing business, it is an idea
, a faith. It depends for its success on a moral bond. Given a body of persons
of limited means, similarly situated, economically it provides the means for
improving the interests of each through unselfish devotion to the common
interests of all. The members come to realise that the advantages secured to
them are not due to outside help from Government or philanthropists but to the
combination of their own efforts and to loyal adherence to the rules they have
themselves adopted. They stand or fall on their own merits, whether they
achieve success or suffer failure depends on their own character and their own
efforts. Co-operation is largely mutual self –help, and as the members are
equally responsible for the management and are drawn from the same class in the
same neighbourhood, the delinquency of one hurts his friends as well as his own
society and himself. There is thus a strong moral incentive to straight
dealing.
Further, co-operation is an association of persons
and not of capitalists, the members meet on terms of equality, void of all
distinctions of class, creed, birth or money, and they bring to the task of
promoting the economic interests of all their honesty, good character and
determination to work together for success. There is no element of charity, it
is self help through mutual help.
656. Conditions of
success in co-operation. The system of rural
co-operative credit adopted is based on that of Raiffeisen; the essential
principles are honesty, good character and determination to work to described
in paragraph 3 of the Report of the Committee on Co-operation as follows:---
“The society to be fully co-operative must fulfill
many conditions. The theory underlying co-operation is that weak individuals
are enabled to improve their individual productive capacity and consequently
their material and moral position, by combining among themselves and brining
into this combination a moral effort and a progressively developing realisation
of moral obligation. The movement is essentially a moral one and it is
individualistic rather than socialistic. It provides as a substitute for
material assets honesty and a sense of moral obligation and keeps in view the
moral rather than the material sanction.
Hence the first condition obviously is that every
member should have a knowledge of the principles of co-operation., if this
co-operation is to be real and not a sham. In the formation of a society the
first essential is the careful selection as members of honest men, of at any
rate of men who have given satisfactory guarantees of their intention lead an
honest life in future As. regards the dealings of the society, it should lend
to its members only, and the loans must in no circumstances be for speculative
purposes, which, so far from encouraging thrift and honesty have exactly the
opposite effect. Loans should be given only for productive purposes or for
necessaries which, as essentials of daily life, can fairly be classed as
productive. The borrowers should be required to satisfy their fellows that they
are in a position to repay the loans from the income that they will derive from
their increased productive capacity, or that by the exercise of thrift they can
effect a margin of income over expenditure which will suffice to meet the
instalments of their loans as they fall due. When a loan has been given, it is
essential that the committee of the society and the other members should exercise
a vigilant watch that the money is expended on the purpose for which the loan
was granted. If it is improperly applied, it should be at once recalled. It is further
advisable to add to the general supervision of the society the special supervision
of individual members, by taking personal sureties in the case of each loan. In
the event of any default by the borrower an instant demand should be made on
these sureties. In the more general matters of the society’s business there should,
of course, be a committee of management with a president and a secretary , all
of whom, except those who perform purely clerical duties and have no voice in
the management, should be members of the society and give their services to gratuitously.
At the same time the ultimate authority should never be delegated to the office
bearers, but should be retained in the hands of the members who must continue
to take a practical interests in the business of the society. With this object
the constitution should be purely republican; each member should have one vote
and no more in the general meeting, and all business should be transacted with
the maximum of publicity within the society. For example, there should be kept
in some place open to the inspection of every member a list showing the loans
issued to every member, the names of his sureties and the amount of the loan
still unpaid, and each member should be required to know generally how this
account stands; general meetings should be frequently held at which the accounts
and affairs of the society are fully discussed and explained The express object
of the society should be the development of thrift amount its members, with the
hope too that this idea of thrift will spread in the neighbourhood. To effect
this object loans must be given only when they are really necessary and desirable.
Further, the development of thrift and of a proprietary interest in the society
should be aided by efforts to build up as soon as possible a strong reserve fund
from profits The society must also be encouraged to obtain as mush as possible
of its capital from the savings which its teaching and example have brought
about among its members and their neighbours. With all these must go the elementary
business principles of honesty, punctuality, proper accounts, diligence, and
payment when due. To ensure all this there must be adequate control from
within, increasing vigilance and supervision by the office bearers, and a
continuous effort by members in learning the principles of co–operation, in meeting
frequently, in watching others, in working hard and observing thrift, and in
punctual repayment of their own loans as they fall due.”
657. The
658. Central banks. In
order to proceed funds for village societies in the early years of their
existence, central banks have been established. These are not necessarily cooperative
in form but are joint stock companies with limited liability and foxed capital.
They are allowed to be registered under the co-operative societies act and to
enjoy the privileges of registered the co-operative societies. In the
President, but there are now many central banks
where this is no longer so; and practice is conforming to the recommendations
of the committee on co-operation. In consideration of the special privileges
enjoyed by these central banks the Act and flues impose certain restrictions
which differentiate them from joint stock companies:at last one-fourth of their
annual profits must go to reserve and the dividend must not exceed 10per cent,
and no person may hold more than one thousand rupees of shares of more than
one-fifth of the whole. These restrictions, it will be observed, add to the financial
stability of the bank.
659. Registrar and his
duties. To control the co-operative movement, Government has
appointed a Registrar, whose post is now permanent, and maintains a large
inspecting and teaching staff under him. In addition to this, the
“The progress of the co-operative movement in
Even now the appointments in the various provinces
are on a temporary footing and their further continuance will come up for consideration
in 1916, but from what we have said throughout this report, and in view of the
duties which our recommendations impose on the Registrar, it will be understood
that we cannot subscribe either to the disappearance if the post or to the
transference of its functions to non-official agency. Nor can we contemplate
the continued development of co-operation in
660. Position of district
officers. The relation of district officers to the movement
was thus described in the resolution of the government of
“but while the movement must be essentially a
popular one and while excessive official supervision must be avoided it by no
means follows that government officials outside the circle of those directly
connected with co-operation should hold aloof. It is true that the details of
initiation and inspection should be left to the expert agency provided for the
purpose, and it is no part of the duty of the district officer to internee in
the internal administration of societies. But as co-operative societies are no
longer isolated experiments outside the sphere of district work, and as beyond
the material benefits which they pffertjeu represent an influence sloselu connected
with the welfare of the people and powerful, now and in the future for good, or
evil, the district officer cannot dissociate himself from the movement.
On the contrary a knowledge of co-operative
principles and practice has now become as essential as acknowledge of revenue
law, allowing them to languish through want of languish through want of
sympathy or to develop on undesirable lines through want of vigilance. Without
in any way becoming an active propagandist he should, personally, and not grass
of the movement in his district, encouraging and helping those who have formed
themselves in into societies, enlisting the interest and support of men of
influence and wealth and assisting with his advice. Those who seek to avail
themselves of the benefits of cooperation. This in no way involves the
officiating of co-operation, nor does it trench upon the essential principle
that the movement, if it by such encouragement and guidance, while the more
closely the district officer is in touch with societies the more surely will he
find to his hand new and valuable agencies to help him in his daily work.
“It is for local Governments to consider to what
extent and in what manner use can be made of societies in each province in
district administration –how far they can afford a means of ascertaining the
real public feeling of the district, how far they can be rendering voluntary
aid assist in promoting primary education, rural sanitation and medical relief,
in what manner they can be used in times of scarcity and famine or during the
prevalence of epidemics, or whether the training afforded by them will lead to
the development of a true system of village Government.
“In these and other ways it may be found possible to
utilize the cooperative organization and the movement should if wisely
directed, exercise an important influence in prompting the welfare of the
people. But although it is still uncertain to what extent and in what manner,
societies may assist in the work of the district there can be no doubt that a
new factor in administration which cannot be disregarded, has come into being
and that new duties and responsibilities have been thrown upon the district
officers.”
The committee on co-operation agreed with the above.
The only define functions assigned to the Collector by the Act are set forth in
section 35. He may call on the Register to make an enquiry into the condition
of a society and is entitled to access to all the books and to call for any
information regarding the working of any society that the may require. With
reference to his position towards central banks the committee wrote – “although
we see no objection to the Collector or sub-divisional officer acting as chairman
or member of the managing committee of a central bank in individual cases we do
not advocate that they should hold these positions ex-officio or as an
invariable rule. The district officer should however, in our opinion always
have a formal right to attend meetings of the share –holders or directors of a
central bank, and it is for the local Government to decide in what manner this
arrangement can be best carried out. He would also be the most suitable person
to preside at a district conference. In that character and in any position
which Government in accordance with our suggestions above may assign to him on
the central bank, he would occupy in our opinion a position which represent
correctly his general relation to the movement. He would stand as a well wiser
equipped with the requisite knowledge and sympathy, but need not necessarily
have any intimate connection with the management or assume direct responsibility.”
660-A. Chief duties to
be performed by official staff. The Royal Commission on Agricultural
in general supported the recommendations of the Maclagan Committee on Co-operation
and added little that was new; it; however, stressed a few points on which critics
are apt to go astray . The movement was initiated by a Government faced with
the finding that “Indian famines are necessarily recurring calamities” and was
intended to be a part of its anti-famine policy. This has resulted in three
features characteristic of the movement in the
The main function of the official staff is to train
the members of societies to manage their own affairs without outside
interference or assistance, but practical considerations render necessary some
degree of audit; inspection and supervision. The assistance of non-official
workers is essential and is always welcomed but the Royal commission, in view
of the many and serious defects which had been brought to their notice,
recommended that every effort should be made to build up a highly educated and well
trained staff of officials, “Its chief duty is to educate members upto the
point at which they will be competent themselves to undertake its duties and so
to dispense with its services; to strengthen the hands of the honorary workers
by furnishing them with skilled advice and guidance in the more difficult
problems; to supervise the work of unions and federations engaged in the
management and control of the movement and to work out new schemes to
facilitate the work of other departments to prepare the ground for their
special propaganda and to organize the people to receive and adopt expert advice.”
660-B Government aid to
co-operative movement. Royal Commission made definite recommendations
the subject of Government aid to the movement. “We think that local governments
should encourage the enlistment of honorary worker by contributing towards
their out of pocket expenses, both while they are under training and whilst
they are working in the field.
“Public funds may also reasonably be spend in
assisting institutions whose object to spread education in the application of
co-operative principle to various objects and also…… in assisting unions for
supervision. We found that Government aid was usually given for propaganda work
and we approve this. In considering the prevailing illiteracy and the
consequent difficulty in reaching the people by paper or pamphlet, we think
that Government have a special interest in promoting organizations on a
co-operative basis to facilitate the activities of the agricultural,
veterinary, educational and public health, departments and that assistance
should , therefore , be freely given to ventures of a novel nature……..” The Royal
Commission further recommended that Government expenditure should be devoted to
education in preference to audit. In general the
660.– C. Organisation
of land mortgage banks with aid of loans from Government. The
question of organizing land mortgage banks on a co-operative basis has received
much consideration and although there has not yet been sufficient experience on
which to base final conclusions, a tentative policy has been accepted of
organizing two such banks a year with the aid of loans from Government. The
recommendation of the Royal Commission on this difficult subject have been
adopted and the banks are registered under the Co-operative Societies Act.
These institutions can at present only be regarded as in the experimental stage
and great caution must be exercised in advancing loans to people whose appetite
for credit is greater than their readiness to make the personal sacrifice
necessary to ensure repayment.
661 to 671 Cancelled.
CHAPTER
XX
THE
COURT OF WARDS
672. Object of Court of
Wards. The duty of the State to make provision for the care
of the persons and property of those who by reason of age, sex, mental,
incapacity or other causes are unfit to manage their own affairs is generally
recognized. The Guardians and wards Act, VIII of 1890, embodies the general law
on the subject, and under this a competent court is empowered, where no other
suitable guardian can be found, to appoint the Deputy Commissioner to that office,
But where public interest are involved., as in the case of a large landholder.,
or where the family is one of political or social importance public policy
necessitates a more specialized machinery, which is provided by the Court of
Wards Act II of 1903. Action under this Act is regulated party by statutory rules
(Punjab Land Administration Acts, Volume II) and partly by executive order
issued in Financial Commissions Standing orders No. 33. In the general interest
of the administration of the province, it is desirable that large landholding
families should receive assistance from Government, where that assistance can
suitably be rendered. In cases where the official machinery is not suited to
mange the particular business, such as an industry or trade, it will rarely be
to the advantage of the minor to be brought under the court of words. Such
cases must be left to the Guardians and wards Act.
673. In case of Vicious
or spendthrift landholders, interference confined to families of political or
social importance. The considerations which lead
the State to interfere in the case of landholders of vicious or spend thrift
habits are those of public interst. The law does not contemplate the putting of
any restraint on a man’s power of dissipating his property by vicious courses
or the extravagant pursuit of pleasure unless he belongs to a family whose
poetical or social importance it is a matter of public interest to preserve. In
this respect it does not go as far as the French law, which permits the
relations of any prodigal spend thrift to apply of the appointment of a
judicial adviser, without whose “assistance,” he is powerless to borrow money
to sell or mortgage his immovable property or to bring a suit in court. (The power which reversions posses under the customary law of the
Punjab to sue for the cancellation of the transfers of land made with out
necessary is a restraint of the same kind(see paragraphs 45 and 8 of this
Manual) Even in the case of great families it must be
remembered that it is against the declared policy of Government to extricate
them from debt by means of loans of public money. IN such cases Deputy
Commissioners must not formally discuss with the persons concerned applications
for the intervention of the court of wards, or initiate proceedings, without
first obtaining the sanction of the Commissioner. And if ultimate resort to Government
loans seems probable reference should be made to Government for a decision of
the question whether the political or other considerations are strong enough to
warrant an exception being made to its general rule or policy.
674. Imperfection of
law regarding court of wards contained in section 34-38 of Act IV of 1872 and
origin of Punjab Act, II of 1903. The old law concerning the
Court of Wards contained in the Punjab Laws Act of 1872(As amended by Act XII of 1878) was unsatisfactory
and defective, but it was not until after the prolonged examination of the measure
required to rescue the rural population from debt that Bills were prepared to
deal with some aspects of this problem. The Alienation of Land Act of 1900 (See paragraphs 24 et seq. Of this manual) was
designed to meet the case of the mass of owners and it was supplemented in 1903
by the Court of Wards Act, to meet the case of families of social or political
importance. The remainder of this chapter will be devoted to a short account of
the present law followed by a few remarks on some particular questions which
arise in connection with the care of wards an the management of their property.
675. Cancelled.
677. Only landholders
can be made wards. To be made a wards a person
must be landholder i.e, he must possess an interest in land as proprietor ,
assignee of the Government revenue, lessee of land, otherwise.(Section 3(b) of Act. No. II of 1903.)
678. Classes of
landholders who may be made wards by order of Financial Commissioner. The
court may of its own authority declare the following classes of landholders to
be its wards :-
(a) minors that is to say persons below the age of
eighteen.(Section 3(c) of Act II of 1903 read with
section 3 of the Indian Majority Act, IX of 1875) A
person who has been made a ward while still below that age does not reach his
majority till he is twenty one.( Section 3 of Act IX
of 1875, as amended by Section 52 of Act VIII of 1890) The
Deputy Commissioner reports the cases of all minors who in his opinion ought to
be made wards , and likewise case in which he himself has been appointed guardian
of a minor under the provision of section 18 of he Guardian and Wards Act, VIII
of 1890(Section 7(2)) The
object of the report in the latter case is to enable the Financial Commissioner
to decide whether the estate should not be brought under the Court of Wards;
(b) Persons adjudged by a court acting under section
2 of Act XXXV of 1858 to be of unsound mind and incapable of managing their
affairs. (Section 6) The
deputy Commissioner may apply to the District Judge to institute the necessary
enquiry.(Section II(4) , see also section 3 of Act
XXXV of 1858).
679. Classes of
landholders who may be made wards by order of local Government. The
local Government may order the Court of Wards to take charge of the property of
the following classes of landholders if it considers them incapable of managing
their own affairs:---
(a) Females;
(b) Persons suffering from any physical or mental
defect or infirmity;
(c) Persons who themselves apply to made wards;
(d) Persons who have be convicted of any
non-bilabial offence , and are of vicious character;
(e) Persons whose habits of wasteful extravagance
are likely to dissipate their property. (Section 5(2)(d))
The court may at its discretion take charge of their
persons also. In the case of the third class action can only be taken , if it
is considered “expedient in the Public Interest ;” in the case of the last two
classes it is necessary that the landholder shall belong to a “a family of
political or social importance” and that the local Government shall be
satisfied that it is desirable on grounds of public policy or general interest”
to interfere. (Proviso to section
(2))
680. Inquiry by Deputy
Commissioner. A proposal to take anyone under the superintendence
of the court of wards usually originates with the Deputy Commissioner of the
district in which the whole or the bulk of the property concerned is situated;
but cases occur where the landholder applies direct to the Governor or the
Member in charge. In such cases the application or proposal has to be sent to
the Deputy Commissioner who acts as if it were his own. The 3rd chapter of the Act gives him the necessary powers
for making an inquiry and for the protection of the person and property of the
proposed ward until sanction is received.
681. Release from
wardship. A minor or an insane person may be released from wardship
by the court at any time, When it is proposed to release the person or a minor,
the head of the educational institution at which he is studying should be
consulted as to this future. The concurrence of the District judge is, however,
required in any case in which the Deputy Commissioner was appointed guardian of
the minor before he became as Ward of Court. (Section 44)On releasing a ward who is
still a minor the court may give him a guardian who will have the same rights
and duties and he subject to the same disabilities as a guardian appointed by
the District Judge under Act VIII of 1890.(Section 47)
The property of a landholder who has been made a
ward under the orders of the local Government cannot be released without its
order; but the court may relinquish charge of his persons at its pleasure. (Section 44)
682. Publication of
orders. The orders by which the Court of Wards assumes and relinquishes
charge of the person or property of a landholder are published in the Government
Gazette.( Section 9 and 50)
683. Provision to meet
case of joint owners. When the landholder declared to
be a ward is joint owner of property with other the court may take charge of
the whole property. (Section 8) But
as will be shown here after, its power of de align with such property is subject
to restrictions. Again if a person who has ceased to be subject to its
jurisdiction owns property jointly with another person who is still in ward,
the court may retain the whole under its care. (Section 46) This is very useful provision.
It obviates the difficulty which arose under the old law, when several brothers
were wards and one of them was released from tutelage on attaining his majority
. When the court manages property not belonging to a ward it is bound to make
over the surplus income to its owner.( Section 8 and 46)
684. Wardship may
extend only to property. As already indicated the
superintendence of the court may extend only to the property of the ward, or to
both his property and his person.(section 6 and 7).
685. Disabilities of
ward. A ward cannot purchase on credit, borrow money, or
transfer his property by lease, mortgage ,sale or gift. (Section 15(a)) He cannot make a will adopt an
heir, or give permission to adopt.( Section 15(b)) He
can only use under the authority of the court(Section 20(1)) and he cannot be used without
the court being made a defendant, (Section 20(2)) and
without two months notice having previously been given to the Deputy
Commissioner.(Section 19)
686. Disabilities
extending beyond release. A ward’s disabilities do not in
all cases come wholly to an end on his release. A landholder who was made a
ward at his own request or as a consequence of his extravagant habits cannot,
after his release from the superintendence of the court, make any transfer of
this property for a term extending beyond his own like. (Section 16(1)).
687. Powers of court as
regards ward’s property. All property which the ward possesses
in the Punjab at the date of the order by which the court assumes charge, and all
property in the Punjab which the ward may subsequently acquire vests in the
court , which however , has discretion as to taking he superintendence of any
property fo the latter class not received by inheritance.( Section 13) The Act only extends to property
in the Punjab ; property owned by a ward is an other province is not affected
by its province, the authorities in that province must be moved to take the
necessary action under the local Act. The court has for the item being all the
powers of a landowner. It can even sell the whole of the property if it thinks
that to do so would be the ward’s advantage.( Section 17(1)) Of course permanent alienation
of any part of the ward’s landed property is usually to be avoided. But the
sale of outlying or isolated portions of an estate as part of a scheme for the
liquidations of debt may be sound policy. The court cannot sell or mortgage the
share of a joint proprietor who is not himself a ward, or grant a lease of it
for more than twenty years.( Section 17(2)) In
this connection it must be borne in mind that jagirs notified under the Punjab
Jagirs Act, V of 1941 , cannot be attached and are, therefore, of no value as
legal security.
688. Management may
continue after death of release of ward. The cessation of
legal disability, or even the death or a ward, does not in every case free his
property from management. If still encumbered with debt it may, with the
sanction of the local Government, be kept under the charge of the Court till
all the debts have been discharged.(Section 45)
689. Powers of court
over ward’s person. When the court has taken charge
of the person of a ward it can fix his place of residence and in the case of
minor male ward, has complete control of his education. (Section 24) This control has been delegated
to Deputy Commissioners .(See paragraph 696 of
this Manual)
690. Ascertainment of
debts. To free an estate from a load of debt is too often
one of the chief tasks of the court of Wards. The first step is to ascertain
exactly what the liabilities are. The 6th Chapter
of the Act provided a means of doing this promptly and a notice calling on all
creditors to present within six months their claims with the documents on which
they rely for their establishment.(Sections 26 and 27) Subject
to the provisions of section 7and 13 of the Indian Limitation Act, XV of 1877,
claims not filed in time without reasonable excuse of the sufficiency of which
the Deputy Commissioner is judge are ipsofacto extinguished.(Section 29) Suits and executions against
the wards, estate pending at the time are stayed until the plantiff or the
decree holders files a certificate that the claim has been duly notified. (Section 3(2) . Compare section 31(3) barring fresh proceeding in
execution.)
691. Deputy
Commissioner must determine amount due and may rank the debts. It
is the duty of the Deputy Commissioner to examine in to the truth of each
claim, and to determine the amount due. (Section 28) He cannot of course disallow
any sum already decreed and still unpaid. (Section 3(1)) He has further to decide in
cases in which immediate payment is impossible the rate of interest, if any ,
to be allowed in future, (Section 28) and
he may, if the thinks fit rank the debts in the order in which they are to be
paid, and fix a date for the discharge of each.(Section 32(1)) . Debtors will often accept a
composition favourable to the ward if, by doing so, they can procure a prompt settlement
of accounts.
692. Remedies open to
creditor. The Deputy Commissioner’s decisions are not subject to
appeal, but they may be revised by the Court of Ward. (Section 33) No civil suit lies to set aside
the order of Deputy Commissioner ranking debts or fixing dates for their discharge.
But, if he has wholly rejected a claim or reduced its amount, the aggrieved party
may bring a civil action, in which the court of wards will be defendant to
impeach the correctness of the decision.( Section 32) In such a suit no document
which the palintiff failed to produce before the Deputy Commissioner, through
it was in his power to do some can be received in evidence.( Section 30)
693. Appointment of
tutors, guardian and mangers. The 7th chapter of the Act provided for the appointment of
tutors , guardians and managers , and explains their duties and obligation
Subject to the control of the court, a guardian has charge of the person of a
ward, and a manager of his property.(Section 35 and 38) It
is often well to consult the friends or relations of a ward as to the choice of
manager since a fit private person may sometimes be available. In the case of
large estates, however, where a specially competent manager is required, a
Government servant should generally be selected. In all case , the interest to
be considered are those of the ward and not those of any friend or relation or
other candidate for the post. There is no reason why in suitable cases the two
offices of guardian and manager should not be united in a single person. A guardian
can only be appointed for the care of a ward. Who is a minor, or an unmarried female,
or insane, or suffering from some physical or mental infirmity.(Section 35) The next heir of a ward or a
person immediately interested in outliving him cannot be his guardian. (Section 36) If no guardians or manager is
appointed by the court, their powers are exercised by the Deputy Commissioner.
694. Preliminary report
and scheme of management. When a Deputy Commissioner has
made up his mind that an estate should be brought under the court of Wards, he submits
his proposals in a preliminary report, which is followed as soon as possible by
a detailed scheme of management . Orders on the subject will be found in
paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Financial Commisisoner Standing Order No. 33.
695. Court of Wards
rate. (1) A rate is levied on the income of estates
managed by the Court of Wards under the authority of section 3 of the
Government Management of Private Estates Acct (X of 1892) . The income is
intended to cover the cost of all ordinary Government establishments in so far
as these have to devote part of their time to Court of Ward’s business. This is
of course does not include any staff recruited solidly for the management of
any estates or group of estate. Such a staff is paid out of the income of the
estate or estate which employ it. The case also covers the share of any
contingent expenditure of Government offices, which would otherwise be
debatable to the Court of Wards. For the present the rate has been fixed as
follows:---
(a) on gross income up to Rs. 5000 per annum 5
percent.
(b) On excess upto Rs. 10000 per annum, 4 percent
(c) On further excess upto Rs. 20000 per annum, 3
percent.
(d) On further excess above Rs. 20000 per annum, 2
percent.
(2) Gross income is defined in section 2(2) of the
government Management of private Estates Act, 1892, as follows:-
“Gross income includes all receipts of every kind in
produce or cash, except money borrowed, recoveries of principal and the
proceeds of sale of immovable property or movable property classed as capitals.
696. Education of
wards. The education of wards for good family has always
been difficult problem. There can be no question in these days as to the kind
of knowledge to be arity with Western ideas and modes of thought, which is
becoming the common property of all educated Indians. But a young Indian
leaving conservative home surroundings to receive such an education is very
much in the position of a young Englishman in the sixteenth century faring to
Rome of Padaua to reap the fruits of the Renaissance. We know what the result
was in the case of our own countrymen, and we need not wonder if similar
disappointments often occur in modern
697. Investments in
improvements. As the accumulation of large cash balances or of
readily realizable securities merely provides a temptation to a ward on release
from control, it is desirable that surplus funds should be employed on the
improvement of the estate and on bringing all buildings etc, into a through
state of repair. The advantages to be derived from digging wells tanks,
embankments or drains should be carefully considered and all measures which the
agricultural department can recommend for the improvement of the soil, or for
enhancing the security of the crops and the prosperity of the tenancy should be
carried out as funds permit. Attempts should also made to effect improvement of
the cattle under the advice of the veterinary department. It is not intended
that estates under the Court of Wards should be run on model lines; but whatever
an intelligent and enterprising landowner would be ready to spend money on in his
own estate, may be object of expenditure by Court. Where Government has
provided a body of experts to advice on agricultural matters, there need be
little hesitation in taking full advantage of their advice to effect all
promising improvements in the estate. The Government of India have especially
advised the liberal supply of advances to cultivators upon the ward’s estate in
the shape of either money, seed, or cattle, on the security of long leases and
conditional on the payment of enhancement rent. (Government of
698. In purchase of
mortgage of lands. Following the improvement of a
ward’s own estate come investments in the purchase or taking on mortgage or
lands, which should, as a rule be situated in reasonable proximity to the main
estate. It will often be found that the difficulties involved in the management
of property situated at a distance from the managing center e.g., in one of the
canal colonies. Are such as to render this form of investment inadvisable; but
where these difficulties can be obviated, and auctions are advertised,
inadvisable; but where these difficulties can be obviated, and auctions are advertised,
proposals may be submitted for the purchase at auction of Government lands in
the colonies. Where the lands to be acquired are not the property of
Government; it is essential to see that the vendor’s or mortgagor’s title is
unimpeachable.
It is to be observed that rule (II) under section
4(3) of the Act, part I( see page 93 of Volume II ; Punjab Land Administration
Acts ) Gives the Deputy Commissioner power to execute and register instruments
on behalf of the Court of Wards; but before this power is exercised , care
should be taken to see that the sale , mortgage or lease in question has
received the sanction of competent authority . Under rule (2) the Deputy Commissioner
may himself fix the form of lease to be given in certain cases. In other cases
the form of instrument must be approved either by the Financial Commissioner or
by the Commissioner. (Rule (3 part II of
the Rules under section 4(3) of the Act(see page 94 of Volume II, Punjab Land
Administration Acts).It is necessary to lay
particular stress on the fact that on no account should loans be advance in the
interest of the borrower but solely, as laid down in section 17(1) of the Act
for the advantage of the ward. Particular instructions in this respect are
given paragraph 31 of Standing Order No. 33.
699. In purchase of
government paper. The third form of investment is the purchase of
Government promissory notes, but this is not only intended to be a convenient
course to be adopted pending the occurrence of an opportunity to invest in less
easily realizable securities. In the absence of any special reason to the
country, all sum belonging to wards exceeding Rs. 500 and not required for
investments in improvements or in land or for current expenses should be
invested in Government paper until some letter investment can be secured. (See also paragraph 30 of Financial Commissioner’s Standing Order
No. 33)
700. Treatment of
tenants. The treatment of the tenants in an estate managed by
the court or wards should be an example to neighboring landowners. Undue enhancement
of rents must be avoided . There is often more than a mere business relation between
land owner and cultivator –as is testified to by the favourable rents which tenants
not infrequently enjoy and it is inexpedient to reduce all to a uniform level,
and to abolish privilege which the proprietor himself would wish to preserve. A
system of cash rents undoubtedly reduces the difficulties of management and
renders accounts easier to keep and Government in the case of tits own lands
almost invariably adopts a cash rent system. But local circumstances and the
custom of the estate must be considered. The practice of putting leases up to
competition is forbidden. No estate can be let in farm without the sanction of
the Financial Commissioner which will rarely, if ever be given as the practice
leads to rack renting of cultivating tenants and other evils connected with the
employment of middle men. Government Favor a policy of selecting suitable
lessees and conferring on them a tenure of sufficient duration to offer an
inducement towards the improvement of the land. Short term leases induce a
lessee to make the most out of the land while he can. As already stated the
grant of loans to tenants is a useful way of investing surplus funds but
tenants will not taccavi to carry out improvements unless they enjoy in some
degree stability of tenure. Section 18(2) of the Act which makes convenience,
entered into the court binding on the ward; after the property has been released
from superintendence, gives the necessary basis for the policy here set forth. In
dealing with the subject of tenants, it should be remembered that where the
interests of both parties coincide, no efforts should be spread to foster
these. The use of pure seed, of improved implements, or manure and of good
bulls are examples, and these deserve full encouragement. Managers are apt to
be some what slow to adopt any measure which is not hallowed by custom., and
hesitate to embark on the campaign for improvement when this involves extra
work. Deputy Commissioners should endeavor to secure for the estate all
advantages which science can bring.
701. 697. Instructions
issued in 1884. The instructions on this subject issued in 1884 are
still applicable:---
(a) No tenant of such lands who cultivates his
holding satisfactorily , pays his rent with regularly and otherwise fulfils the
conditions of his lease, should be disturbed merely to make room for some new
tenant.
(b) If the lease has expired or the rent of such
land, the gourds for doing this should be placed on record briefly but clearly
, and should be explained to the tenants concerned.
(c) When it is proposed to raise the rent of such
land, the grounds for doing this should be placed on record briefly but clearly
and should be explained to the tenants concerned.
(d) It is the duty of officers in charge of such
lands to see that fair claims of this nature are asserted from time to time.
But this should always be done with due and moderation, rents should not be
arbitrarily raised, and the practice of putting leases up to auction or other
forms of competition should never be resorted to.
(e) When the time comes to renew a lease, the
officer in charge of the land should fix a fair rent with reference to the
letting value of land similarly circumstances in the neighborhood and should
offer it at the rate so fixed to the old tenant, and only on his refusal should
it be offered to others.
BOOK
VI
STATE
LANDS
CHAPTER
XXI
STATE
LANDS RESERVED FROM CULTIVATION.
702. Rights over waste
claimed by Indian rulers. The large rights which the
Indian rulers who preceded our own claimed in waste lands have been noticed in
the 185th paragraph of the Settlement Manual . Even where the
Raja did not claim an exclusive tittle in the soil he often asserted his
ownership of certain “royal” trees. Such as the teak in southern
703. Classification of
State lands. The waste lands in the
(a) Mountain forests.
(b) Hill forests
(c) Plain forests
(d) Grazing lands.
705. Hill forests.
The hill forests occupy the lower spurs of the Himalayas below an elevation of
5,000 feet, the Siwaliks in Hoshiarpur and Ambala and the low dry hills of
706. Plain forests and
grazing lands. The plain forests which used to be found in the dry
south –western districts have owing to the extension of canal irrigation
practically ceased to exist, except in the great sandy tract between the Jhelum
and the
707. Sketch of
executive and legislative measures taken for forest conservancy desirable.
The extent to which Government asserted title to waste lands in the early days of
the administration of the
708. Measures taken by
the Board of Administration - The curious dislike felt by the
early administrators of northern
They wrote:---
“3rd-
The Board are fully alive to the importance of the ends in view and they are glad
to have the opportunity afforded them by the Governor – General , of bringing
before the Government the question , not only of increasing the growth of
timber, but of economizing the existing produce for the future wants of our large
cantonments, for the steamers which may hereafter ply , and for the inhabitants
or the country generally.
“4th –
Although timber of large growth is very scarce, yet large tracts of country, throughout
the Punjab are covered with low thick jungle, more or less dense which yields
good wood for fuel . This is the case in the center of Doabs, commonly called
the Bar and the same kinds of Jungle trees are to be found in different others
localities where the ground has fallen out of cultivation , or is altogether
unsuited for it owing to its broken and ravine nature. The board have ascertained
that near out large cantonments the supply of wood has, in several instances,
been nearly exhausted by the demand made for fuel for burning bricks and lime
and for the troops and camp-followers; and unless immediate measures are taken
, they fear that the future supply, within any reasonable distance, will be impossible
. They have ascertained that the jungle wood generally is reproducing and that
the wood cut down will be fit in two years to be cut again.
“5th –
The large cities and town in the
6th –
The Board would therefore, propose with the sanction of Government, to select
certain tracts of country, if possible uncultivable , covered with low reproducing
jungle , as near as may be convenient to the large cities. Cantonments and
rivers (they mention rivers in view to the future supply of steamers) and to place
these jungles under proper surveillance, so as to prevent trees being grubbed up
by the roots. The wood should be cut about one foot from the ground and no lower.
A small tax sufficient only to pay the cost of a watchmen to protect, and if necessary
renew the trees might be levied for cutting the wood; by this plan the Board
would hope to economize it and prevent is being totally destroyed, the local
agents in each district being charged with the care of it.
7th –
The above general remarks refer to wood in the plains ; but the board understand
that the range of hills from hazara, which rule down to Rawalpindi and end at
the Jhelum , as also the base of the Rawalpindi hills, yield an immense supply
of the timber trees.
8th_Mr.
9th_
The Board purpose, after defining the village boundaries, and allowing such reasonable
extant of land as may suffice for the wants of the communities being include in
each area, to declare the lands beyond these boundaries the property of Government.
In thinly peopled tracts it will probably suffice, to prevent waste, that the
heads of the villages bind themselves to prevent injury to the trees and in return
for this care the people might be allowed to collect for their own consumption
, firewood to any extent, provided they confined themselves to dead timber. The
District Officers should be empowered to grant a written permission to cut down
a given number of trees of a specified size and age, when required by the
villagers for agricultural or architectural purposes.
10th –
Near towns and containment’s where the country is more densely peopled it will
probably be necessary to entertain forest rangers paid from the income derived
from these woods; for whose guidance a code of rules can be drawn up.”(No. 60 dated 17th January, 1852. I the same
letter proposals were made for the preservation of shisham trees in islands on
the Indus above Attock, for the encouragement of tree –planting by exempting
lands under plantations from assessment (paragraph 512 of Settlement Manual)
and for the planting of avenues or groves along public roads.)
709. Order of Lord Dalhouse
:- These proposal were approved in a letter in which Lord Dalhousie
remarked:---
2nd –
Certain allotted spaces, calculated according to the ascertained rate at which the
wood is reproduced should be set apart near to the great towns and cantonments
for the regular supply of fuel in the same manner as grass preserves have
already been told off for regular use. The area of the fuel copes should be made
ample to secure a constant supply, and the regulations for cutting should from
the first be rigidly enforced.
3rd –
Immediate measures should be taken for ensuring a supervision and guardianship
of the hill timber in the Jehelum division. The want of these precautions
elsewhere has produced and is now daily producing probable scarcity at no
distant date which the Governor- General regards with some anxiety.
4th –
The cost of the small establishment which will be necessary for the protection
of the fuel copes and the hill woods, may be defrayed by the exaction of a
small payment from the cutters.
7th –From
His Lordship’s own observation during last summer and the preceding one, while
traversing the districts from chamba to Kunawar, he received the
impression that vast supplies of timber exist , and
that with proper arrangements much of it may be made available for use in the
plains ; whereas no exertions hitherto have enabled the officers to obtain it
in sufficient quantities.
8th –
The importance of securing by every possible means an additional supply of timber
demands a thorough examination of all existing resources.(Government of India
letter No. 218. Dated 13th February
1852.)
710. General rules of
1855. In 1855 the Chief Commissioner Sir John Lowerence,
drew up a set of rules for the conservancy of forest in hill districts. (Chief commissioner’s
letter No. 196, dated 3rd March
1855, the Rules are given in full on pages 368- 370 of Barkley’s Non-
Regulation Law of the
their general scope may be judged from the three
quoted below:---
(1) In any hill district within British Jurisdiction
the Civil authorities have power to mark off any tract plot or ground
wheresoever situated which they may consider specially adapted for the growth
of timber or fuel.
(2) The tract, plot, or ground so marked off may be
declared to be a public preserve denoted by boundary marks, fenced and
protected from trespass of all kinds. Within it the said authorities are
empowered to prohibit, restrict, or regulate all felling and cutting and to
arrange for the development, preservation and growth of the trees, shrubs, or
brushwood in such manner as may seem to them expedient.
(3) No person shall be entitled to object to the
foregoing rules, whether relating to enclosures or to particular species of
tree shrub, of brushwood on the score of proprietary or manorial right provided
always that the Civil authorities do not interfere with the wood or fuel that
may be really required by the occupants or owners of the land for agricultural
or domestic purposes.
The privilege of felling might be granted with or
without payment of fees. (Rules 3 and 5) The firing of forest lands in order to
promote the growth of grass might be absolutely forbidden and in case of fires
the joint responsibility of the members of adjoining village communities might
be enforced. (Rules 8 and 9). Gazing of cattle might be prohibited or regulated.
“provided always that the proper grounds for the grazing of pasturing of such cattle
be not interfered with. The penalty for a breach of the rules was a fine not exceeding
Rs. 100 , or in default imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months.(rule
12).
711. Government of
“To any one accustomed only to European rights and
regulations the general powers regarding forest trees which are assumed in
these rules to be long to the Government would appear to be of an arbitrary
character. But His Honor in Council believes that no question will be raised in
this country as to the validity of the manorial right thus asserted for the
Government in the hill districts, while certainly no person at allacquainted
with the local wants of the districts referred to will question the existence
of such a public exigency as would call for the assertion of the right.” He
therefore accepted the rules “as far as they go.” But they were considered so
general and not likely by themselves to do much good and each Commissioner was
to be directed to draw up a set of rules. Adapted to the peculiar circumstances
of his divisions and to report without delay to you for the final sanction of
Government of India the several steps which he has taken. (Paragraph 7 of
Government of India , letter No. 1789 dated 21st
May , 1855.)
712.
This rules were sanctioned in a letter of the Chief
Commissioner No. 1623, dated 4th August 1856. They were cancelled in 1903,(paragraph
749)) for the hilly and mountainous portion of the
713. Hazara and
Hoshiarpur rules. In January 1857 the Chief Commissioner sanctioned
rules for the management of Hazara forests . Their Chief provisions were,---
(1) that no trees, large or small could be cut
without permission;
(2) that all except agriculturists should pay fees
for the wood they were allowed to cut, half the proceeds being used to meet the
cost of forest conservancy and half paid to the landowners;
(3) that ground should not be cleared of trees with a
view to cultivation without leave being first obtained from the Deputy
Commissioner;
(4) that firing of grass in the vicinity of forests
was forbidden.
These rules were imperfectly enforced, but even so
they proved very useful. (paragraph 38 of chapter V of Captain Wace’s
Settlement Report of Hazara- see also paragraph 720)
714. Kangra and
Hoshiarpur rules. In 1859
At the same time he pointed out that some forests in
Hosiarpur were the exclusive property of Government. ( Extracts from the
correspondence printed on pages 370-375 of Barkey’s “Non-Regulation Law of the
The rules forbade the felling the trees without
permission of Deputy Commissioner but in the case of inferior kinds of trees
required “ bone fide for agricultural purpose, “ the permission of the village
headman was to be sufficient. Proprietors of land and hereditary cultivators
were entitled to cut whatever timber they required for building or agricultural
purpose on paying a fee of four Ann’s while trees unfit for use as timber , but
fit for fuel or fodder were to be given free of charge. Persons having an
ancient right to graze, gather dry wood, or collect leaves for manure were to be
still entitled to these rights . But a third part of each forest might be
closed entirely for three years or any less period. Firing was forbidden.
Annual licenses were to be taken out by wood –cutters and charcoal burners .
One- sixteenths of the receipts was to be paid to the forester and three-
sixteenth were to be paid divided between the lambardar, the patwari, and the
village community. ( See rules 4,5,7,19,20 and 27 for the full text of the rules”
It will be observed that right of user (bartan) were
clearly recognized as belonging to the landowners living in the neighborhood of
the forests.
715. Taking up of alluvial
lands for forests. In 1855 the Chief Commissioner drew “the earnest
attention of Commissioner to a scheme proposed by Mr. Edward Thornton for
extending plantations of useful timber tree by appropriating portions of alluvial
lands newly thrown up by rivers. (See paragraph 190 of the Settlement Manual.
For rights claimed by Government in islands in
rivers see paragraph 415 of this book) Such lands are well suited to
plantations of shisham trees like that at shahdara near
716. Conservator of Forests
appointed . In 1864 Dr. J.L. Stewart became the first Conservator
of Forests in the
717. Act VII of 1865.
The first “Government Forests Act” (VII of 1865), was intended to enable local
Governments with the sanction of the governor-general in Council to issue rules
having the force of law like those described above. (Sections 3 to 6 of Act VII
of 1865)A local Government might notify an y land covered with trees, brushwood
or jangal to be a Government forest but no existing rights of individuals or communities
were to be abridged or affected thereby.(Section 2 of Act VII of 1865).
Forest rules for
718. Section 48 of Act IV of
1872 (The
By section 50 of the Act such rules required the
sanction of the Governor-General in Council but existing rules were to be
deemed to have been issued under and in conformity to that section.
719. Defects of Act VII of
1865. Act VII of 1865 was very unsatisfactory to the advocates
of a proper system of forest conservancy. Its main defects were that “it drew no
distinction between the forests which required to be closely reserved, even at
the cost of more of less interference with private rights , and those which
merely needed general control to prevent improvident working . It also provided
no procedure for inquiring into and settling the rights which it so vaguely
saved and gave no procedure for regulating the exercise of such rights without
appropriating them. It obliged you in short either to take entirely or to let
alone entirely.”
720. Hazara forest
regulations. Indian legislation , like justice has a limping
foot, and the case of Hazara, which came under settlement in 1868, could not
wait on its leisurely progress. Accordingly special forest regulations for that
district were passed in 1870 and 1873 under the authority of Act 33 Vict. Cap 3
while the General system of forest management in force under the rules of 1855
was maintained, these regulations directed that , due provision having first
been made for the ordinary wants of the villagers in whose bounds the forests
stood , the more valuable forests should be reserved for the benefit of the
public at large. Rather more than one-tenth of the whole waste area of the district
which then exceeded 2200 square miles was demarcated as reserved forest, and made
over for management to the Forest Department. These State forests are mountain forests
of pine and deodar situated in the higher hills. But it was impossible with due
regard with to the interests of the landowners to reserve all land yielding
timber trees, while at the same time it was essential to prevent waste. The
unreserved forest land in the higher ranger and the fuel forests in the lower
hills in the west of the district were, therefore treated as “village forests”.
(Captain Wace’s Settlement Report of Hazara, pages 134-37). The Hazara district
has never been subject to the General Indian Forest Act VII of 1878, and before
describing its provisions it will be convenient to finish the history of the
Hazara forests. Regulation II of 1873 was replaced by Regulation II of 1879 By
the 8th section the Deputy Commissioner
was give large powers of setting apart waste lands as “village forests” Within
Such forests squatting and the clearing of land for cultivation the removal of
soil or dead leaves and the kindling of fires were wholly forbidden . But the
deputy Commissioner could give special permission for the firing of land
producing only grass.(Section 16) . Feeling of trees, the loping of tress for
folder lime issued by the deputy Commissioner from time to time” under the
general instructions “ of fires in the case of forests of both classes was
enacted. (Section 28, compare also section 24)illicit firing and illicit
cultivation might be followed by suspension of all rights user in the lands
brunt or cleared for a period of two years or for such longer time as might be
required to restore the lands to there former conditions six Sections 29-30 of Act VII of 1865.) Special
powers were given for the protection of land from erosion and prevention of
land slips (section 20-21 of Act VII of 1865) In 1882 Mr. Forest of the Forest
Department was interested with the work of Demarcating village forest , locally
known as “mahduda”. The result was that 147,000 acres were set apart for the
purpose but the demarcation was not satisfactory for numerous plots of
cultivation were included . A revised demarcation was made at the resettlement
of the Distinct, and the area of the village forest had been reduced to 83,782
acres, all uncultivated. At present these forests are managed in accordance
with the provisions of regulation VI of 1893, which replaced regulation II of
1879 and of rules issued under it. The rules are contained in Government of
India Notification no. 2212-G dated 22nd Dec.
1903. The breaking up of land without the permission of the Deputy Commissioner
is forbidden right holders are entitled to timber free of charge for their own
domestic and agricultural requirements but notice of intention to fell must be
given . They can also utilize for fuel without restrictions dry wood and brush
wood but the sales of trees and of fuel two outsiders required the sanction of
the deputy commissioner.
721. Indian forest Act, VII
of 1878. The late Mr. Bnaden Powell, a Punjab Civilian, who
was Conservator of Forests from 1869 to 1872 and from 1876 to 1879, and who of
officiated as Inspector- General throughout 1873 and part of 1874, helped
largely in putting forest legislation in India on its present basis. (Forestry
in
This Act permits the local Government to constitute
any forest land or waste land which is the property of Government, or over
which the Government has proprietary rights , or to the whole or any part of
the forest produce to which the Government is entitled a “reserved” or a
“protected” forest. (Sections 20 and 29 of Act XVI of 1927).It is sufficient,
therefore that the State should own the trees or some of them even though it may
have recorded the soil , as was imprudently done in the case of Kangara as belonging
to village communities.
722. Reserved forests.
Chapter II of the Act deals with “reserved” and Chapter IV with “protected “
forests. Reservations must be proceeded by a forest settlement in which a full
inquire is made into all private rights claimed or otherwise discoverable. (Section
6 and 7 of Act XVI of 1927) The instructions at present in force in the
723. Protected forests - No
special forest settlement is required before notifying waste land as “protected
forest.” But Government must be satisfied that the nature and extent of the
rights of Government and of private persons in the land have been Enquirer into
and recorded at a survey or settlement or in such other manner as it deems
sufficient. An add interim order may be passed to protect the rights of
Government pending the preparation of a proper record. By declaring waste to be
protected forest:” the future growth of rights is not prevented . When land has
been notified as reserved forest many acts regarding it at once become criminal
. But a notification of a protected forest to be effective must be followed by
action under section 30, which enables Government:---
(a) to declare any trees in a protected forest to be
reserved;
(b) To close portions of the forest from time to
time and suspend the exercise of private rights. “ provided that the remainder
of the forest be sufficient and in a locality reasonably convenient, for the
due exercise of the rights suspend.” ;
(c) To prohibit quarrying lime and charcoal burning,
removal of forest produce or clearing of the land for any purpose.
Rules for the management of protected forests may be
made, (Section 32 of Act XVI of 1927) and a breach of any rules an the doing of
any act forbidden under section 30 are criminal offences. (Section 33 of Act
XVI of 1927). Where the choice lies between action under chapter II of chapter
IV, the former should ordinarily be preferred.
There is no reason why the management of a reserved
forest should be one with more rigid and less considerate of the needs of the
surrounding. Communities than that of a protected forest. Nothing prevents
Government from allowing as privileges to be revoked in case of abuse, the
enjoyment of forest produce to which no actual right has been established. (See
paragraphs 22-27 of appendix II).
724. Interference in case of
privately – owned forests. The Act recognizes that fact that occasions
may arise in which it is necessary to interfere with the use, or even to assume
the management of privately – owned waste land for the good of the public in general.
Reasons for such action are prevention of the spread of ravines., the
protection of land from erosion or deposits of sand and boulders, the
maintenance of the water supply in springs or streams and the like.
725. Assertion of State’s
title to excess waste. Having sketched the history
of the executive and legislative action for Government as regards forests down
to the passing of Act VII of 1878, it may now be well to retrace out steps and
to show how the claims of the State to excess waste have been dealt with in
different parts of the province, and what use has been made of waste over which
Government has asserted any sort of title.
726. Claims as a rule
forgone in eastern and sub montane districts. Speaking broadly
in the plains and submontane districts east of the
(For the leased estate of Karnal see paragraphs 106,
109, 112 of the Karnal – Ambala Settlement report. )
But in 1813 a large tract of village land near
Hissar, deserted 30 years before in the terrible chalisa famine, was
appropriated as a Government bir. This is time became the Hissar Cattle farm.
It was notified as a reserved forest in 1887. (see paragraphs 144-115 of Mr.
Anderson’s Settlement Report of Hissar.) Government therefore possessesfew fuel
or fodder reserves east of the Beas and Sutlej; Even the low hills of Gurgaon
and Delhi were included in village boundaries though those of the former might
probably have been clothed with valuable forests of dhak.(This useful tree also
called the palah or palas has very wide range extending in the Punjab and North
–West Frontier Province from Gurgaon to the point where the Indus divides
British from Independent territory. IN their natural state all the stiffer loan
soils in the
The name of the capital of
727. Hoshairpur Siwaliks.
The same mistake was made with deplorable results in the case of the Hoshairpur
Siwaliks. Government owns two chir pine forests in the SolaSingh range (
728. Effects of denudation
of Siwaliks on cultivated lands in plains. A generation
letter the effect of the denudation of the low hills, which inevitably resulted
from the policy then adopted on the rich Sirwal tract of Hoshiarpur and
729. Mr. Brandreth’s
presentation of case. His graphic description of
the effects of neglect is worth quoting:---
“The lower Siwalik is a long range of sandy hills
which stretch across the whole of the Jullundur Doab, forming the northern
boundary of that fertile and productive tract. In the days of the Rajas , when
the village common was the property of the Raja or lord of the manor and not
made over to the peasantry, these hill slopes were covered with a low stunted
brushwood with a few trees here and there. This manor forest growth was not of
great value to the Rajas or to their successors, the Sikh Kardars, but it
yielded a sort of cover for game, and was consequently generally protected ;
and as the towns were not then very wealthy and peasantry had hard enough work
to produce the heavy revenue then demanded, there was little demand for fuel ,
and few persons with leisure to cut it.
“The stunted brushwood had, however once great
value. It covered the sandy soil by its roots and by the grass which grew in
its shade. The cool air from the shaded hillside arrested the passing clouds
and produced a constant and almost regular rainfall , which checked by the
leaves of the brushwood and grass , poured down the hillsides at the gentle
pace, and brining with it all the soluble products of the decayed leaves and
grass, spread is wealth – laden waters over the plains below, which thus became
so renowned for their fertility as to be known as the garden of the Punjab.
The hillsides were divided among the villages
located on the hills, and the whole brushwood and minor forests declared to be
their property village common open to every one.
“With the introduction of English rule, towns
increased, wealth and property abounded, and the cessation of the continual demand
for forced labour created a class of laborers with abundant leisure and in
search of employment.
With the increasing wealth arose increased wish for
comfort and a large demand for firewood of all sorts consequently soon sprung
up, and the unemployed class found the brushwood and low jungle of these
hillsides a mine of wealth open apparently to every one. With out large public
works and railways the demand increased still more, and the hillsides were
consequently in a few years stripped of everything that could by any
possibility be used for firewood. Where the distance from the towns was too
great the still more destructive charcoal burner appeared on the scene and
consumed three times the amount needed to render his firewood portable. It
might be supposed that the new proprietors would have taken some steps to
protect their quasi-forest, but the sense of proprietorship was new, and they
were in doubts how far they were entitled to interfere. Most of the laborers
and wood cutters were residents of their own villages and what is every body’s
business and consequently none of the former copy-holders now all become joint
owners, endeavored to check this waste; indeed on the contrary they rather
encouraged it. Many persons paid them some little sum for the rights of cutting,
and the charcoal burners generally paid Rs. 2 or 3 for year’s licensee. They
could not be expected to consider the future loss to their children, still less
to care for the villages below the hills which were slowly bring ruined.
“Yes, I may almost say ruined the injury is so great
and so increasing. As the bare hill sides have replaced the green forests, the
heated air of the dry sandy soil drives off the rain clouds to pass on the
upper ranges. When owing to the increasing pressure of the clouds, rain does at
last fall. * * the condensation produced by its fall on the heated soil
produced * * * a great downward rush on the heavily laden upper air, and the *
* * late rain soon descends in torrents. The fall is no longer arrested by
leaves and brushwood and grass, and the increasing too rent purrs rapidly down
the sandy slopes bearing with it thousands of tons of sand instead of the
fertilizing deposits of former days. These vast floods spread themselves over
the village below tearing away all the fertile fields which formerly lined the
edges of the stream and covering the rest of the country with a deep sandy
deposit. For the first few years this sandy deposit was not so very injurious.
It was fresh soil and still held a good deal of the decayed roots of the grass
and brushwood of the former vegetation. Moreover a thin layer of sand is often
a great protection to an Indian: it protects and supports the young and tender plants
and enables the soil below to retain its moisture for a long period. But gradually
the tale become very different. Constant reports of deteriorated crops and
distressed villages and tenants unable to pay their revenue replace d the uniformly
prosperous report of former days; traffic and trade was checked by the great
development of these vast sandy beds, which in trisected all the main roads; and
further demands for remission began to pur in from villages beyond the action
of the flood, but whose field were being buried by the masses of dry A brought
from these torrent beds by the windstorms of the hot weather. Nor was the
injury confined to the agricultural peasantry only. The increased volume of waters
thus suddenly brought down soon carried away the bridges sufficient for former
times and compelled a speedy extension of waterways and further expensive
bridging both on the
730. Results of delay in
taking Action . The picture is highly colored, but it can hardly
be said to be exaggerated . Soon after in reporting on the assessment of the Hoshiarpur
tahsil Captain J.A.L. Montgomery pointing out that, owing to the destructive action
of the chose or sandy torrents issuing from the Siwaliks , cultivation’s had decreased
by 12 percent in 30 years.(The action of chos is not purely destructive. Far away
from the hills after the heavier sand has been dropped , the deposits they
spread are often very fertilizing . But wherever the hills from which they run
are denuded of vegetation and consist of sandstone rocks loss must far exceed
gain..) As we shall see, action was greatly delayed and things went from bad to
worse . In 1897 the Financial Commissioner wrote:---
“During the last period of ten to twelve years on
account of the action of the chos in Hoshiarpur and
(Paragraph 18 Financial Commissioner letter No. 541
dated 1st September
1897,---
731. Land Preservation Chos
Act, II of 1900. It is needless to tell the story of the causes
which led to a case which was urgent in 1877 not being finally dealt with till twenty
–three years had elapsed. AT Las in 1900 an Act was passed for the better preservation
and protection of the Siwaliks and the lands affected by the chos, (Punjab Act
II of 1900) Its 3rd section
empowers the local Government to put the provisions of the Act in force in any
local area “situate within or adjacent to the Siwalik mountain range or
affected or liable to be affected by the debasement of forests in that range or
by the action of chos.”
732. Chief provisions of Act.
With respect to any notified area the local Government may regulate, restrict ,
or prohibit:---
(a) the clearing of land for cultivation not
ordinarily under cultivation before the publication of the notification under
section 3:---
(b) stone quarrying and lime burning at places where
they had not ordinarily been carried on before such publication :
(c) the cutting of trees of removal of any forest
produce other than grass, save for bone fide domestic or agricultural purposes;
(d) the setting on fire of trees or other forest
produce;
(e) the pasturing of sheep or floats( Section 4 of
Act II 1900)
(a), (c) and above all (e) are important . Quarrying
and lime burning have never been much practice in the Siwaliks and firing is
hardly known. All these acts have been forbidden over a very large area by
notifications issued in December 1902.(Notifications Nos. 643 and 644, dated 12th December 1902.)As regards any specified village or
part of a village comprised within , the limits of the area notified under
section 3 the local Government may regulate, restrict, or prohibit,---
(b) Stone quarrying of lime burning anywhere;
(c) The cutting of timber or removal of forest
produce including grass even for bonafide domestic or agricultural purposes;
(d) The pasturing of cattle other than sheep and
goats. (Section 5 of Punjab Act II of 1900).
Provisions are made for compensating persons whose
rights it is necessary to restrict or extinguish.( Sections 7 and 14-15 of
Punjab Act II of 1900)
Actions has been taken as regards nine estates ,
(Punjab Government notifications Nos. 295, dated 6th July 1904 and 626 dated 12th December 1905.)
733. Power to declare that
barren lands in beds of chos vests in Government Section
8 of the Act gives powers to Government to take over the whole or any part of the
bed of a Cho which is not land under cultivation and yields no produce of any substantial
value and such action was taken in the Mohli Cho under the Punjab Government
notification no. 384 (Forests) dated August 2nd
1911, but this action proved unpopular and was not pursued.
Some good was done by the original closures; but
efforts to encourage the villagers to plant Kana grass in the torrent beds on a
large scale failed for lack of sufficient control in the catchment area above.
It was not, however, until 1934 that marked progress
was made. In that year a forest Officer was deputed on special duty to
Hoshairpur district as Assistant to the Deputy Commissioner. He was responsible
to the Conservator of Forest for the correctness of his technical advice. His
Principal duty, however consisted of interesting the local inhabitants in the
possibility of reclamation . In 1939, a special soil
Meanwhile, steady progress was being made.
Experiment showed that the closure of the hills to grazing by cattle allowed
the more valuable grasses, which before had been mercilessly grazed down, to
re-assert themselves and push out the inferior grasses. Where the right to cut
grass was sold instead of the sale of grazing rights, it was found that more
than ten times as much money could be obtained for the same area.
Meanwhile of course, the young trees were rapidly
springing up with a promise of large profits later on when they should be ready
for cutting. The force of the torrents in these area was reduced and efforts at
planting Kana grass in the beds of the chos was successful. Hedges were
planted, running out into the torrent beds . When the water passed through these,
the checking of the current made the silt drop and the level of the land behind
the hedges was rapidly raised.
At the same time it came to be realized that the
hills alone were not responsible for the whole of the damage. Chos could be
seen forming themselves in cultivated land where the surface was not quite
level. The terracing as well as the embanking of land was preached by all the
Department of Government concerned and the Cooperative Department in particular
rendered great service by encouraging the formation of societies for these
purposes.
Reclamation is now popular , and the only obstacles
which remain are the divergences of interest between the landlords , the
tenants and other residents in the villages the occasional reluctance of an
individual to do things which will help his neighbors as well as himself, and
the magnitude of the problem.
It must be remembered that efficient reclamation
must proceed from the top downwards and on both sides of the bed at the same
time. Where opposition makes this difficult, compulsion must be exercised in
the interests of the majority, and when persuasion has failed, Government has
the right to exercise compulsion and is prepared to do so.
Prospects for the future are now bright. Some villages
in Hoshiarpur District, where land has been closed to grazing by cattle have
been able to pay the whole of their land revenue from this single source of
income. Stall-fed cattle which do not exhaust themselves by wandering about in
search of fodder , can produce more milk. The area under the chos is being
steadily reduced. Plantations of shisham tress are springing up behind the
protecting hedges and after some years, these barren sandy wastes will once more
come under cultivation. Although by way of experiment more expensive measures have
been tried , in the way of contour trenching and embankment building ,
practically all these results have been achieved at a comparatively
insignificant cost by allowing nature to reults have been achieved at a comparatively
insignificant cost by allowing nature to re clothe the hills with vegetation,
and by encouraging the cultivators to protect their hillsides to terrace there
fields and to provide embankments with drains to carry off heavy rain.
Action has been taken in the Mahli Cho, (Punjab
Government notification No. 384-Forest, dated 2nd
August 1911)
734. Shahpur kandi forests
in Gurdaspur . As already noted, Government at the first regular
settlement claimed no rights in waste lands in the thickly- peopled district of
Gurdaspur. An exception, however must be made as regard the Shahpur Kandi tract
in the north –east corner of the district, which is occupied by outlying spurs
of the
“The main , if not sole object of preserving the
forest is to prevents these hot dry hills being denuded and turned into a
veritable desert, and to preserve such soil as exists from being washed off the
bare slopes ; while the inhabitants of the neighborhood may have a supply of
wood, of fuel and of grazing accommodation ; in short, the value of the forest
is purely local , and ….. it should be maintained solely for the benefit of the
people.”
735. Waste lands declared
protected forests. Accordingly the whole of the uncultivated land in
Shahpur kandi, with some trifling exceptions has been declared protected forest
by notifications issued under section 28 of Act VII of 1878.
(Notifications Nos. 3 and 4 of 5th January 1904). Some 8,000 acres of the more valuable
forest land have been demarcated. Records have been drawn up declaring the extensive
rights of user in the produce of the forests which the owners and tenants of
cultivated lands in the estates in which they are situated possess, (Forest
proceedings, No 29 of January 1904) and rules have been issued under section 31
of that Act defining the manner in which these rights may be exercised in the
case of demarcated and undemarcated forests and undemarcated forests
respectively. (Notification No. 115 dated 7th March
1904). Rules have been framed under section 75(c) of Act VII of 1878, for the preservation
of chir tree belonging to Government but standing on land owned by private persons,
and not included in any protected forest. (Notifications No. 5 dated 15th January 1904.)
737. Rights of State in
uncultivated lands in Kangra. The respective rights of the
state and the land –holders in the uncultivated lands of Kangra proper and Kulu
have been described in paragraph 149-155 and 188 of the Settlement Manual. In
Lahul the waste belongs to Government except in Jagir estates of the Thakurs ,
who are descendants of the petty barons of Rajput times. In these the Thakurs
own the waste.
738. Early administration of
Kangra forests. For a number of years the Kangra forest were
managed by the Deputy Commissioner under the rules quoted in paragraph 710 and
714, which were enforced with more or less strictness. Under the rule which enabled
one third of any forest to be closed for three years. Or for such periods as
the local authorities may determine, (see the 20th
of the rules refereed to in paragraph 714.)certain areas were
reserved. These were known as trihis. Doubtless the original intention was that
the portions closed should be shifted from time to time , but in practice this
was never done. In 1872 the management of the forest was handed over to the
Forest Department.(Forest Department proceedings No. 3 July 1872. The
management of the Kulu Forests was transferred in January 1873, (
739. Demarcation ordered in
1880. The area reserved formed a very small part of the
area which stood in need of protection, and 1880 Government ordered a demarcation
on a more extensive scale as a preliminary to a forest settlement under Act VII
of 1878 or the introduction of an improved scheme of management under the rules
of 1885. The demarcation was to be made jointly by a civil and a forest
officer. The civil officer chosen was the late . Mr. A Anderson who afterwards
made the forest settlements of Kangra, kulu, Lahul and Shahpur Kandi.(Forest
proceedings, No. 3 of May 1880).
740. Decision to make
forests “protected forests” . It was decided in 1883 that
it was impossible to continue to mange the Kangra forest under the rules of
1855 and 1859, and that procedure under chapter II of Act VII of 1878 was
“unsuitable to a large tract of country, of which the proprietary right in the
soil belongs to the zamindars, and Government has only the subsidiary and
ancillary right to the trees, and power of a limited kind to control their
conservancy.(See paragraph 6 of Punjab Government letter No. 298, dated 20th July, 1883, in Forest proceedings, No. 7 of July,
1883. It only remained therefore to use the provisions of the Act relating to
protected forests, and notifications were issued under section 28 of that Act,
appointing Mr. A. Anderson to inquire into and record “ the nature and extent
of the rights of Government and the private persons” in the forest and waste
lands. (Notifications Nos. 207 and 208, dated 27th April 1885).
741. Nature of Kangra forest
settlement. The questions involved in this very difficult
forest settlement were not finally decided till 1897. The arrangements adopted were
on the same lines as those followed some years later in Shahpur Kandi. The
small area demarcated by Mr. Duff in 1874 and 1875 continued to be reserved
forests. As regards the remaining waste in the estates out of which these reserves
were carved, rules have been. Issued under section 75(c) of Act VII of 1878 for
the preservation of the trees which belongs to Government.(Notification No. 61
of 26th January 1897.) The Rest of the
waste in Kangra has been declared protected forests (Notifications Nos. 57 and
58 of 26th January
1897.) and for them records of rights have been drawn up . Notifications under
section 29(a) and (b) of the above Act have declared certain trees in the
protected forest to be “reserved”, and considerable areas, including the former
trihais, have been closed against the rights of private persons for twenty
years. (Notifications Nos. 59 and 60 of 27th January
1897.) Lastly rules have been issued under section 31 to regulate the exercise
of the rights admitted by the record – of – rights. (Notification No. 416 of 14th August 1897.)
In 1917 a revised Working Plan was prepared under
the orders of local Government as it has been found in practice that it was
impossible to apply the principle of the 1897 rules to all the protected
forests owning to the fact that they included such land lying very close to
villages which could not be closed without great hardship to the people. The
protected forests were, therefore , divided into two classes termed “delimited”
and “un-delimited”. The former are to be closed piece by piece in rotation and
the latter are not be closed at all. This division was carried out
independently of the legal distinctions between “demarcated” and “undemarcated.
Protected forests and the delimited forests contain parts of each class. The
difference between “demarcated “and undemarcated” protected forests is that
cultivation is absolutely prohibited in the former, but may be permitted in the
latter. In unclassed forests cultivation may be carried on without permission.
742. Forests of Jagirs of
Kangra Rajas. The trees in the forests included in the jagirs of
the jagirdars Rajas of Kangra (except Lambagron) be long to Government.
743. A Forests in Kulu.
In Kulu (Including Kulu proper, Inner and Outer Saraj and Waziri Rupi.)
Government as recorded owner of the waste had a freer hand then in Kangra, a
fortunate circumstances as some of the finest deodar forests in the Punjab are to
be found in that sub-division. A much larger area was therefore reserved under
chapter II of Act VII of 1878. But a great deal of the valuable deodar forests
lay close to or intermixed with village lands, and in all waste which was
easily accessible the owner and their tenants had extensive lights of user. The
bulk of the waste in Kulu has therefore been dealt with in the same way as in
Kangra , and declared to be protected.
(a) first class demarcated forest.
(b) Second class demarcated forest.
(c) Undemarcated forest.( The notifications
declaring these three classes of forests protected are Nos. 280,281 and 282 of
1st June 1896. There are ancillary
notifications under sections 29,31,51 and 75(c) of Act VII of 1878.
These will be found in
To extent of rights of user to be enjoyed and the
amount of regulation necessary differ for the different classes.
743-B.
744. Froests in Simla hills.
In the scattered patches of territory, except Kalka and Bharauli, of which the
Shimla district is made up, the rights of Government in the waste are the same
as in the Kulu. There are few small reserved forests of deodar and kail (blue pine)
but these are burdened with extensive rights of user. A moderate degree of protection
is afforded to trees growing in the village waste , and fresh and cannot be broken
up without permission. The best forest sin the Shimla hills are in the
745. Cancelled.
746. History of mountain
forests in
747. Rules of 1873.
In 1873 rules were issued under the authority of section 3 of Act VII of 1865
for the mountain forests of Murree and Kahuta and the hill rakhs in the other
tahsils.(Forest proceedings, No. 3 of November, 1873).The most important rules
so far as the former are concerned, are quoted below:---
“Explanation –
Nothing contained in these rules shall in anywise abridge or affect any existing
rights of individuals or communities in respect of the lands to which the rules
relate.
“SECTION I – Of the Murree and Kahuta forests ,
known as first class rakhs.
“I – The officer of the Forest Department authorized
in that behalf by the Conservator shall select portions of the forest area not
exceeding in the aggregate 30% of the whole, and shall demarcate the selected
portions by pillars or otherwise as he shall deem necessary.
“The portions so selected and demarcated shall there
upon be closed absolutely against all forests rights of privileges, and shall
be called “Reserved forests”.
“Provided that , if by the reservation of any tract,
any community or individual , though not having any legal right, be in the
judgement of the conservator of Forests put to special loss or inconvenience,
it shall be competent for the Conservator to make suitable provision for
exercise of grazing and for the supply of fuel and timber (for domestic and
agricultural purposes only). Either in the reserved tract or in some adjacent
tract conveniently situated.
“II – The remaining portions of forest area not
being less than 70 percent of the whole ,. Shall be called “Unreserved forests
,” and shall be open to all existing village communities as heretofore, for the
exercise free of charge of the following privileges only :-
(a) grazing of cutting grass for their own cattle:
(b) cutting fuel for their own use ;
(c) cutting timber or wood for their own domestic
and agricultural purposes.
“III- In unreserved forests , land on which trees
stand or a growth of young trees exists shall not be cleared for cultivation or
for any other purpose except with the permission in writing , of a forest
officer duty authorized to grant the same.
Explanation :-
Such permission shall not be requisite for the clearance in order to cultivate
land free from trees.
“IV – In unreserved forest no person whatsoever
shall be entitled to cut for sale or to seal fuel or timber, or to burn
charcoal , lime , or surkhi kilnsm except upon term s of paying the authorized
dues to the forest officer on behalf of Government.”
The first rule provided for demarcation. But as a
matter of fact no demarcation was actually carried out till the question of
forest conservancy had been put on a sounder basis by the passing of Act VII of
1878, and a revised revenue settlement of Rawalpindi had been under taken.
748. State of things
existing in 1882. The forest settlement was carried out by Mr.
F.A. Robertson, who thus described the state of
affairs existing when he began his work in 1882:---
No restriction whatever had been placed on grazing
by the most destructive animals , and timber could be obtained by application
to the tahsildar, and grants of trees were made with most extraordinary freedom
and censurable carelessness by these officials. The zamindars were not allowed
to break up and cultivate forests lands without permission, but besides the
fact that such permission but besides the fact that such permission was very
easily obtainable the restriction was on which was readily and systematically
evaded and plots of cultivation were accordingly met with in the very depths of
forests and in most out of the places, and the existence of these plots very materially
added to the difficulties of our works.”
749. Forest settlement ,
1882-1889. The final result of the settlement carried out in
1882-89 was as follows : One hundred and fifteen square miles comprising, some
of the best forest lands were gazette as reserved forests. By far the larger
portion of this area is free of rights except rights of way and water, but in
parts of some of the forests rights of grazing & c. were admitted.
(Notification No. 290 dated 11th August
1888.) By a rule issued under section 14(c) of the Act it was provided that not
more than three-fourth of the whole area of any of the reserved forests should
be closed to grazing at one time.
(Notification No. 257, dated 9th May, 1888) This restriction was modified in 1916
when the area of reserved forests which could be closed was reduced to
one-quarter.
Fifty –seven square miles were notified as protected
forests. They, like the reserved forests, are the property of the State, but
they are subject to much more extensive rights of user. All trees of an value
were reserved, and quarrying , burning of lime and charcoal, and cultivation
were forbidden. (Notification No. 63, dated 17th February, 1887).
Rules under section 31 of the Act regulated the lopping of certain trees, and
the removing or grass and fallen wood & c., by rights –holders and provided
for the grant to them at a nominal rate of permits to cut timber to the extent
of their own actual requirements. They are also allowed to graze cattle, except
camel, sheep and goats, in the forests over which they have rights.
(Notification No. 335 dated 24th September
1889).
In the remainder of the waste area of waste area of
Muree and the mountainous part of the Kahuta tahsil Government gave up all
claim to the ownership of the soil, but the trees were recorded as its
property. Rule for their protection were issued under section 75 of Act VII of
1878.(Revenue (
Generally speaking , every resident in a village was
allowed to cut free of charge, the wood he required for agricultural or
domestic purposes from tree growing on the common waste lands of his village
but he could not cut for sale. Nor could he fell trees in order to extend
cultivation without the licence of the Deputy Commissioner. By subsidiary rules
of procedure framed by the Deputy Commissioner a permit was required even for
the feeling of trees for agricultral or domestic purpose.
750. Muree and Kahuta forest
conservancy rules of 1903. After the publication of the
rules 1889 much doubt was felt whether the rules of 1856 referred to in
paragraph 712 remained in force. These rules asserted the ownership of the
State in all trees of spontaneous growth in the mountainous and hilly portion
of the
752. Hill forests of
753. Hill forests of
The notifications relating to hill and plain forests
declared to be reserved in the Helum, including Talagang tahsil now in Attock ,
are quoted on page 1089 of Regulations and Acts applicable to the Punjab 5th edition) Owing partly to the neglect of Mr.
Thomson’s recommendations, the question of management had to be reopened at the
second revised settlement . The orders passed in 1901 are summarized in the 108th paragraph of Mr. Talbot’s settlement report. (See also
“(1) By the reservation of the forest growth to
protect the hillsides from destructive drainage so as to distribute the
rainfall as gradually as possible on the lands below, which are almost entirely
dependent on the drainage of the hills for their productive; and
“(2) to preserve grass and wood for the supply of
neighboring villages.
“These rakhs have been accepted by Government as a
trust to be managed for the benefit of the neighboring population, and not in
order to bring in a direct pecuniary profit or to supply a distant
demand”.(This had been clearly recognized at a comparatively early period, (see
paragraphs 15- 16 of the review of report on the regular settlement of the
Shahpur district by the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Donald Macleod, dated 27th August 1867)
The same principles governed Mr. Talbot’s
proceedings in his forest settlement referred to above.
754 Hill forests in Gujrat.
At the first regular settlement of Gujrat the central portion of the
755. Plain forests in
756. Bar tracts - There
was no difficulty in dealing with the “Bars” in the dry southwestern zone. The
rainfall was so scanty that at annexation we found cultivation almost wholly
confined to the river valleys and a narrow strip of land above these valleys in
which water was sufficiently near the surface to admit of well cultivation. The
Bars consisted to great grazing grounds of the kind described in paragraph 706
roamed over by nomad graziers and camelowners. Here and there a deep well had
been sunk to afford water to the cattle and there were a few quasipermanent
locations of camelmen known as jhoks and of graziers known as rahnas. At the
regular settlements Government claimed to the ownership of this no man’s land
and asserted its title by levying fees for grazing.
757. The Thal.
As a grazing tract the Thal is far inferior to the Bar, It is treeless and has
little scrub jangle growth of any value. Writing of the 800,000 acres of the
Khushab Thal Mr. Wilson Observed.( Forest Department proceedings No. 26 of
September 1893).
“this desert tract forms a marked contrast to the
level loamy soil of the Bar uplands on the other side of the
758 to 760 Cancelled.
761. Rakhs in old
762. And 763 Cancelled.
764. Rakhs in
The rights of the tenants in the
765. Fuel Rakhs put under management of forest Department. The construction of the
railway from
766. Relations of Deputy
Commissioner and forest Officer. But the nature of forest management
is so vital to the comfort of the rural population that, wherever the line is drawn,
the Deputy Commissioner must be in constant communication with, and in some important
matters must control, the Forest Officer.
The following instructions on the subject were
issued in 1888:- (Later amendments have been embodied in the instructions as
printed in the text.)
“(1) Nothing in these instructions applied to the
working of the Punjab River Rule, to the collection of drift and stranded
timber under chapter VIII of Indian Forest Act , to forests in Indian States,
or to Changa Manga Reserve. Neither do they apply to limited area in one
district managed by a forest officer whose main duties lie in another district.
(2) When the Collector considers it desirable that magisterial
powers for the trail of forest offenses should be conferred on a forest
officer, the local Government will be prepared to consider such a
recommendation; but each case of this kind will be separately treated with
reference to local requirements and the personal qualifications of the forests officer
concerned.
(3) (a) In respect of matters mentioned clause (b)
of this paragraph the district
forest officer is under the control of the Collector
in his management of:---
(i) reserved forests,
(ii) protected forests,
(iii) all unclause forests and waste land owned by
the State, or in which the State has forest rights.
In a sub-division of a district, as for example in
the Kulu sub-division of the Kangra district, the control of the Collector may
be exercised through the Assistant Collector in charge of the sub-division.
(b) The control of the Collector will be exercised
in respect of the taking up of new forests , the recovery of monies due to
Government, the prosecution of forests offenses or the composition of such
offenses under section 68 of the Forest Act, so much of the Forest
administration as affects the use of the forest and waste lands by the adjacent
population and the appointment, posting, and transfer of establishment so far
as they affect these questions.
(c) All proposals connected with the disaffirmation
of reserved or protected areas should be submitted by the district forest
officer to the Collector for an expression of his opinion.
(4) (1) The Collector will see that tahsildars and
the subordinate revenue, agency of all grades render assistance not only in the
management of Government waste lands, and especially in the assessment and
collection of Government dues, but also in the management of all forests. All
distinctions and practices which are likely to encourage the impression that
forest work lies outside the ordinary duties of land revenue officials should
be gradually abolished. The Collector will also authorize the district forest
officer to address orders to these officials direct in matters in which it may
be convenient that he should , in ordinary cases , act without the intervention
of the Collector.
(5) (2) The district forest officer will keep a
diary in which will be briefly noted from day to day:-
(a) All occurrences of importance relating to duties
discharged by him;
(b) The substance of any reports or representations
(verbal or written) addressed by him to the Collector and all orders received
from that officer.
Should a forest officer be district forest officer
of more than one district, he will write a separate diary for each district.
This diary written on half –margin, will be sent
weekly to the Collector, and will be accompanied by a brief precis of any
correspondence with the Conservator affecting the matters in respect of which
the control of the collector is exercised. The Collector will retain the
precis, but will forward the diary without delay to the Conservator of forest adding
any remarks he may wish to make.
The Conservator of Forest will return the diary
direct to the district forest officer, who will lay before the Collector any
remarks that the Conservator may have made thereon.
(6) All the lands mentioned instruction 3(a) shall
be administered in accordance with working plans sanctioned by Government.
(7) It has not been possible to provide working
plans for all these lands. But when the conservator of forest is in a position
to provide a working plan, he will in consultation with the Commissioner of the
Division, issue orders for its preparation.
All working plans require the countersignature of
the collector and the Commissioner. After countersignature the plans will, if
they relate to (I) reserved forest or to (ii) protected forests, be submitted
by the Conservator to the Chief Conservator of Forests for scrutiny and
approval of technical points. The Chief Conservator of Forests will forward
them to the local Government with its opinion and remarks and the local Government
will pass orders upon them, furnishing a copy of the same to the Inspector,---
General of Forests for confirmation or record. But
if they relate to (iii) unclassed forests and waste lands owned by the State or
in which the State has forest rights, they will be sent by the Chief
Conservator of forests to Government direct.
Working plans when sanctioned by Government cannot
be altered except under the procedure and sanction above described.
(8) The regulation and management of grazing will be
in accordance with the system prescribed by the orders of the Financial
Commissioner.
(9) Cancelled.
(10) Cancelled.
(11) Forest Officers to
be consulted in certain case. The district forest officer will
be consulted by the Collector with reference to all proposed alienation’s of
forests or waste lands by grant, lease or sale; and he will give such assistance
in case of this nature as the Collector may require, especially in the
selection of the sites and determination of the boundaries of proposed grants .
No land whiter protected or unclassed forest or waste , the revenue of which is
credited to the forest Department , will be granted, leased or sold until the
consent of the Chief Conservator of forests to its alienation has been
obtained.
This paragraph does not give the Forest Department
authority to grant leases of unclassed forest land in regard to which the rules
for the lease of waste lands (See chapter XXII) must be observed.
12(a) Office and
routine. The offices of district forests officers will so far
as possible, be located in or in the immediate vicinity of the Deputy
Commissioner’s Office.
(b) Formal official correspondence between the
Collector and the district forest officer concerning matters dealt with by
these instructions should be avoided as far as possible ; written
communications, when necessary, being carried on by the transmission of original
files and cases under the same rules as apply to the transaction of business
between a Collector and his Revenue Assistant.
(c) The Collector may direct the district forest
officer to the files in the district record office such of the forest records
as relate to forest settlements or revenue leases or other matters affecting to
use of the forests and waste lands by the population adjacent thereto.
13. Important
Proposals. Proposal of importance for the formation of new
forests or which affect the use of the forests and waste lands by the adjacent
population will be addressed by the Chief Conservator of Forests to Government direct.
14) Special assessments
under section 59(e) of Land Revenue Act. Nothing in the
above instructions is to be under stood as affecting the responsibility of the
revenue officers in respect of the special assessments described in clause (e)
of section 59 of the land Revenue Act.”
767. Rules for
management of unclassed forests- The 48th section of the Punjab Laws Act (IV of 1872),
provided that “no person shall make use of the pasturage or other natural
product of any land being the property of the Government except with the
consent and subject to rules to be from time to time, either generally or in
any particular instance, prescribed by the local Government.”
No general actions was taken till the year 1896.(
Punjab Government notification No.58, dated 1st
February, 1896 . Rules applicable to the Muzaffargarh district had
been issued in notification No. 94, dated 21st March,
1882, see paragraph 772.) The rules issued in 1896 were republished with a few
verbal alterations in 1900 when they were being extended to the Agror valley in
the district of Hazara. (Punjab Government notification No. 1986, dated 11th August, 1900) They are as follows:---
(1) This rule, rules 2 to 9( both inclusive), and
rule 17 apply in the first instance to all waste lands which are the property
of the Government in the local areas mentioned in the schedule, except:-
(a) protected and reserved forests;
(b) land under the control of the military, canal,
irrigation, or railway authorities ;
(c) lands under the control of district boards and
municipal committees.;
(d) encamping –grounds;
(e) Government land to which any special rules
having the force of law under any Act for the time being in force in the
(f) Lands included within the area of any
cultivating lease, or which have been allotted under the Government Tenants (
But the said rules may be extended to lands of
classes (c) and (d) by special order of the local Government published in the
official Gazette.
(2) Rules 10 to 16 (both inclusive) apply in the
first instance to the Multan district only, but may be extended to any other
local area by special order of the local Government published in the official
Gazette.
2. In these rules:---
(a) “Cattle” includes besides horned cattle, camels,
horses, asses, mules, sheep, goats, and the young of such animals.
(b) “Collector” means the Collector of the district,
and any person on whom the powers of a Collector have been conferred under
section 27 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887.
(c) “Forest Officer” means any officer of the Forest
Department in charge of a
(d) “Farmer” means a person to whom the right to
collect fees for the pasturing of cattle or to cut wood or grass, or to remove fuel
or any other natural produce of any land to which these rules apply, has been
leased by the Collector.
(e) “Graze” includes “browse”.
3. Save as hereinafter provided in rules 10, no
person shall pasture cattle, cut wood or sajji plants or grass, or gather fuel
or any other natural product in the above mentioned lands, except :-
(i) Under the authority of , and in accordance with,
the conditions of a licence granted by the Collector or forest officer; or
(ii) With the permission of a farmer and in accordance
with the conditions of such farmer’s lease.
4. Every licence granted under rule 3 clause (i) , shall be in writing and signed by the Collector
or forest officer, and shall state :-
(a) the nature , extent, and duration of the rights
thereby conferred;
(b) the consideration paid or to be paid by licence
holder; and
(c) the special conditions, if any , on which the
licence is granted.
5. (1) Every lease granted to framers shall be in
writing signed by the Collector and the farmers, and shall state,---
(a) the nature, extent , and duration, which shall
in no case exceed five years, of the rights thereby conferred; ( Grazing leases
should be sold at the beginning of rainy seasons.)
(b) the consideration paid or to be paid by the
farmer; and (c) (c) the special conditions , if any, on which the lease is
granted.
(2) Every such lease shall include:---
(a) in cases where the consideration-money is
payable by instalments, a statement as to the amount of the said instalments
and the dates on which they will fall due,
(b) in cases where the lease relates to the right of
grazing:---
(1) a specification of the maximum grazing dues
which the farmer levy, and;
(2) a clause providing that the farmer shall not,
without the written permission of the Collector, transfer the lease or close
any portion of the leased area to grazing by any cattle in respect of which
grazing dues are tendered under rule 6; and
(c) in all cases a clause providing that, if the
leased area or any part thereof is at any time required by Government for
public purposes, the lease shall be terminable on payment to the farmer of
reasonable compensation to be assessed by the Collector.
6.(1) The owners of cattle grazing on any lands to
which these rules apply shall pay to the Collector or forest officer, or to the
farmer, as the case may be, fees according to a scale fixed from time to time
by the Financial Commissioner for each district: provided that no fee shall be
charged for any sheep or goat less than six months old, or for any other animal
less than one year old.
(2) The fees to be charged for licences to cut wood,
sajji plants , or
grass, or to gather fuel or any other natural product in any lands to which
these rules apply, shall be fixed form time to time by the Commissioner of the
division and shall be paid by the licence holder to the Collector or forest
officer or such other person as may be authorised by the Collector in this
behalf, or to the farmer, as the case may be.
7. 7 The local Government may, in respect of any
local area, exempt from all or any of the provisions of these rules any person
or class of persons and any cattle or description of cattle.
8. 8. Every licence – holder and every farmer shall
be bound by the conditions stated in the licence or lease, as the case may be ,
granted to him , and every person acting under rule 3 clause (ii) , shall be
bound by the conditions of the lease granted to the farmer.
9. 9. (1) In case of any breach of the provisions of
rule 8, the Collector may, at his discretion, cancel the licence or lease and
thereupon the licence – holder or farmer, and every person acting under the
farmer under rule 3, clause (ii), shall forfeit all claims to any produce or
wood which at the time of the cancellation of the licence or lease has not been
removed from the land to which the licence or lease applies.
(2.) On the cancellation of a licence or lease
under-sub section (1), the licence- holder or farmer shall not be liable for
any fees outstanding on the produce or wood so forfeited; but he shall have no
claim to refund of dues already paid, and he shall not be thereby discharged
from his liability for the payment of other dues in arrears or of instalments
overdue under the terms of his licence or lease at the date of the forfeiture.
10.(1) The Collector may , with the previous
sanction of the Financial Commissioner, make an agreement on behalf of
Government with the whole community of cattle owners residing in any estate to
pay such an annual assessment, by way of commutation for grazing dues; as may
be agreed upon between the Collector and such community.
(2). Such assessment shall not, without the sanction
of the local Government, be made for a period exceeding five years; and when
such an assessment has been concluded and recorded in such manner as the
Financial Commissioner shall direct, no person comprised in such community of
cattle- owners shall be liable to separate assessment in respect of any cattle
belonging to him and grazing during the period mentioned in such agreement on
lands to which these rules apply, within the limits of the tract regarding which
the agreement is made.
(3) Similar agreements may, under the order of the
Financial Commissioner, be entered into between the Collector on behalf of
Government and associations of cattle-owners, in respect of cattle owned
jointly or severally by the members of such associations.
(4) For the purposes of this rule, the consent of
persons owning two-thirds of the cattle belonging to a community or association
as aforesaid shall be deemed to be the consent of all the cattle owners of such
community or associations.
11. If the cattle-owners of any community or
association , which has accepted as assessment made under rule 10, prove to the
satisfaction of the Collector that the owner of any cattle, in respect of which
the assessment was made, has with his cattle left that community or association
and resides permanently with his cattle in another community or with another
association in the same district which has accepted a similar assessment , the
Collector may reduce the assessment payable by the former community or
association and enhance the assessment payable by the later community or
association proportionately to the number and description of cattle removed
from the one and added to the other.
12. The Collector may require the headman of any
community or association of cattle owners with which an agreement is in force
under rule 10, to furnish him with a nominal roll of the cattle-owners
belonging to such community or association showing the number and description
of the cattle owned by each.
13. Disputes arising amount the cattle-owners of any
community or association which has accepted an assessment made under rule 10,
regarding the incidence as among themselves of the assessment, shall be decided
by the Collector whose order shall be final.
14. (1) All sums due under an assessment made under
rule 10 shall be payable at such times and places and to such persons as the
Financial Commissioner shall direct.
(2) The amount assessed under rule 10 shall be
collected by lambardars of
estates or headmen of association of cattle-owners , or by such other persons
as the Collector may appoint , and such lambardars, headmen, or other persons
shall levy grazing dues from the cattle-owners in accordance with rates which
shall be fixed by the Collector, so as not to exceed in the aggregate the total
assessment and to apportion the incidence thereof amount the cattle owners as
nearly as may be in proportion to the number and kind of cattle owned by each.
(3.) If the amount of the grazing dues leviable
under this rule from a cattle – owner belonging to any community, or
association which has accepted an assessment under rule 10 , is not paid by
such cattle – owner or by some other person on his account when duly demanded,
the Collector may entirely rescind the agreement made under rule 10 in respect
of such community or association.
15. The person authorized under rule 14 to collect
the assessment shall be entitled to a drawback not exceeding 5 percent on all
sums paid by them into the Government treasury on account of such assessment.
16. Cancelled.
17. Any person acting in contravention of any of
these rules shall be liable, on the first conviction, to simple imprisonment
for a term which may extend to one month, or to fine not exceeding Rs. 100, or
to both ;and, on a subsequent conviction under this rule within three years of
the first, to imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or to
fine not exceeding Rs. 300, or to both.
SCHEDULE
(Punjab Government notification No. 816 – Revenue ,
dated 23rd December
1908.)
Local areas to which rules 1 to 9 and rule 17
apply:---
Hissar District
Rohtak District
Karnal District
Lahore District
Multan District
Rawalpindi District
Attock District
Jhelum District
Gujrat District
Shahpur District
Dera Ghazi Khan District
Mianwali District
Muzaffargarh District
768. Executive
instructions as to rakhs under district management-As regards Government
waste lands other than those under the Forest Department, these rules have been
supplemented by the following executive instructions :-(Punjab Government
letter No. 235 – General , dated 1st April
, 1896.)
(i) The Collector should some time before the
beginning of each agricultural year submit, for the approval of the
Commissioner, a brief report showing generally the arrangement he proposes to
make for the ensuing year as regards:---
(a) grazing;
(b) cutting and sale of timber ,fuel ,grass, and
other natural products.
It is not intended that details of management should
require the Commissioner’s sanction, but it is essential that he should be in a
position to exercise a general control over the treatment of Government waste
lands in his division.
(ii) No claim on the part of the residents in any
estate to a right of grazing in Government lands adjacent to such estate or of
obtaining leases or licences connected therewith under the above –mentioned
rules should be admitted . But in granting leases or licences, the reasonable
requirements of the population adjacent to the Government lands concerned
should be carefully considered, and it is often expedient to select leading
members of the rural community as farmers of grazing dues.
(iii) Wholesale sales of wood from rakhs and forests under the control
of Collectors is prohibited , except on special grounds; and with the previous sanction
of the Financial Commissioner. Contractors and other applying to Collector for
a wholesale supply should first be referred by them to the forest officer. All
applications for supply of wood for railway fuel and for large public works
should be considered wholesale, and in other cases all applications for a quantity
exceeding 3,000 maunds (Punjab Government No. 162-F, dated the 12th April 1880) The
intention of these orders is that district officers should co-operate with the
Forest Department in an intelligent and economical administration of the rakhs and forest lands under their
charge and in the prevention of indiscriminate cutting likely to injure the
permanent supply of wood and the reproductive capacity of the rakhs.
(iv) But licences to cut wood should be granted
under the rules issued under section 48 of Act IV of 1872 and given in the last
paragraph to the extent necessary to meet the reasonable requirements of the
people residing in the neighbourhood of Government lands in the matter of
timber and fuel when they are unable to meet these requirements from the
produce of their own lands.
(v) The Collector should insert in leases and
licences such conditions as he considers necessary for the prevention of waste
and the promotion of good management.
(vi) If a lease or licence is put up to auction the
Collector should notify that he will not be bound to accept the highest or any
bid.
(vii) No lease of the description mentioned in rule
5 in the last paragraph shall be given for more than one year without the
sanction of the Financial Commissioner.
769. Tirni- Allusion
has been made in paragraph 756 to the fees levied on account of the grazing of
cattle in the large waste areas owned by the State in the west of the Punjab .
These charges are known as tirni. In theory tirni is a rent paid for pasturage;
in practice it has been partly that and party an assessment levied on the
profits derived from the rearing of cattle. In fact the word has sometimes been
employed so as to include the land revenue paid by the proprietors of an estate
on account of the village waste. The levy of tirni on account of grazing in
Government lands has been regulated by the rules issued under section 48 of Act
IV of 1872, quoted in paragraph 767. The subject has lost much of its
importance with the extension of canal irrigation in the west of the province and
the colonization of the Bar tracts. But a brief sketch of its history should
find a place in any book dealing with the administration of land in the
770. Tirni in the Bar tracts of Jhang, Multan and Montgomery- In
the Southwest of the province an assessment on cattle was an obvious and
reasonable way of raising revenue. Diwan Sawan Mal inherited the system of
levying tirni from the Muhammadan
rulers who were displaced by Ranjit Singh, and we inherited it from Sawan Mal..
He was wise enough to make his collections through the leading men of the local
tribes, and we continued the same plan, calling them sadr tirni guzars. The
Board of Administration in 1853 issued rules fixing rates for the assessment of
tirni varying from Rs.
1-8-0 for a female camel to half an anna for a sheep or goat. Payment of these
rates made cattle fee of the whole Government waste in the district. The rules
contemplated an assessment of tirni on
village cattle for the term of the short settlements then being made, and an
assessment on the nomad graziers of the Bar on the basis of the old payments made
by the sadr tirni guzars .
771. Rules of 1860. The
system of annual leases-Colonel
1. 1. See Barkely’s
Non-Regulation Law of the
772. The chak system-The
complaints made against the above plan were that it led to much official
corruption, that it yielded a less income than would be obtained by dividing the
waste into large blocks and leasing the right to collect the authorised fees
within these blocks to farmers and that it allowed the pastoral tribes to
wander uncontrolled over the whole district, and thus fostered their criminal
tendencies and their aversion to settled agricultural pursuits. Orders were
accordingly issued about 1870 for the adoption of the chak system. Each chak or
block of Government waste was to be leased yearly to a farmer, and cattle
grazing in more than one block had to pay the full fees to the lessee of each.
In
“The grazing waste of the Bar is divided into chaks.
The right of collecting the tirni in these chaks in nominally auctioned
annually, but as a matter of fact the lessees are almost from year to year the
same body of influential zamindars residing in the neighbourhood of the chak
and the Deputy Commissioner fixed the amount of lease money………….All the
villages in the district are either tirni guzar (paying) or ghair tirni guzar.
In the former it is taken for granted that all the cattle graze in the
Government Bar, and accordingly rates are levied on every head of cattle
existing in the particular chak or other in which they are accustomed to graze.
Some few situated close to the boundary of two chaks have been allowed to graze
in both on payment of a single fee, but as rule cattle can only graze for a
single fee in the one chak to which the village is allotted……………The collection
of the fees is left entirely to the lessees.
“The non paying villages are those which are not
allotted to any chak, and the cattle of which it is presumed, do not graze in
the Bar. If they do they become liable to punitive rates, treble or quadruple
the ordinary rate. But these punitive rates are not levied in practice for a
lessee is glad to secure these and other outsiders, and even to offer them
lower than the prescribed rates in order to attract them to his chak. The nomad
graziers who own herds but no village in the Bar, attach themselves to a chak,
with respect to which they stand in the same relation as the paying villages.
The chakdars collect the full fee from every head of cattle in villages
assessed to tirni in connection with their chak, and also collect the tirni payable
for the cattle of outsiders grazing in their chak, whether belonging to tirni paying
or exempt villages of their district or to another district. The latter collections
are know as “nau baramad”.
773. The system of
quinquennial leases-The chak system was quite
unsuited to
1. 1. Revenue
proceedings Nos. 11-16 of April, 1905.
774. Tirni in the Thal-The
Thal has has been described in paragraph 757. It is now included in four
districts. The greater part of it is in the Minawali, Bhakkar and Leiah Tahsils
of Mianwali. Up to the formation of the
There is no separate camel tirni.5 In Muzaffargarh too the plan of fixed grazing assessment
for village waste and leasing of Government rakhs was adopted and special rules
were framed under section 48 of the Punjab Laws Act, IV of 1872 which were substantially
the same as rules 3 to 9 and 17 of the general rules issued many years later.6
_____________________________________________________________________
1. 1. Mr. Thorburn’s
settlement report of Bannu paragraphs 202 and 300.
2. 2. Paragraphs
534-538 of Mr. Thucker’s settlement report of Dera Ismail Khan and paragraph 72
of Mr. Hailey’s Thal assessment report.
3. 3. Mr. Thorburn’s
Bannu settlement report paragraph 202.
4. 4. Mr. Wilson’s
Khushab assessment report paragraph 49.
5. 5. Mr. Steedman’s
Jhang settlement report paragraph 219.
6. 6. Notification
No. 94 dated 21st March 1882. The general rules given in
paragraph
767 apply to
Muzaffargarh.
775. Tirni in Shahpur
and
_____________________________________________________________________
1. 1. Paragraphs 525 and 526 of Mr. Tucker’s
settlement report of Dera Ismail Khan.
776.
1. In Chapter VIII of his report on the improvement
of Indian agriculture, Dr. Volcker dwells at length upon the importance of so
directing the policy of the Forest Department that it shall serve agricultural
interests more directly than at present; and in his review of forest
administration for 1892-93, the Inspector General of Forests discusses in some
detail the principles which should underlie the management of State forests in
British India. While agreeing generally with the principles thus enunciated by the
Inspector General of Forests, the Government of India, thinks that it will be convenient
to state here the general policy which they desire should be followed in this matter;
more especially as they are of opinion that an imperfect apprehension of that policy
has, in some recent instances been manifested.
2. The object of forests
administration is the public benefit-The sole object with which
State forests are administered is the public benefit. In some cases the public
to be benefited are the whole body of tax payers; in others the people of the
tract within which the forest is situated; but in almost all cases the
constitution and preservation of a forest involve, in greater of less degree,
the regulation of rights and the restriction of privileges of user in the
forest area which may have previously been enjoyed by the inhabitants of its
immediate neighbourhood. This regulation and restriction are justified only
when the advantage to be gained by the public is great; and the cardinal
principle to be observed is that the rights and privileges of individuals must
be limited, otherwise than for their own benefit, only in such degree as is
absolutely necessary to secure that advantage.
3. Classification of
forests-The forests of
(a) Forests the preservation of which is essential
on climatic or physical grounds.
(b) Forests which afford a supply of valuable
timbers for commercial purposes.
(c) Minor forests.
(d) Pasture lands.
It is not intended that any attempt should be made
to class existing State forests under one or other of these four heads. Some
forests may occupy intermediate positions, and parts of one and the same forest
may fall under different heads. The classification is useful only as affording
a basis for the indication of the broad policy which should govern the
treatment of each class respectively; and in applying the general policy, the fullest
consideration must be given to local circumstances.
4. (a) Forests of which
the preservation is essential-The first class of forests are generally
situate on hill slopes, where the preservation of such vegetation as exists, or
the encouragement of further growth, is essential to protection from the
devastating action of hill torrents of the cultivated plains that lie below
them. Here the interests to be protected are important beyond all comparison
with the interests which it may be necessary to restrict; and so long as there
is a reasonable hope of the restriction being effectual, the lesser interests
must not be allowed to stand in the way.
5. (b) Large timber
forests. To be managed on commercial lines subject to the satisfaction of the
needs of the neighbouring population- The second class of state forests
include the great tracts from which our supply of the more valuable
timbers-teak, sal, deodar, and the like-is obtained. They are for the most part
(though not always) essentially forest tracts and encumbered by very limited
rights of user; and when this is the case, they should be managed mainly on
commercial lines as valuable properties of, and sources of revenue to, the
State. Even in these cases, however, customs of user will, for the most part,
have sprung up on the margins of the forest; this user is often essential to
the prosperity of the people who have enjoyed it; and the fact that its extent
is limited in comparison with the area under forest renders it the more easy to
continue it in full. The needs of communities dwelling on the margins of forest
tracts consist mainly in small timer for building, wood for fuel, leaves for
manure and the fodder , thorns for fencing, grass and grazing and for their
cattle, and edible forest products for their own consumption. Every reasonable
facility should be afforded to the people concerned for the full and easy satisfaction of these
needs, if not free (as may be possible where a system of regular cuttings has
been established), then at low and not at competitive rates. It should be
distinctly understood that considerations of forest income are to be subordinated
to that satisfaction.
There is reason to believe that the area which is
suitable to the growth of valuable timber has been over-estimated, and that
some of the tracts which have been reserved for this purpose might have been
managed with greater profit both to the public and to the State, if the efforts
of the Forest Department had been directed to supplying the large demand of the
agricultural and general population for small timber, rather than the limited
demand of merchants for large timber. Even in tracts of which the conditions
are suited to the growth of large timber, it should be carefully considered in
each case whether it would not be better, both in the interests of the people
and of the revenue, to work them with the object of supplying the requirements
of the general and in particular of the agricultural population.
6. Opening of forests
to cultivation-It should also be remembered that, subject to certain
conditions to be referred to presently, the claims of cultivation are stronger
than the claims of forest preservation. The pressure of the population upon the
soil is one of the greatest difficulties that India has to face, and that
application of the soil must generally be preferred which will support the
largest numbers in proportion to the areas available for cultivation.
Accordingly, wherever an effective demand for culturable land exists and can
only be supplied from forest areas, the land should ordinarily be relinquished
without hesitation; and it this principle applies to the valuable class of forests
under consideration, it applies a fortiori to the less valuable classes which
are presently to be discussed. When cultivation has been established it will
generally be advisable to disforest the newly settled area. But it should be
distinctly understood that there is nothing in the Forest Act, or in any rules
or orders now in force, which limits the discretion of local Government,
without previous reference to the Government of India (though of course, always
subject to the control of that Government), in diverting forest land to
agricultural purposes, even though that land may have been declared reserved forest
under the Act.
7. Conditions on which
cultivation should be permitted- Mention has been made of
certain conditions to which the application of the principle laid down in the
preceding paragraph should be subject. They have for their object the
utilization of the forest area to the greatest good of the community. In the
first place, the honey coming of a valuable forest by patches of cultivation
should not be allowed, as the only object it can serve is to substitute somewhat
better land in patches for sufficiently good land in large block, while it
renders the proper preservation of the remaining forest area almost impossible.
The evil here is greater than the good. In the second place, the cultivation
must be permanent. Where the physical conditions are such that the removal of
the protection afforded by forest growth must result, after a longer or shorter
period, in the sterilization or destruction of the soil, the case falls under
the principle discussed in paragraph 4 of this resolution. So again, a system
of shifting cultivation which denudes a large area of forest growth in order to
place a small area under crops, costs more to the community that it is worth,
and can only be permitted, under the due regulation where forest tribes depend
on it for their sustenance. In the third place the cultivation in question must
not be merely nominal and an excuse for the creation of pastoral nominal or
semi pastoral villages which do more harm to the forest than the good they reap
from it. And in the fourth place cultivation must not be allowed so to extend
as to encroach upon the minimum area of forest which is needed in order to
supply the general forest needs of the country or the reasonable forest
requirements, present and prospective, of the neighbourhood in which it is
situated. In many tracts cultivation is practically impossible without the
assistance of forests, and it must not be allowed to destroy that upon which
its existence depends.
8. Customs of user in
timer forests-It has been stated above that the forests under consideration
are generally but not always free from customs of user. When, as sometimes
happens, they are so intermingled with permanent villages and cultivation that customary
rights and privileges militate against their management as revenue paying properties,
the principles laid down at the end of paragraph 5 of this resolution should be
observed and considerations of income should be made secondary to the full
satisfaction of local needs.
Such restrictions as may be necessary for the
preservation of the forest, or for the better enjoyment of its benefits, should
be imposed; but no restriction should be placed upon reasonable local demands
merely in order to increase the State revenue.
9. (c) Minor forests to
be used chiefly for the supply of local needs- The
third class of forests include those tracts which, though true forests, produce
only the inferior sorts of timber or the smaller growths of the better sorts.
In some cases the supply of fuel for manufacturers, railways, and like purposes
is of such importance that these forests fall more properly under the second
class and must be mainly managed as commercial undertakings. But the forests
now to be considered are those which are useful chiefly as supplying fuel and
fodder or grazing for local consumption; and these must be managed mainly in
the interest of the population of the tract which supplies its forest
requirements from this source. The first object to be aimed at is to preserve
the wood and grass from destruction; for user must not be exercised so as to
annihilate its subject, and the people must be protected against their own
improvidence. The second object should be to supply the produce of the forests
to the greatest advantage and convenience of the people, To these two objects
all considerations of revenue should ordinarily be subordinated.
10. But revenue should
not altogether be foregone- It must not be supposed from the
preceding remarks that it is the intention of the Government of India to forego
all revenue from the large areas that are valuable chiefly for the fuel and
fodder which they yield. Cases must be distinguished. Where the areas in
question afford the only grazing and the only supply of fuel to villages which
lie around or within them, the necessities of the inhabitants of these villages
must be treated as paramount, and they should be satisfied at the most moderate
rates, and with as little direct official interference as possible. But where
the villages of the tract have already ample pasture grounds attached to their
cultivation and owned and managed by themselves, and where the Crown lands merely
supplement these pastures, and afford grazing to a nomad pastoral population or
to the herds that shift from one portion of the country to another with the
changes of the season, Government may justly expect to reap a fair income from
its property. Even in such cases, however, the convenience and advantage of the
graziers should be studiously considered and the inhabitants of the locality or
those who habitually graze over it, should have a preferential claim at rates
materially lower than might be obtained in the open market. It will often be
advantageous to fix the grazing demand upon a village or a nomad community for
a year or a term of years. The system, like every other, has difficulties that
are peculiar to it, but it reduces the interference of petty officials to the lowest
point, and minimizes their opportunities for extortion and oppression. Where grasing
fees are levied per capital, fee passes are often given to a certain number of
cattle. In such cases the cattle which are to graze free should include not
only the oxen which are actually employed on the plough, but also a reasonable
number of milch cattle and calves. A cow or a buffalo is as much a necessity to
a cultivator, using the word necessity in a reasonably wide sense, as is a
plough bullock and in many parts the oxen are bred in the village.
11. Considerations
connected with the formation of fuel and fodder preserves- In
the portions of this report which are referred to in the preamble to the
resolution, Dr. Volcker strongly recommends the formation of fuel and fodder
preserves and the Government of India has repeatedly urged the same policy upon
local Governments. The question whether any particular area can be made to
support a greater number of cattle by preserving the grass and cutting it for
fodder or by permitting grazing upon it, is one that must be decided by the
local circumstances of each case. But when it has been decided, the issues are
by no means exhausted. It has been stated in paragraph 9 above that one main
object towards which the management of these minor forests should be directed
is the supply of fuel and fodder “to the greatest advantage and convenience of
the people.” In doing so, due regard must be bad to their habits and wishes. It
may that strict preservation and periodical closures, or the total prohibitions
of grazing, will result in the largest yield both of fuel and of fodder in the
form of hay. But that is of small avail if the people will not utilize the
increased supply in the form in which it is offered them. The customs of
generations alter slowly in India and though much may and should be done to lead
the people to their own profit, yet it must be done gently and gradually,
always remembering that their contentment is no less important an object than
is their material advantage. It must be remembered, moreover that the object of
excluding grazing from the preserves in question is the advantage of the
neighbourhood and that the realization of a larger income than grazing would
yield by preserving the produce only to sell it to the highest bidder for
consumption in large towns at a distance from the preserve is not always in
accordance with the policy which the Government of India has inculcated. Here again
circumstances must decide. It may be that the local supply of fuel or fodder, independently
of the reserved area, is sufficient in ordinary years for the needs of the neighbourhood.
In such a case the produce may legitimately be disposed of in such years to the
greatest advantage, reserving it for local consumption only when the external supply
runs short. Finally, the remarks regarding agency in paragraph 12, and the more
general considerations that are discussed below in paragraph 13 of this
resolution, apply in full force to areas thus reserved for the supply of fuel
and fodder.
12. (d) Pasture land.
Same principles apply as to class (c), but with greater force- The
fourth class of forests referred to are pastures and grazing grounds proper
which are usually forests only in name. It is often convenient indeed to
declare them forests under the Act in order to obtain a statutory settlement of
the rights which the State on the one hand and private individuals or
communities on the other posses over them. But it by no means follow as a
matter of course that these lands should be subjected to any strict system of
conservation, or that they should be placed under the management of the Forest Department.
The question of agency is purely one of economy and expediency and the Government
of India believe that in some cases where these lands are managed by the Forest
Department, the expenditure on establishment exceeds the revenue, that is, or
at any rate the revenue that ought to be realized from them.
The following remarks apply, not only to forest
lands under the Act, whether administered by the Forest Department or not, but
also to all Crown waste, even though not declared to be forest. Here the
interests of the local community reach their maximum while those of the general
public are of the slightest nature. If follows that the principles which have
been already laid down for the management of minor forests apply, if possible,
with even greater force to the management of grazing areas pure and simple.
13. Difficulties of
management- The difficulties which arise in connection with these
areas are apt to present themselves in their most aggravated form where the
tenure of land is raiyatwari. In Zamindari tracts the Crown lands generally
assume the second of the two forms indicated in paragraph 10 of this
resolution. But where the settlement is raiyatwari, every survey number or
field that is unoccupied or unassigned is in the possession and at the disposal
of Government, and trespass upon it is prima facie forbidden. In some
cultivated tracts, these unoccupied and waste lands are the only source
available from which the grazing requirements of the resident population can be
met. The Government of India are clearly of opinion that the intermixture of
plots of Government land which are used for grazing only, but upon which
trespass is forbidden, with the cultivation of occupancy or proprietary
holders, is apt to lead to extreme abuses, and especially so when these plots
are under the management of the Forest Department.
The inferior subordinates of the Forest Department
are perhaps as reliable as can be expected on the pay which we can afford to
give; but their morality is no higher than that of the uneducated classes from
which they are drawn; while the enormous areas over which they are scattered
and the small number of the controlling staff render effective supervision most
difficult. It is not right in order to protect the grass or the grazing dues on
plots of waste scattered over the face of a cultivated district, to put it into
the power of an underling to pound or threaten to pound cattle on the plea that
they have overstepped the boundary between their owner’s field and the next.
Still less right it is to permit the exercise of the power of compounding
offences allowed by section 67 of the Forest Act to depend upon the mere report
of a subordinate servant, or to expose him to the temptation which such a power
holds out. Where the interests involved are sufficiently important it may
perhaps be necessary to accept the danger of extortion while minimizing as far
as possible the opportunities for it. But in the case under consideration the
interests involved are trifling, while the opportunities are unlimited.
14. Should generally be
leased to be managed through the agency of neighbouring community-It
is to be distinctly understood that the Government of India do not desire that
grazing should be looked upon primarily as a source of income. But it by no
means follows that all revenue from scattered Government lands should be relinquished.
It is indeed inadvisable that this should be done as to do so would give the raiyats
an interest in opposing allotment and making things unpleasant for new occupants.
But the objections to direct management which have just been pointed out are reduced
to a minimum, or altogether avoided when the management is placed in the hands
of resident cultivators or of representatives from among them. It will
generally be possible to lease or otherwise manage the unoccupied land of a
village through the agency of the community; not indeed, at the highest price
which they are ready to pay to escape such evils as have just been alluded to
but at a moderate estimate of their value to them, fixed in view of the fact
that herds and flocks, which cannot exist without grazing are often a necessary
condition of the successful conduct of that cultivation upon which the
Government land revenue is paid. In no case should fields that have been
relinquished be let to outsiders at a reduced assessment for grazing purposes
for then we might have speculators taking up such fields, mainly in order to
make what they can out of trespassing cattle.
15. When “reservation”
and when “protection” is preferred-One more point of principle
remains to be noticed. The procedure under chapter-IV of the Indian Forest Act,
whereby forests are declared to be protected, has been, in certain cases,
regarded by the Government of India as a provisional and intermediate
procedure, designed to afford time for consideration and decision with the
object of ultimately constituting so much of the area as it is intended to
retain a reserved forest under chapter II and of relinquishing the remainder
altogether. The Act provides two distinct forms of procedures. But the more
strict one, under chapter II, existing rights may be either settled,
transfe3rred, or commuted; and this procedure will ordinarily be applied to
forests of the first and second classes indicated in paragraph 3 of this resolution.
By the second procedure under chapter IV rights are recorded and regulated; and
this procedure will often be properly followed where the rights to which the
area is subject are extensive and the forest is to be managed mainly in the
interests of the local community. It will ordinarily be applied to forests of
the 3rd and 4th classes. The second procedure may indeed be
provisional, and introductory to reservation under chapter II: but there is in
the Forest Act nothing repugnant to giving it a larger and even a permanent
operation. As regard Government, the Chief difference between the two
procedures is, that new rights may spring up in a protected but not in a
reserved forest, and that the record of rights framed under chapter II is
conclusive, while that framed under Chapter IV only carried a presumption of
truth. It is believed that this presumption offers ample security where the
object of regulating the rights is to provide for their beneficial exercise,
rather than to override them to the public interest. As regards the people the
chief difference is that speaking broadly, in a reserved forest everything is
an offence that is not permitted, while in a protected forest nothing is an
offence that is not prohibited. In theory it is possible so to frame the
permission and the prohibition as to make the results identical in the two
case: but in practice it is almost impossible to do so. If it were not so, the
distinction drawn by the Legislature would be unnecessary and meaningless. It
is only where the public interests involved are of sufficient importance to
justify the stricter procedure and the more comprehensive definition of forest
offences, that the latter should be adopted. The Governor General in Council
desires, therefore, that with regard both to fuel and fodder preserves, and to
grazing areas pure and simple, and especially to such of them as lie in the
midst of cultivated tracts, it may be considered in each case whether it is
necessary to class them or if already so classed, to retain them as forest
areas; and if this question is decided in the affirmative whether it would not
be better to constitute them protected rather than reserved forests.
16. Concluding remarks-
Such are the general principles which the Government of India
desire should be observed in the administration of all States forests in
CHAPTER
XXII
STATE
LANDS DEVOTED TO THE EXTENSION OF CULTIVATION
776 –A.- Early policy as regards
leases of waist lands. Prior to 1848, the question
of the utilization of waste lands for the extension of cultivation was not of
much importance. An attempt at colonization was made in Sirsa; in Fazilka a
number of new estates were carved out of the waste and leased; in Karnal also a
number of small estates were formed out of the waste and the abandoned lands
which were leased to speculators or zamindars. Most of these lessess later
acquired proprietary rights, while many tenants of old standing were given
occupancy rights.
After the annexation of the
777.
778. Lease rules of
1868. The rules issued in 1868 were the first general
rules for the lease of waste lands in the
779.
780. Lease rules of
1885. It was partly on account of the uncertainly
regarding the terms of purchase in the lease rules of 1868 and 1882 that a new
set of rules was issued with the approval of the Government of India in 1885,
When Sir Charles Aitchison was Lieutenant- Governor. (Revenue (General)
proceeding, Nos. 3-4 of September 1885.)
Commissioner were given power to sanction leases of
areas not exceeding 300 acres.
Leases of larger areas had to be approved by the
Financial Commissioner, and, if the area exceeded 3,000 acres, by the
Lieutenant- Governor. As before the assessment was to be framed “with due
regard to the revenue rates assessed on land in the neighborhood and to the
special circumstances of the case .” But in addition to the assessment a malikana or proprietary fee amounting to
25 per cent of the revenue was to be paid by the lessee.
The rent was therefore only 1-1/4 times the land
revenue, and it might be remitted altogether for one or more years. The term
was ordinarily to be fixed so as to expire with the current settlement of the
district. Minerals and the rights of Government over rivers and streams were
fully reserved. The Government had power to determine the lease during its
currency if the land was required for public purposes on paying compensation for
any improvements made. On the expiry of the original term the lessee was
entitled to claim renewal on such terms as to payment of land revenue and
proprietary due or malikana as
the officer renewing the lease might determine. If the lease was renewed the lessee
had no claim to compensation for improvements. The conditions regarding purchase
were extremely liberal . The lessee could purchase proprietary right at any time
by paying five times the amount of the maximum rent, that is to say, 6-1/4
times the land revenue. After the rules of 1885 were published the Financial
Commissioner issued in striations requiring Deputy Commissioners to arrange ,
without needlessly harassing lessees, for the regular inspection of lands held
on lease so as to ensure the proper fulfillment of the conditions. (Financial
Commissioner’s Circular No. 60 of 1885)
781.
782. Operation of Lease
Rules of 1885 restricted. The operation of the lease rules
of 1885 was soon greatly restricted . IN 1887 the Government of India expressed
the view that in practice they “do not appear to protect the interests of
Government, and …….. it is evident that ………. a lessee may purchase the
proprietary right in waste land for a price which is far below the market value
of the land.”( Government of India, Revenue and Agriculture Department letter
No.432-R-19-25 dated 12th August,1887-Revenue
(General), proceedings No. 9 of October 1887.) About the same time the meaning
of the
783. Lease rules of
1897. For various reasons great delay occurred in the
issue of the new rules and they were not actually published till 1897.
They will be bound in appendix III(I). The principal
points in which they differ from earlier rules are:---
(a) the limitation of the areas which may be leased.
All tracts are excluded which are embraced by any
colonization scheme for lands commanded by a Government canal and all areas
likely to be so commanded. The local Government alone can made exceptions. The
amount of Government land suitable for leasing is now small. Lists of such
lands are to be drawn up by the Deputy Commissioner, and local Government is to
determine from time to time which of these lands shall be deemed available for
leasing.Subject to these stringent conditions the Commissioner can sanction a
lease up to a limit of 75 acres if the land is not irritable from a canal and
the Financial Commissioner upto a limit of 150 acres, whether the land is
irritable from a canal or not for a maximum period of 20 years in each case ,
provided the total area held on lease by a single lessee does not exceed 75 and
150 acres respectively. Leases of areas exceeding 150 acres must be approved by
the local Government. ( See rules 1 to 3 in appendix III ).
(b) the exaction of fuller rent.
The rent was to be calculated so as to be equivalent
to the land revenue plus a proprietary due or malikana in addition.
The former is to be calculated with due regard to:---
(1) the revenue rates assessed on similar lands at
the last settlement, and
(2) the present renting value for cultivation and
grazing of similar land in adjacent estates.
In applying this canon so much of the area is to be
treated as cultivated as the lessee may fairly be expected to bring under
cultivation within the term of the lease.
The proprietary due or malikana is to be 4 per cent of the
market value of the land in its waste condition , and, if that is not
ascertainable, not less than 50 per cent of the land revenue assessed.
The Financial Commissioner is given certain powers
of reducing the malikana for
special reasons. Initial exemptions from payment of rent may also be allowed. (See
rule 10 in appendix III.)
(c) the permanent rights which the lessee can
acquire are either:---
(1) right of occupancy under section 8 of the Punjab
Tenancy Act, or
(2) ownership.
Different forms if instrument of lease are employed
according as it is proposed to grant the one or the other.
If a right of occupancy is acquirable it can be
claimed after the lessee had been in occupation for five years, if meanwhile he
has fulfilled all the conditions. At the end of the term of the lease the rent
is fixed at the land revenue with an addition of 75 per cent, as malikana.
Where the lease gives the lessee the option of
obtaining ownership he may do so at any time during the currency of the lease.
(Rules 18,19 and 21 ibid.)
(d) the price charged for the land is the full
market value.
The local Government can reduce the amount for
special reasons. ( Rule 19(iii) ibid )
784. Leases for a
single harvest- The 24th of
the rules exempts from their operation leases for a single harvest. The
practice of giving such licenses for temporary cultivation in respect of lands
which, being low lying received local drainage and therefore could in good
seasons be cultivated without irrigation , used to be common in some of the
south –western district. The spread of canal irrigation has made the matter one
of the small importance , and rendered it necessary to impose restrictions on
the practice. The instructions at present in force will be found in appendix
III (2).
785. Other alienations
of State lands- So far we have been dealing with sales and leases of
waste land owned by the state made on the authority of rules issued with the sanction
of the Government of India( “Under Government of India circular letter, Revenue
and Agricultural Department , No. 3-471-1, dated 19th November, 1909, the local Government is now
authorized to make amendments in details without previous reference to the
Government of India.”). But the State may have acquired by escheat or otherwise
cultivated land or town sites, the ownership of which it is prepared to
transfer on various terms to public bodies or private individuals . Occasions
may also arise for the grant of waste lands on conditions more favorable than
those embodies in the lease rules. A classification of the transfers referees
to above and directions as to the sanction required in each description of case
are contained in the resolutions of the Government of India reproduced in
appendix IV.
Nazul property, within the limits of municipality,
notified area, or small town not being a colony town, means land and buildings
of all kind which belong to Government and, are not in departmental charge.
Nazul property, outside the limits of a municipality, no tidied areas, or small
town means all immovable property other than agricultural land and wells and
tanks used primarily for agricultural purposes , which belongs to Government
and is not in departmental charge.
(See paragraph 2 of
786. Construction of
private canals by leases- During the first thirty five
years after annexation the policy described in this chapter fairly successful.
To its complete success Nature has set up obstacles of a formidable kind. Where
the State owns most waste and the rainfall is usually too scanty to allow of
dry cultivation except of very limited extent and most precarious character,
and at the same time the water level is too deep to make well sinking easy or
well working profitable. Indeed in the south –west of the province the rainfall
is so light and so capricious that wells unaided by river flood or canal water
are of little use. Some lesses were therefore encouraged to dig private canals to
irrigate their grants and a good deal was done to extend cultivation in this
way, especially in the Shahpur District. The canal owners used the water
largely to irrigate their own lands, but gave any they could spare to their
neighbours ,charging a water rate usually in the form of a share of the
produce. The people of the tahsils of Ferozepore bordering on the
787. Punjab Minor
Canals Act, III of 1905- In that Act a very wide
definition of “canal” is given . (Section 3(ii) . A number of irrigation works
are included in the two schedules appended to the rules in volume II of the
Punjab Land Administration Acts and It is to these works that it in the first
instance applies. Schedule I is primarily intended for small irrigation works
owned in whole or in part by Government or managed by Government Officers or by
any local authority while schedule II is intended to include canals , which are
owned and managed by private individuals. (Proviso to section 2) The local
Government has power to make additions to the schedules , or to transfer a
canal from one schedule to another or exclude it from both , by notifications .
( Section2(2). Government may notify “any natural canal , lake or other
collection of water.” Thereafter no one can without its permission construct a
canal to draw water from that source of supply.(Section 4,5 and 7).The 6th section States the procedure to be followed by a Deputy
Commissioner who thinks a canal should be constructed from such a source. The levy
of “water dues” by which term is indicated what was formerly called royalty, by
Government from canal – owners on account of use of water is legalized and
regulated by section 8. Chapter III of the Act gives the Collector the powers
necessary for the management of canals included in schedule I, and provides for
the levy of water-rates. Both water dues and water –rates to be collected by
the officers of Government are recoverable as if they were arrears of land
revenue. (Sections 29-32 and 68.)The system of providing for yearly clearances
by labour contribution (cher)
is legalized in certain cases. ( Sections 26 and 27 see paragraph 449 of
Settlement Manual) Power is given to draw up a record for a canal showing inter alia the custom or rule of
irrigation, and the rights to water or to erect mills(Section 28) Rights in or
over any canal may be extinguished by the local Government on payment of
compensation if the exercise of them “ is prejudicial to the interests of other
irrigators or to the good management, improvement , or extension of the canal.”
(Section 11) Chapter IV applies to canals included in schedule II. The local
Government is given power to fix the limits of irrigation and the amount of the
rate, and to regulate the supply and distribution of the water to and from a
canal and to order the preparation of a record of rights. (Section 35 and 39)
The Collector may appoint a manager in certain cases (Section 34) and the local
Government may assume control with the canal-owner’s consent, and in case of
grave mismanagement or willful and continuos breach of order passed under
section 39, without it . If control is taken against the will of the owner he
can require the Government to acquire the canal (Sections 36 and 37). The local
Government can undertake the collections of water –rates livable on a private
canal , if requested to do so by the owners. ( Section 40). Chapter V applies
to canals of both classes. It gives the Collector the necessary powers.
(a) to ensure that canals and the works connected
with them are maintained in good working order and protected from injury;
(Sections 52-7)
(b) to settle disputes among the
shareholders(Section 42-3)
It gives power to regulate the construction of
mills, (Section 58) and the flow of the water in rivers, creeks, natural
channels, or lines of natural drainage, and for the removal therefrom of
obstructions. (Sections 49-51) It enables Government to acquire any private canal
when it appears expedient in the public interest to do so. (Section 45-8) The jurisdiction
of the civil court is excluded, (Section 60) and light penalties are provided for
certain offences under the Act. (section 71) Cases relating to such offences
must be tried by magistrates of the 1st or
2nd class.
CHAPTER
XXIII
REVENUE
COURTS AND REVENUE SUITS
789. Meaning of
“revenue court”-A revenue court is simply a revenue office acting in
a judicial instead of in an executive capacity. There are, therefore, the same
classes of revenue courts as of revenue officers, and ordinarily a revenue
officer of any grade is a revenue court of the same grade, and his jurisdiction
in the one capacity is co-existensive with his jurisdiction in the other.1
1. Section 77(2) of Act XVI of
1887. The sections referred to in this chapter are to sections of this Act.
790. Reason why certain
classes of cases are heard by revenue courts-The distinction
between revenue and civil courts is one of agency, not of procedure. It is well
that cases of the kind referred to in paragraph 793 should be tried by officers
whose daily work is concerned with the revenue and the produce of the land and
with the record-ofright, and brings them into close contact with the rural
population, because the special experience so acquired conduces to a readier
appreciation of the points at issue and greater skill in obtaining and
appraising the evidence.
791. Procedure of
revenue courts-The procedure of revenue courts is governed by the
Code of Civil Procedure1 and
the Rules and Orders of the High Court, so far as these are applicable. Power
to make special rules of procedure for revenue courts is given by section 88(1)
of the Tenancy Act, but it has not been exercised2.
The idea that revenue litigation is less regular and more subject to the
idiosyncracies of the judge than civil litigation is quite erroneous. The
investigation of revenue suits should be every whit as careful as that of civil
cases, and in both classes of courts equal respect should be paid to positive
injunction of law and to considerations of equity.
_____________________________________________________________________
1. 1. Section 88(2)
(a).
2. 2. Section 89-92 and 101 and two rules under section 106(1) (f) deal
with certain minor points of procedure. The rules are 12(i) and 13 of the rules
under the Tenancy Act.
792. Jurisdiction of
revenue courts at different times- At one time the jurisdiction of
revenue courts was a good deal wider than at present and embraced all suits for
landed property. It is needless to cumber this chapter with an account of the
powers of revenue courts at different periods.
793. Suits reserved for
revenue courts-By section 77 (3) of the Tenancy Act, as amended by
section 22 of the Punjab Alienation of Land Act, XIII of 1900, and Act III of 1912,
seventeen classes of suits are reserved exclusively for the decision of revenue
courts. Eleven of these are suits between landlords and tenants regarding
ejectment, rent, occupancy rights, etc. The other six are:
(a) suits for sums payable on account of village
cesses1 or village expenses;
(b) suits by a co-sharer in an estate or holding for
a share of the profits or for an account;
(c) suits for recovery of over payments of rent or
revenue, or of any other demand for which a suit lies in a revenue court;
(d) suits by a landowner for sums due for the
enjoyment of rights in or over land or in water2.
(e) Suits for sums payable on account of land
revenue or of any other demand recoverable as an arrear of land revenue and
suits by a superior landowner for other sums due to him as such;
(f) Suits relating to the emoluments of kanungos,
zaildars, inamdars and village officers.
It is provided by section 43 (2) (a) of the Punjab
Minor Canals Act, III of 1905, that in deciding disputes relating to the
ownership of a canal or the mutual rights of owners in the use of the water of
a canal, or the construction or maintenance of a canal or the payment of any
share of the costs of such construction or maintenance, or the distribution of
the supply of water from a canal, the Collector shall proceed as a revenue court.
____________________________________________________________________
1. 1. See paragraph
94 of the Settlement Manual.
2. 2. See paragraph
356 of the settlement Manual.
794. Parties may be
referred to civil courts for decisions of some question in issue- If
in any case pending before it a revenue court is of opinion that “any question
in issue is more proper for decision by a civil court”, it can apply to the
court to which it is subordinate for leave to direct any of the parties to
institute a suit in the civil court in order to obtain a decision of the
question. If the injunction is obeyed the proceeding in the revenue court must
be decided in accordance with the finding of the civil court. If no civil suit
is instituted the revenue court may decide the matter in issue as it thinks fit1.
____________________________________________________________________
1. Section 93.
795. Powers of High
Courts as regards questions of jurisdiction-The Tenancy Act also
provides for references to the High Court for the resolving of doubts as to jurisdiction1 and for the validation by the High Court of
proceedings taken by either a civil or a revenue court under a mistake as to
jurisdiction2.
_____________________________________________________________________
1. 1. Section 99.
2. 2. Section 100.
796. Suits reserved for
Collector-The highest revenue court of original jurisdiction
is that of the Collector. Of the four classes of revenue suits which are
reserved exclusively for his court1 or
for that of an Assistant Collector of the first grade invested by name with power
to hear them2 the
only one requiring special notices is suits for the enhancement or reduction of
the rent of an occupancy tenant.
797. Suits for
enhancement of rent of occupancy tenants-The law regarding
the enhancement and reduction of rents paid by occupancy tenants is explained
in the 216th paragraph
of the Settlement Manual. The rates of malikana there mentioned are the highest
that can be imposed. A court is under no obligation to decree the fullest rent
permitted by the law, and in many cases it would be very unwise to do so.
The attention of all revenue officers is drawn to
the necessity for caution in enhancing at the conclusion of settlement
operations, the rates of malikana payable by occupancy tenants in cases where;
owing to enhancement of land revenue assessment, there has been a substantial
automatic enhancement in the amount of malikana calculated at the previous rate.
Before the passing of the Tenancy Act of 1887 the payments made by occupancy tenants
in addition to the land revenue and cesses were in some parts of the country
very trifling, and throughout whole districts enhancement was barred by entries
in the village administration papers.
798. Severe
enhancements deprecated-One object of the Act was to
enable landlords to increase the rents of privilege tenants when these were
very low. This intention must not be defeated, but severe enhancements, which
would raise the rent of particular occupancy tenants much above the standard
prevailing in the neighbourhood in the case of other tenants of the same class
should be avoided. Nor may it always be fair to exclude from consideration the
rents usually paid by tenants-at-will in the neighbourhood. It uses to be quite
common in some parts of the
799. Decree bars
further proceedings for ten years-Considering that over two millions
of acres in the
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1. 1. Further
information on this point can be obtained from statement XV of the annual Land
Revenue reports.
2. 2. Section 24(3) of Act XVI of 1887. See also as regards compensation
for improvements in enhancement cases, paragraph 804.
800. Suits within jurisdiction
of Assistant Collector of the Ist Grade. Suits to establish right of occupancy-
Of the ten classes of cases which an be heard by Assistant Collectors
of the Ist grade, but not by Assistant Collectors of the 2nd Grade, the first calling for mention is suits to
establish a right of occupancy. The grounds on which such a claim can be
founded are discussed in paragraphs 208-211 of the Settlement Manual. In the
_____________________________________________________________________
1. 1. See paragraph
207 of the Settlement Manual.
801. Suits relating to
ejectment-The next three descriptions of cases to be noticed from
one group. They are suits-
(a) by landlords for the ejectment of tenants;
(b) by tenants to contest ejectment notices; and
(c) by tenants to recover possession or compensation
in cases of wrongful ejectment.
802. Suits to object
occupancy tenants and tenants for a term of years- The
summary procedure by which a tenant-at-will can be ousted from his holding has
been described in paragraphs 60-62. It is of course inapplicable to the case of
occupancy tenants, and tenants for a term exceeding one year. Such tenants can
only be ejected in pursuance of a decree of a revenue court1 or in the case of an occupancy tenant when a decree
for an arrear or rent remains unsatisfied after due warning2. The grounds on which an action for the ejectment
of an occupancy tenant can be brought are stated in the 213th paragraph of the
Settlement Manual. The same reasons may be pleaded in the case of tenants
holding for a term under a lease or a decree or order, and in addition “any
(other) ground which would justify ejectment under the contract decree, or
order”.3 When
the landlord asserts that the tenants right has been forfeited by failure to
cultivate, the matter must be dealt with in a reasonable way. The words used in
the Act are “that he (the tenant) has without sufficient cause filed to
cultivate the land in the manner or to the extent customary in the locality in
which the land is situate.4 An
occupancy tenant who from loss of cattle or for other good reason is unable to
till his holding in a year of great drought must not be made to endure the
additional misfortune of losing it altogether. Even where the tenant is not
entirely free from fault it is not always expedient to declare his occupancy
right forfeit. The 48th section
of the Act gives to the court a large direction, instead of passing a decree
depriving the tenant of his land, to order him to remedy, or to pay
compensation for, any injury cause to the landlord by the act or omission which
is the foundation of the latter’s claim. Ejectment suits are fortunately not at
all common in the Punjab.5
_____________________________________________________________________
1. Section 42.
2. See paragraph 65.
3. Section 40(c).
4. Sections 39 (b) and 40(b).
5. For the number of ejectment suits reference should be made to
statement XVI of the annual Land Revenue reports.
803. Suits to contest
notices of ejectment-Every ejectment notice warns
the tenant-atwill on whom it is served that he must if he intends to contest
his liability to be turned out, institute at suit in a revenue court within two
months.1
Such suits are pretty numerous and are often
successful. If the tenant fails to prove his case a decree for his ejectment is
passed.2
_____________________________________________________________________
1. 1. Section 45(3).
2. 2. Section 45(6).
804. Claims for
compensation-In all suits by a landlord for enhancement of rent
or for ejectment or by a tenant to contest an ejectment notice, it is the duty
of the court to direct the tenant to put in any claim he may have for
compensation for improvements. In the cases in which his ejectment is the
question at issue he must also be told to include in his claim any compensation
for disturbance to which he considers himself to be entitled.1 If compensation is found to be due, any decree for
enhancement or ejectment that may be passed cannot be executed till the
landlord pays into court the amount for which he is held to be liable.2
_____________________________________________________________________
1. Section 70(1).
2. Section 20 (2).
805. Suits for recovery
of possession-If a tenant has been ousted by force or by any proceedings
not authorized by the Tenancy Act, or if he is ejected after the issue of a notice,
whose validity he has failed to contest by a suit, he may, within one year of dispossession,
bring an action in a revenue court for the recovery of his holding or for compensation
or for both1. He
cannot bring a suit under section 9 of the Specific Relief Act of 1877.2
_____________________________________________________________________
1. 1. Section 50 and
50-A.
2. 2. Section 51.
806. Suits to cancel
alienation by occupancy tenants-The powers of alienation possessed
by different classes of occupancy tenants before the passing of the Punjab Alienation
of Land Act XIII of 1900 (as amended by Punjab Act No. I of 1907), are explained
in the 214th paragraph
of the Settlement Manual. The law does not contemplate the forfeiture of the
tenant’s right of occupancy as the consequence of an inadvertent, or even
willful, exceeding of his powers of dealing with his holding. It merely
provides that irregular transfers “are voidable at the instance of the
landlord” and allows him to bring an action for the cancellation of the
alienation or for the dispossession of the transferee, or for both purpose. If
the suit is successful the plaintiff and his tenant simply resume their old
relations, provided the latter has not parted with the possession of the land
to the transferee.1
_____________________________________________________________________
1. See No. 6 P.R. 1893 Revenue.
807. Suits within
jurisdiction of Assistant Collectors of the 2nd grade
suits for arrears of rent-The most important of the three
classes of cases within the jurisdiction of Assistant Collectors of the 2nd Grade is suits for arrears of rent. More than one
half of the total litigation in revenue courts in the
808. Limitation in rent
suits- The limitation for rent suits is three years. The
difficulty of an equitable decision is increased when a court has to deal not
with the harvests of the past twelve months of which the presiding officer may
have a vivid recollection, but with more remove seasons. Landlords, and
especially mortgagee landlords, are sometimes tempted to refrain from taking
their share in a bad year, trusting to recover more by means of a revenue suit
than a fair division on the threshing floor would have yielded. There is,
therefore, some reason to suspect that a landlord, who has failed to sue for
rent till several years after it feel due, abstained from doing so at the
proper time because it could then have been shown that the outturn was poor. In
such cases it is fair to refuse to make a doubtful calculation of rent by
estimating the value of the produce and simply to decree twice the land revenue
and cesses in the case of districts or parts of districts settled before the
passing of the Land Revenue (Amendment) Act, III of 1928, and four times the
land revenue and cesses in the case of areas of which the assessment has been confirmed
on or after the 22nd February,
1929.1 If, however, the harvest is
known to have been a very short one, this may be too large, and some smaller
sum may be decree.
_____________________________________________________________________
1. Theoretically the cesses should not be included. But in practice
it is unnecessary to leave them out, as the revenue will usually be well below
one fourth of the rental.
809. Remissions of
rent- Even where the rent is a money one of fixed amount
the court has power, with the previous sanction of the Collector, to remit part
of it where the area of the holding has been diminished by diluvion or
otherwise or where its produce has been reduced by any calamity of season.1 The principle to be followed in such cases is to
treat the tenant with reference to his rent as the landlord has been or will be
treated with reference to the revenue. If the State foregoes part of the
revenue, the landlord ought to forego a proportionate share of the rent.
_____________________________________________________________________
1. Section 29. The
section applies to kind, as well as to cash rents.
810. Suits under
section 14 of the Act-By Section 14 of the Tenancy
Act, a person who is in occupation of land without the owners’ consent is
liable to pay at the rate of rent current in the preceding agricultural year or
if none was paid in that year, at such rate as the court determines to be fair
and equiable.1 What
is paid in such circumstances is not, strictly speaking, rent, but suits under
section 14 are classed in the same category as actions for arrears of rent.2
_____________________________________________________________________
1. 1. For suspension
and remission of rent by executive order- see paragraph 573.
2. 2. Section 77 (3)
(n).
811. Deposits of rent- A
defendant who admits that the rent claimed is due, but assets that the
plaintiff is not the person entitled to receive it, must pay the amount into court,
otherwise his plea will be disregarded. Once he has made the deposit his
responsibility is at an end. Notice is given to the person whom the defendant
alleges to be his landlord1. If the latter
does not within three months brings a suit against the plaintiff in the action
for rent, and obtain an order restraining payment of the deposit, it will be
made over to the original claimant2.
_____________________________________________________________________
1. 1. Section 95(1) ,
(2) and (5).
2. 2. Section 95(3)
sub section (4), provides that nothing in this section shall affect the right
of any person to recover from the plaintiff money paid to him under sub section
(3).
812. Execution of
decrees for Arrears of rent-A court on giving a decree for
rent may order execution against the movable property of the tenant, or any
uncut or ungathered crops on the holding in respect of which the arrear id due.
But so long as the tenant is in occupation of the land he can not be imprisoned
in execution of such a decree1.
_____________________________________________________________________
1. 1. Sections 96 and
97.
813. Restriction of
processes involving arrest of tenant or landlords-No
revenue court can issue any process involving the arrest of any tenant or of
any landlord who cultivated his own land during either of the two harvest
seasons1 except
for reasons of urgency, which must be put on record.
_____________________________________________________________________
1. Tenancy Rule 14. The harvest seasons are from Ist April to 31st May and from 15th September to 15th November.
814. Control, appeal
and revision- The law as regards administrative control, appeal and
revision, applicable to revenue courts is practically identical with that
applicable to revenue officers as described in Chapter VI. The only classes of
cases which can usually come on appeal before the Financial Commissioner are
those referred to in paragraph 796. In revision cases a Financial Commissioner
can only interfere with the order of an inferior revenue court “on any ground
on which the High Court in the exercise of its revisional jurisdiction may,
under the law for the time being in force, interfere with the proceedings or an
order of decree of a Civil Court” (Section 84 (5) of the Tenancy Act). But by
the operation of section 88(2) (a) and (b) of the Act, section 113 of the Civil
Procedure Code and Order XLVI of the first schedule apply to the proceedings of
revenue courts and an inferior of the Financial Commissioners.
CHAPTER
XXIV
MISCELLANEOUS
816. Meteorological
observations and returns- At some important stations
there are observatories under the direct control of the Director-General of
Observatories. A note on the climatic conditions of each month by the
Meteorological Department of the Government of India is published in the
Gazette.
At other headquarter stations and at tahsils there
are rain gauges in charge of the assistant to the district kanungo and the
tahsil office kanungo, respectively. Registers are kept up by the district
kanungo and the tahsil office kanungoes in which the rainfall is recorded. The
headquarters register contains columns to show the rainfall at every recording
station in the district which is in charge of the district Kanungo. At the beginning
of each month a return of the rainfall of the past month with notes on the agricultural
situation, is furnished to the Director of Land Records. Besides the raingauges
in charge of revenue officials others have been put in a number of places where
a record of the local rainfall was considered necessary. These are in charge of
competent officials, such as Sub-Assistant Surgeons. The rainfall is also
recorded by officials of the Irrigation Department and at the chief
agricultural farms.
Crop reports-Whenever
the Deputy Commissioner, or any Assistant Commissioner or Extra Assistant
Commissioner visits a tahsil, he should inspect the raingauge and register ,
and satisfy himself as to the capacity of the office kanungo to observe and
record the rainfall correctly. The result should be communicated to the Director
of Land Records and to the Meteorological Department of the Government of India.
It should be part of the duties of one of the officers at headquarters to
inspect the rain- gauge and register at regular intervals.
Reports on the snowfall for the months of January to
May are sent by the Deputy Commissioners of Shimla, Kangra, Gurdaspur ,
A return showing the monthly rainfall at each
district headquarters in the province is embodied in the Director’s yearly
Season and Crop Report. (For detailed
instructions as to the record of rainfall and snowfall Financial Commissioner’s
Standing Order No. 37 should be referred to.)
817. Crop Reports- From
fifteen districts a weekly telegraphic report is sent to the Director of land
Record in which the rainfall, the progress of agricultural operations, the prospects
of harvest, any serious damages done to crops, the condition of agricultural stock,
any marked failure of pasturage, fodder or water supply, when it occurs, and
the chief objects of those reports to ensure that the approach of scarcity
anywhere in the province shall be signaled. Similar reports are sent from every
district in which scarcity is impending or famine or other abnormal
circumstances exist. The Deputy Commissioners of the remaining 14 districts are
also required to submit by letter a summary of the weekly weather and crop
conditions during the period from the 1st of
April, till the 15th October (inclusive).
Deputy Directors of Agriculture submit similar
reports, converting the same ground to the Director who forwards them through
the Financial Commissioner, Development, to the Minister.
For some of the principal spring and autumn crops
estimates are furnished by Deputy Commissioners and Deputy Directors of
Agriculture to the Director of Agriculture at intervals generally of about two
months. There are, therefore three estimates for each crop. The first and
second are preliminary and corrected estimates of the area sown, the third
prepared after the culture harvest inspection gives the actual area of crops
sown, and an estimate of the outturn. In the case of cotton and wheat a fourth estimate
is also required.
A statement showing the results of the kharif
harvest accompanied by a brief note is sent by Deputy Commissioners to the
The note on each harvest should include a concise
account of the factors which have influenced the area or the yield of important
staples.
The note should be prepared by the Revenue Assistant
who should base it upon the reports of tahsildars and his own personal
observations. Both the Revenue Assistant and the tahsildar should check their
own personal observations by the opinions of reliable agriculturists.
The provincial Crop and Season report is drawn up
the Director of Land Records. (For detailed instructions as to weather and crop
reports, monthly agricultural prospect reports , estimates of area, yield of
certain crops and Season and Crop report, see Financial Commissioner’s Standing
Orders Nos. 36,37, 38 and 53.)
818. Crop Experiments-The
most reliable crop experiments are those conducted by the settlement staff when
a district is under re-assessment. But experiments are also made harvest by
harvest in all the districts of the province, except Simla, by the revenue and agricultural
staff and the results reported to the Director of Land Records and Director of Agriculture,
Respectively. They should be made by naib-tahsildars, tahsildars, Revenue Assistants
and Sub-Divisional Officers in the case of revenue staff and by Agricultural Assistants,
Extra Assistant Directors of Agriculture and Deputy Directors of Agriculture in
case of agriculture staff. Detailed instructions will be found in the Financial
Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 9- A.
819. Prices-The
deputy Commissioner of the following districts report on 1st and 15th of each month of wholesale prices of the principal
food-grain prevailing at the markets and noted against each:---
Gurgaon Palwal
Ambala Jagadhri
Ferozepore Ferozepore
Abohar
Gurdaspur Gurdaspur
Pathankot
Shahpur Sargodha
Jhelum
Attock Campbellpur
Okara
Lyallpur
This prices of the different crops obtaining in each
assessment circle at harvest time are entered in the crop abstracts in the
circle note-book in accordance with reports received from district kanugos. A
register of the retail price at headquarters of the same crops and of salt and
firewood is kept up by the district Kanungo. The prices recorded are those current
on the fifteenth and the last day of each month. From the register a return showing
the retail prices of some of the chief staples and of slat and firewood is
compiled and sent to the Director of Land Records on the 1st and 16th of
each month. An officer not below the rank of Extra Assistant Commissioner,
either the Treasury officer or some other member of the staff whose work
ordinarily keeps him at headquarters, should be made responsible for checking
the figures of retail and wholesale prices in the returns, and each price
current should bear his attestation (Government of India Revenue Department,
No. 6-150, dated 20th March,
1872). Through the prices recorded are only those of particular days, it is his
duty to keep himself informed from day to day of all variations in the market. In
districts where there is a Cantonment the same officer should be made responsible
for the preparation of the monthly lists of bazar prices furnished to the
Indian Army service Crops.
Their accuracy is a matter of great importance, as
they may be used as the authority for the payment to Indian troops of
compensation for dearness provisions. (For detailed instructions as to price
lists see Financial Commissioner’s Standing Order. No. 39.) A copy of the
military bazar prices current is sent monthly to the Director of Land records
for scrutiny.
The industrial surveyors working under the control
of the Director of Industries,
820. Locusts.
Locusts are frequently seen in the province, but as a rule they speedily disappear
after doing an amount of damage which , through it may be small in proportion
to the total out-turn , may be very serious for the cultivators whose crops
have been attacked . In some seasons, however, vast swarms invade the province,
and commit widespread devastation. Their power of multiplication is enormous.
Whenever locusts are observed in a district measures should be taken to ensure.
(a) that the laying and hatching of eggs shall be
promptly reported and
(b) that measures shall at once be taken for the
destruction of the eggs and of the young nymphs when hatched.
An account of the history of locusts with detailed instructions
as to the best means of destroying their eggs and the young insects before they
acquire wings will be found in appendix V.
Once the locusts have begun to fly no measures
hitherto devised appears to be really effective. The use of airplanes to drop
dust powder has not been tried in the
Flame guns can be used to kill the insects as they
are resting at night but this measure is obviously of very limited value.
821. Carriage and
supplies for troops. The rules for the provisions of
carriage and supplies to troops on the march will be found in Financial
Commissioners Standing Order No. 58. IN carrying them out a good deal of care
and tact is required to ensure on the one hand that nothing taken without
payment and on the other that the reasonable requirements of regiments are met.
It is important that civil official should be the medium of communication
between officers commanding troops on the march and the country people, No
definite rule on the subject can be laid down; but Deputy Commissioners must
invariably accredit to the commanding officer an official of sufficient
standing powers and intelligence to accompany troops on the march or if the
number of the troops is small to be present at each encamping ground on their
arrival and departure. When the detachment or force on the march consist of
European troops, an English –speaking official should, if possible be sent.(
Punjab Government circular No. 12-1724, dated 31st July, 1883).
Grass cutters of regiments on the march should on arrival at encamping – grounds
be directed to best places for cutting grass. Private property must be
respected but there is usually abundance of grass on the sides of the roads and
other public places.
(Punjab Government Circular No. 22-657, dated 28th March 1870.)
822. Horse, mule and
cattle breeding. As all the chief agricultural operations are carried
on with the aid of bullock power, the supply of efficient cattle is a mater of
great importance. On the whole the live – stock in the Punjab are of better
quality than in the rest of
Certain districts which are regarded as suitable or
horse –breeding have bee n classed as “selected”, and in these the Army Remount
Department devotes special attention to the matter; they provide and replace a
number of stallions and pay for all costs of establishment, feed and keep. If
district broads maintain their own stallions in these districts, these are
supervised by the officers of the Army Remount Department.
In other districts, classed as “non-selected” the
horse and donkey stallions are supervised by the civil veterinary department;
the initial cost of acquisition is shared between Government and the district
boards. While the latter pay for maintenance.
In all districts, the breeding of horned cattle,
cattle disease, cattle fairs etc. are the care of Director , Veterinary
Services , and his Superintendents (see Agricultural circular No. 6)
At
Until recently the only organization for the supply
of suitable bulls for breeding purposes was the Government Cattle Farm at
Hissar (see Agricultural circular No.1) but the establishment of the grantee
farms in the Lower Bari Doab Canal colony and the introduction of the Dhanni
and Hariana breeding schemes in the districts including the homes of these
breeds have provided facilities for obtaining bulls of different breeds required
for various districts of the province.
An area has been set apart for a new cattle breeding
farm in the Nili Bar colony, which it is hoped, will be developed for the
supply of high class bulls.
823. Cattle and horse
fairs. Cattle and horse fairs have come to be regarded as a
very valuable means of stimulating interest in breeding as well as of
facilitating the sale of young stock. They are being used for the exhibition of
the better types of stock as well as improved agricultural implements and farm
produce. They tend to brighten the prevailing dullness of rural life by providing
an occasional district fete. (See Agricultural circular No.2) Several district
boards derive a substantial income from such fairs, and there is in consequence
a tendency to encourage them as a source of income.
824. Important epidemic
diseases among livestock. The principal epidemic diseases
of equines and brownies are enumerated below:---
Equines Brovines
Glanders Rinderpest
Surra Haemorrhagic
Septicacemia.
Lymphangitis epizoopica Anthrax
Dourine Black – quarter
Anthraz Foot and mouth
Disease.
Strangles
Gillar
Pleuro – Pneumonia contagious.
As a result of the propaganda work done by the Civil
Veterinary Department with regard to contagious diseases and their prevention,
live-stock owners readily admit the usefulness of preventive inoculations
against the most serious contagious diseases such as rinderpest and hemorrhage
septicemia.
The occurrence of epidemic disease amongst
live-stock in a village is reported by the lambardar to the patwari who sends
the information by postcard (supplied by the Civil Vernally Department for this
purpose) to the nearest veterinary assistant concerned. On receipt of
information from the patwari , the veterinary assistant adopts the following procedure.
If the report relates to an outbreak of equine
epidemic disease in any part of a selected district where such disease is dealt
with by the Army Remount Department, he will merely transfer the post-card to
he local veterinary assistant of that department for disposal in other cases he
himself will proceed at once to the scene of the outbreak for the purpose of
taking the necessary remedial and preventive measures. On arrival at the spot at
which the contagious disease had been reported to exist, the veterinary
assistant takes all requisite steps for the treatment of the disease and for
the prevention of its spread. If the situation is sufficiently serious to
require this, the veterinary assistant warns his immediate superior that his
presence is needed, and the latter will order to the spot such extra staff as
may be necessary when the nature of the disease has been ascertained, the veterinary
assistant or veterinary assistant surgeon fills in a printed from provided for
this purpose and submits it through the proper channel to the Superintendent of
the Circle for information. Similar information is also sent to the Deputy
Commissioner through the tahsildar on another form supplied by the department.
Whenever a serious outbreak of epidemic disease occurs in a district or
whenever there is a danger of the disease spreading into the adjacent districts
the Deputy Commissioner intimates the occurrence to the Commissioner of the
division and also to the Deputy Commissioners of the neighboring districts in
order that due precautions may be taken. When epidemic disease appears in a
camp or cantonment or amongst animals on a military line of communication, the
military authorities have instructions to inform the nearest civil authority
without delay. Such information is immediately communicated to the local
veterinary assistant or veterinary assistant surgeon and the Superintendent of
the Circle in which the infected area lies. Similarly when any epidemic disease
amongst animals appears at a horse or cattle fair or in the neighborhood of
containment or on a line of military communication the fact and the nature of
the disease is at once reported to the nearest military authority.
825. District
arboricultural. The importance of arboricultural to a province so
bare and arid as was the greater part of the
826. Cancelled.
827 Progress of
district arboricultural - The success of all
arboricultural operations depends so much on the taste and opportunities of
individual hand worked officers that progress has been intermittent and
sometimes slow; but no one who has toured the province can fail to appreciate
the vast amount of good work that has been done. Almost all the main roads run
through avenues and the great canals have everywhere well-wooded banks. Most
Government building are surrounded by trees and nearly all civil stations have
a pleasing appearance. The mileage of avenues along roads and canals must run
into many thousands.
828 . Tree Planting by
private persons. The rules regarding the encouragement of
tree-planting by private persons will be found in paragraphs 511-512 of the
Settlement Manual. Under those relating to plantations of trees the Deputy Commissioner
can at any time send up proposals to free the land from assessment.
Those relating to wayside groves (Financial
Commissioner’s circular No. 4 of 1882) and the making of tree-planting a
condition attached to the grant of inams must be considered as now obsolete. No
Compulsion can be exercised to secure the planting of private lands and men with
very small holdings cannot afford to plant trees except a few in the immediate
vicinity of a well. But they can be encouraged to preserve what trees they have
and men with more land can be helped by the distribution of seedlings and
especially where the local conditions are favorable , of fruit trees from Government
nurseries.
829 . Tree planting by
public agency. The expenditure on the planting of trees along roads
is met by the authority which is responsible for the maintenance of the roads ,
that is to say either by the Public works Department or the district boards or municipalities.
So far as the work is in charge of local bodies, obviously a great deal must
depend on the interest shown in it by the Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner.
A general superintendence is exercised by the Conservator of Forests, and his
advice should be asked on doubtful points. Much help may be derived from the
manual of arboricultural. IN this branch of their work commissioners correspond
direct with the local Government. It is important that there should be definite
scheme as regards tree planting and under existing orders working plans for
periods of from 3 to 5 years should be drawn up for each district:---
“The
working plan should be of a simple nature, and it may be best, as suggested by some
of the officers consulted, to concentrate operations on one or more selected roads
in each tahsil and to complete the planting of trees on such road or roads
before other roads in the tahsil are taken up. When the plan is sanctioned, the
Conservator of Forests should be informed through the Commissioner at the
beginning of each year of the operations it is proposed to put in hand during
the year, and a report should be submitted at the close of the year showing how
far these operations have been carried out. IN the case of roads already
planted with trees, it should also be stated what measures have been taken to
replace by the planting of young trees losses that may have been caused through
trees being blown down by storms or the removal of which has been otherwise
necessitated. As suggested by the Conservator (Letter No. 2790, dated 21st October, 1901.) where this was not already been done
a map on fairly large scale should be prepared and hung up in the Deputy
Commissioner’s office showing the actual state of the avenues etc. in the
district –a system of lines, full , broken , or dotted, showing whether a road
is fully planted whether there are gaps to be planted up or only a few trees
here and there.
Arrangements have been made at the Imperial Forest
Research Institute and College at
830. Orders of
Government of
“The question is one of the real importance because
of the welcome shade afforded thereby to way –fares, the substantial addition
to the beauties of the landscape, and mitigation of the discomforts of long
journeys by road. The practice of planting avenues of this description was in
earlier days as much a feature of British Administration as the construction of
the roads themselves; and some of the order avenue on the main roads of
“The Government of India are of opinion that the
authority responsible for the construction and upkeep of any road upon which
the provision of shade is required for the comfort the way – fares , should
consider it almost as much its duty to maintain along the road a line of shade
giving trees as it is to keep the roadway and bridges in proper order , and should
allot its available funds accordingly ,and more especially it should not manage
these avenues so as to derive from them a net profit, until all the needs of
the roads under its charge in matter of trees have been supplied.
The Government of India are far from discouraging
all reasonable measures devised in order to make an income from the avenues ,
which taken as a whole form a very valuable property. Indeed, they are of
opinion that in many cases a much larger income might legitimately be secured
by more judicious thinning and the felling and replacing of over-mature trees,
while steadily keeping in view the main object, which is to provide a continuos
row of healthy shade – giving trees, and more especially such trees as a give
shape, such as may be seen some of the fine old avenues left to us by the
far-sighted officers of an earlier generation. But they would suggest that each
authority having roads in its charge not yet provided with avenues, should be required
to keep a separate account of its income from and expenditure on arboricultural,
and , until the needful roadside avenues are completed , to spend on arboricultural
a sum at least equal to the income derived from the existing roadside trees.
Moreover, in considering the provision of funds generally or the purpose, local
Governments should look to the net expenditure. Rather than to the gross
expenditure. On this object, in the connection it is material to observe that
the liberal grant recently made to district boards from general revenues will
enable them to make better provision for all their duties, including
arboricultural.
“In most provinces the responsibility for roadside
trees devolves partly on the Public Works, Department and partly on local
bodies, In either case it is essential that effort should be concentrated and
properly directed and that the work of planting and tending the trees should
follow a prearranged system. As a general rule provision should first be made
for filling up gaps in existing avenue; next for establishing avenues which
have been planted, but in which the trees are not yet beyond the reach of
danger from drought or cattle; and lastly for planting new avenues. In taking
up new work, preference should be given to those roads which are most
frequented and where avenues can be established at the least cost and no more
should be attempted at one time than can be thoroughly established by means of
the money and supervision available. Care should be taken that the most
suitable kind of tree is chosen, preference being given to fruit trees, where
otherwise suitable , and to trees which will give shade, rather than to trees
which merely develop a rapid growth . The character of timber must also be
selected with special reference to the dryness or moisture of the soil. In some
cases it may be possible to provide means for the watering of trees by the
utilization of neighboring sources of supply. Local Government are requested
accordingly to see that where this had not already been arranged for a clear
working plan, similar to those prepared for Government forests, and accompanied
by the necessary maps is prepared for each district or public Works Division
concerned. The working plans should be passed by some responsible officer, such
as the Conservator of forests, or the Director of Land Records or Agriculture,
or in the case of Government roads the Superintending Engineer; and arrangement
should be prescribed for ensuring that they are not lost sight of by the local
bodies or officer concerned. The services of the local forest officer where available
might be utilized both in the preparation of working plants and in inspecting
and advising upon the actual operations. Many cases could be cited in which,
when gaps occurs in an old avenue trees of a different and often heterogeneous
description have been carelessly introduced in the vacant places, both interrupting
the uniformity and spoiling the future appearance of the avenue.
“The subordinate in direct control of arboricultural
work, whether under local bodies or under the Public works Department, should
as far as possible, receive a training of some kind in the technical branches
of the subject either at some Government garden or at a forest school or
plantation. The Government of India are aware that funds cannot always to be forthcoming
for the entertainment of full time officials of the forester, class for
arboricultural work and they also recognize that the success of roadside
planting depends far more on strict supervision than on technical details; but
they are at the same time convinced that even a few months training in the technical
part of the work will add to the efficiency of the present controlling staff, and
every facility will be given in forest and Agricultural institutions under the control
of the supreme Government to provide a suitable training for such men as may be
sent to them for instruction by local bodies or the Public Works Department. It
is suggested that such facilities should be arranged for in similar
institutions controlled by local Government.
“Good results have been obtained in some tracts by
entrusting certain supplementary work such as the planting of detached piece of
road or the filling up of blanks in avenues to village or private agency and
paying by results , and in others private enterprise has been stimulated by
rewards and by revenue – free grants. The encouragement of private tree-
planting by these and other means is, in the opinion of the Government of
India. Worthy of the special attention of the local Government, and they are
requested to consider whether anything further can be done in this direction
than is effected at present.
“It is essential that, as far as possible, the
sympathies of the neighboring population should be enlisted in the preservation
of the roadside trees. In the case of fruit trees, the produce of which is the
little value, the cultivators of the adjoining field should be allowed to take
the fruit on condition that they protect the trees from serious damage. And
when a fodder famine is prevalent, judicious arrangements should be made to
utilize the edible leaves of trees along roadsides as fodder for the cattle at reasonably
cheap rates. This does not mean that the trees themselves should be heedlessly
mutilated, or cut down but that a temporary sacrifice of sylvan amenity may be
gladly accepted in the interest of saving valuable animal life.
“There is one practice that calls for particular
deprecation. It is that of lopping or otherwise injuring a beautiful avenue
when preparations are being made for the reception of a high Government
official. In the anxiety to made proper arrangements for a party or procession
proceeding in carriages, it is not an uncommon thing for the district
authorities to cut away all the branches from the roadside trees within a certain
distance from the ground, serving thereby no purpose. Whatsoever and inflicting
damage which it may take years to repair. Officers of Government should maintain
a vigilant watch in order to prevent this unthinking and regrettable from of depredation.”
831. Minerals and
quarries. All mines of metal and coal all gold washings and
all earth oil belong to Government. As regards other minerals such as quarries
and canker beds, the land as contained in section 42 of the Punjab Land Revenue
Act., is explained in paragraph 191 of the Settlement Manual and is also dealt
with in paragraph 10 of the Financial Commissioners’ standing order No. 42. In
some estates these minor minerals are private property, elsewhere they belong
to Government, even where the surface is private property.
The extraction of metals, coal earth-oil , gold,
salt and generally speaking minerals not included in the definition of “minor
minerals” is governed by the Punjab Mining Manual . For minor minerals a
references should be made to the Punjab Minor minerals Rules published with the
Financial Commissioner’s notification No. 4345-R dated the 23rd December, 1963 (see Punjab Land Administration Act
Volume II). Royalty is imposed on minerals belonging to Government extracted by
private endeavor. Wherever the minerals are the property of Government the dues
of Government are taken in the shape of a royalty. Where on the other hand
minerals are the property of the landowners, the gains from them should be
included in the assets of the estate at settlement. Section 59 (1) (e) of the
Land revenue Act provides for a special assessment in cases where this has not
been done.
832. Treasure trove. Rules
as to treasures trove are contained in Punjab Government consolidated circular
No. 43.
833. (I)
Creation of department of fisheries in the Punjab ( I) In about 1868 the Government
of India deputed Dr. Day to enquire into the economic conditions of the fisheries
of India , as a result of frequent complaints from all the provinces regarding
the wholesale slaughter of fish. A second inquiry by Mr. H.S. Dunsford was
under taken in 1911 in the
(ii) As a result of Mr. Dunsford’s report Mr. G.C.L.
Howell, I.C.S. was sent to America to study fishery problems and on his return
was appointed Director of Fisheries in 1912 with a small staff, to collect data
in order to enable Government to decide whether Fisheries Department in the
Punjab was justified, and what steps should be taken to preserve the fish
supply. As a result of his efforts the Punjab Fisheries Act II of 1914 came
into being . On his vacating the post of Director in November, 1915 the post was
abolished but it was decided to retain the department under a Warden of
Fisheries which post was accordingly created.
(iii) Scope of rules. (ii)
The Punjab Fisheries rules and regulations are all drafted either under the
Indian Fisheries Act IV of 1897, or the Punjab Fisheries Act II of 1914. Act IV
of 1897 and the rules thereunder prohibit the use of poison, dynamite and other
explosive and obnoxious substances for killing fish, and close certain waters,
which are spawning grounds of important species of fish to fishing altogether
for specified periods. The rules framed under the Punjab Act, II of 1914, are
simple and merely prohibit the use of fixed engines and small – meshed nets and
the diversion of water for killing fish, in order to save the small fry and
immature fish. These rules are applied to waters which are not “Private Water”
these can also be applied to “Private Waters” with the consent of the owners
thereof.
These rules were first issued Kangra in 1916 and are
now in force in 25 districts of the province. They also regulate fishing by
prescribing the kinds of gears which are permitted, the seasons during which
they may be used and the fees payable for the various kinds of licenses.
Briefly, licenses are of two kinds- general and
angling. The former include nets and gears of all kinds as used by professional
fishermen and the later for rod and line only , and are for the most part taken
out by sports men.
There are different kinds of angling licenses and
the fees there of vary considerably for instance provincial licenses, canal
head works licenses, trout waters and district. They are obtainable from Deputy
Commissioners of districts from the Warden of Fisheries and in case of canal
heads works from the Executive Engineers, Irrigation’s Branch.
In 18 districts individual licenses are issued to
fishermen and in 7 districts in the western
In two districts size limit for mahsir and trout has
been prescribed below which no fish of these species can be killed. The
offering or exposing for sale or barter of mahsir and trout killed in
contravention of the rules has also be prohibited in these two districts .
The breaches of the rules are compoundable and
compensation not exceeding Rs. 10 for each breach is charged . Such breaches
are also punishable with a fine upto Rs. 100.
(iii). Rules under
Punjab Act applies to all rivers and streams in
(iv) Conditions. The
conditions on which the waters as licensed or leased are:---
(a) that the licensees are bound to fish in
accordance with the conditions laid down in the rules.
(b) That they are bound to report breaches of the
rules which come to their notice to the Deputy Commissioner, tahsildar, or any
officer the Fisheries Department;
(c) That if, according to the entries in the
wajib-ul –arz or record – of –rights, the owners of any village are entitled to
a share of the catch of fish from the waters within those villages, the
licensee shall be bound to give that share to the owners;
(d) In the districts in which fishing is leased, the
lessee is required to pay the lease money in advance or by three equal
installments; in the latter case he is required to furnish sufficient security
for the payment of the future installments ; short payments are recoverable as
arrears of land revenue.
If a licensee is convicted for a breach of the rules
his license can be cancelled.
834. Changes in limits
and numbers of tahsils, districts and divisions. An
increase in the number of divisions into which a province is divided can only
be made with the sanction of the Governor –General in Council. But the local
Government may add to the number of tahsils and districts and may vary their
limits and those of divisions. (Section 5 of Act XVII of 1887) Such Changes are
generally unpopular with the people, and can hardly fail to produce some
confusion in administration. The make the comparison of past and present
statistics difficult, and are apt to be embarrassing when the time for a general
re-assessment comes round. They should, therefore only be proposed when they are
essentially necessary for the proper management of the estate or tract concerned.(Government
of India , Home Department, Circular No. 194-202, dated 2nd June , 1870. For
reports to surveyor –General of changes of boundary, see Financial Commissioner
standing order No. 25.)
834-A. Boundary
disputes. Any boundary disputes with Indian States which arise
should be dealt with promptly . The procedure to be followed in such cases will
be found in Punjab Government consolidated circular No. 25. The adoption of
fixed boundaries between the Punjab and
In the case of land boundaries the operations of the
Survey of India Department and successive settlement operation have left little
room for doubt as to the actual border.
No difficulties are likely to arise and any that do
arise should be easily settled, if the orders requiring Deputy Commissioner
whose districts march with Indian States to inspect the boundary or cause it to
be inspected every year are carried out. (Government of
The Darbar should be informed when the district
officer proposes to make his inspection and asked to depute a representative of
the State to meet him. The State of the boundary pillars should be noted and
arrangements made to carry out any necessary repairs.
835. Skeleton maps. Special
¼ district maps showing villages, tahsils and district boundaries , railways
main rivers , canals roads and other prominent features as well as a few of the
more important places , are issued by the Director of Land Records for use in illustrating
new proposals and reports , and can also be conveniently bound into district statistical
atlases , the necessary additions being made under the Deputy Commissioner’s orders.
Subsidiary to the above a limited number of ¼ maps
are printed with the villages numbered a key sheet being added with
alphabetical lists of villages in English and vernacular. These maps are
prepared in the Surveyor –General’s Office, and are reductions of the published
survey sheets.
835. Authenticated to CM :1KM
tehsil maps , 1 CM’ 2 ½ KM district maps and M 10 KM state Map drawn on the
basis of survey of India’s Topographical map sleets showing village, sub
–Tahsil, Tahsil and district Boundaries, railways , roads, rivers, canals and
other prominent features as well as important places , are issued by the Director
of Land Records to cater the needs of the various Government Departments for planning
purposes.
The necessary additions and alterations made from
time to tome are incorporated in these maps of the Director of Land Record,
836. Gazetteers.
The revision of the gazetteer is under taken at each settlement by the settlement
officer. ( See paragraph 552 of the Settlement Manual.) But to assist him in his
task and at the same time to make the gazetteer more useful, it should be kept
up to date in the interval between settlements. Deputy Commissioners have
therefore been ordered to have a copy of the district gazetteer interleaved
with good writing paper and to maintain a gazetteer note-book.
In the first they should enter brief notes
correcting any statements in text which seem to them to have always been or to
have become erroneous or which need to supplemented. For instance , after a new
census it is well to correct all figures relating to population . The notes
made in interleaved copy of the gazetteer should be very brief.
The gazetteer note book should contain longer
entries on any matter which the Deputy Commissioner thinks will be of use in
the preparation of the new edition. Each entry should be marked in bold figures
with the serial number of the gazetteer heading under which it will fall No. two
entries should be appear on a single page. Only one side of the paper should be
written on, so that the settlement officer may able to remove the leaves and
made use of the entries without recopying them. When the information is available
in convenient form in the district or other records a full reference to the
papers in questions, with a brief indications of the nature of the material
which they contain will suffice.
Both at the time of the redrafting of a new edition
and during the interval between the editions , the officers who are collecting
information should try to obtain help from residents of the district, Indian
and European official and non-official. For example , it may be possible in
this way to get better notes on the botany or geology of a district, its
manufactures its archaeological remains , or its folklore than the Deputy Commissioner
or the Settlement Officer may have either the time of the special knowledge to
compile. If vernacular papers are to be made use of they should be composed in
a simple style , and the hand-writing should be neat and clear.
The latest instructions as the revisions of district
gazetteers are contained in Government of India, Home Department , letter No.
3375, dated 1st November
1902.
The chief difficulty which stands in the way of
periodical revision of the existing gazetteers, and the reason which has caused
so large a portion of their contents to become obsolete is that they contain a
mixture of permanent matter such as that relating to the history , physical
characteristics, religion, ethnography etc. of the district ; of matter which
changes gradually but as a rule slowly such as that dealing with the agricultural
and economic conditions; and of ephemeral matter mainly statistical, which soon
becomes out of date. For this reason when a new District Gazetteer is issued it
should consist of two volumes. A and B Compiled on the following lines:---
(1) In the first edition all descriptive matter
should go into the A volume; but that volume should contain only such general
figures (incorporated in the latter press) as are necessary to give point to
remarks in the text. The arrangement of subjects in this volume should follow
the order prescribed for the provincial articles in the Imperial Gazetteer. All
detailed statistics should be relegated to the B volume, which would at first
consist only of these and of such notes as may be necessary to elucidate them.
(2) On the occasion of the nest revision of
statistics in the B volume should be recompiled and this volume should be
expanded by adding to it any matter that might be required to correct or
supplement the A volume. Thus if there had been a famine since A was published
, if new railway had been opened and so forth information on these points would
appear in B as supplementary to the appropriate chapters in A.
(3) This process would go on till the time had come
for revising the A volume. Then all the supplementary text matter should be
incorporated in the new a Volume and B would revert to its original form as a
statistical appendix with explanatory Notes.
(4) A new edition of the B volume should be brought
out after each census. The revision of the A volumes must be left to the
discretion of the local Governments.
The occurrence of a new settlement will ordinarily
be the best time for such revision; but it may well happen that plenty of
copies of the original A volume are still available and that the settlement and
lapse of time have not brought any important change in the conditions of the
district. In that case the revision of A should stand over till the stock of it
no longer suffices for the demand; but a brief account of the settlement
operations and of the changes which they have produced or disclosed in the
state of affairs described in the A volume, should be prepared by the
Settlement Officer before he is relieved of his duties, for inclusion in the
next decennial V volume.
(5) The statistical part or the B volume should be
issued with interleaved blank pages so that those who use it can have the
figures of later years written in. The tables included in the B volume should
be drawn up on uniform lines and should contain the main administrative
statistics of the districts and its tahsils of other sub-divisions. Those
prescribed enclosure D to my circular letter of 24th September , 1902
No. 2948 –60 , seem generally suitable for adoption , but local Governments
will doubtless vary or add to these as local circumstances demand. It is
thought that including the explanatory notes they should not ordinarily exceed
a maximum limit of 50 pages.
(6) Similarly a limit of size for A volumes might be
fixed at about 300 pages within which compass it should be possible to comprise
all really useful information. Some of the present provincial gazetteers err in
the direction of excessive size. The history chapters for example could often
be materially condensed by assuming a general knowledge of Indian history on
the part of the reader and dealing only with events which occurred in or were
connected with the district. Where adjoining districts resemble each other in
respect of climate, physical features , fiber and fauna history, distribution
of castes, and economic conditions much labor might be saved by writing a
single account of these and reproducing it. With the necessary local
adaptations, in each district volume. It seems desirable that in future
editions the several districts should be dealt with in separate volumes.
(7) The Government of
837. Annual Reports: The
Crop and Season Report has already been noticed in Paragraph 817. The other
yearly reports which Deputy Commissioners have to prepare in connection with
the Subjects dealt with this manual are:---
Land Revenue Administration Report. (See parts I ,
II and IV of Financial Commissioner Standing Order No. 53.)
Report on Land Records
Report on estates under the Court of Wards (See part
F of Standing Order No. 53)
838. Escheats. The
principles governing the escheat to the State of property left by hairless
properties are set forth in Punjab Government Consolidated Circular No. 9 and in
the judgement of the Financial Commissioner in Wazira and other Versus Mangal
and Others, No. 2
(1) The right of the Crown to claim escheat rests
not on Customary or Hindu Law, though Hindu Law recognizes escheats , but on
grounds of general of universal law.
(2) The right can only arise in the absence of
relations entitled by law or custom to inherit.
(3) The right of the proprietary body as a whole to
succeed in case in which it exists is primarily based on real or assumed
relationship to the holder of the land or to the member of the proprietor body
from whom his title was derived.
(4) (4) Such a right should be assumed in the case
of homogeneous estates or subdivision of estates where the owners are all or
nearly all of the same tribe as the last holder of the land or the member of
the proprietary body from whom he derived his title.
(5) It should not be assumed in the case of
heterogeneous estates or sub divisions of estates held by persons of different
tribes or different got of the same tribe.
The presumption in such cases is that the State has
right to escheat.
(6) When the
property in the land was originally derived by gift from a member of the tribe
of the original proprietary body the right of that body should be recognized on
failure of the donors and donee’s lines.
(7) In any case in which the Wajib-ul-arz declares
the right of the proprietary body to succeed to the land of hairless owners
Government should set up no claim.
It is further been held by the Financial
Commissioner that escheat should not be claimed for Government when there is a
daughter , daughter’s son, sister, or sister’s son.
838-A. Succession
–A.I.R. 1940 The attention of all revenue officers is drawn to
the judgement of the Lahore high Court reported as A.I.R. 1940 Lahore 416 which
lays down that in the absence of all agnates of a childless proprietor , a
cognate however, distantly , related to him is entitled to succeed to his
property in preference to a stranger.
839. Forfeiture of
Property. The attention of all officers is drawn to the
judgement of the Chief Court reported as Punjab Record 8 of 1908 , the summary
of which is as follows:---
“Held by a majority of the Full Bench (Johnstone.
J./ dissenting) that where ancestral immovable property held by a person
subject to Punjab Customary Law attached and sold by order of criminal Court
under section 88 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the sale conveys the lift
interest of that person only and does not extinguish the right of inheritance
after his death of his male lineal descendants or of collateral’s descended
from the original holder of the property.”
Cases have come to the Financial Commissioner’s
notice in which land so sold has been purchased in the bona fide belief that
full proprietary rights were being conveyed. Care should be taken to make it
clear in all announcements of such sales, and at the time of sale that a life
interest only is being sold.
APPENDIX I
Section 59 of the Land Revenue Act recites the cases
in which special assessment may be made by Revenue Officer whose procedure is
to regulated by the provisions of the Act relating to general land Revenue
assessment subject to such modifications as the Financial Commissioner may
introduce by executive instructions. The following statement gives references
to the executive instructions issued under the various clauses of the section:---
Cause (a) of Section 59(1) – Paragraph 179-A and
181-183 of the Settlement Manual paragraphs 197-198 of the Land Administration
Manual and Paragraph 19 of Financial Commissioners Standing Order No. 7.
Clause (b) of Section 59 (1) Paragraph 10 of
Appendix III and paragraph 5 at page 376 in appendix IV to the Land
Administration Manual and paragraph 89 of Financial Commissioner’s Standing
Order No. 28.
Clause (c) of Section 59 (1) – Paragraphs 529 –536
of the Land Administration Manual and paragraph 521 of Settlement Manual.
Clause (d) of section 59(1 ) paragraph 438-446 and
579-583 of Land Administration Manual paragraphs 445 and 497 of the Settlement
Manual and Financial Commissioner Standing Order No. 26.
Clause (e) of section 59(1) paragraphs 191-192 and
458-460 of the Settlement Manual, paragraphs 767-769 and 831-833 of Land
Administration Manual and Financial Commissioners Standing Order No. 42 –
especially paragraph 1.
APPENDIX II
1. Instructions for
guidance of forest settlement officers. The following
instructions were issued in 1887 by the Financial Commissioner, with the
sanction of the Lieutenant – Governor, for the guidance of Forest settlement
Officers in proceedings under Chapter II of the Indian Forests Act, 1878 (now
Act XVI of 1927).
Preliminary proposals
2. Preliminary reports
by Collector. Proposals to constitute reserved forests (whether initiated
by local officers or framed in consequence of instructions received from superior
authority) should be submitted by Collectors to Commissioners and should be accompanied
by :-
(i) a map showing the land which it is proposed to
treat in this manner and also the lands adjacent thereto;
(ii) a draft notifications under section 4 of the
Act;
(iii) a report stating the rights in the land so far
as known , the manner in which the land has hitherto been managed and the
reasons for which it is desired to convert it into a reserved forest with
suggestions for the appointment of a Forest Settlement Officer and Other agency
, if nay required for his assistance.
3. Collector should
obtain assistance from
4. Scope of Report. It
is of particular importance that this report , which is the first step in
forest reservation proceedings , should state clearly the purposes for which
the reservation is proposed e.g., for the better supply of the adjacent
population with timber, fuel, grass or other forests produce; to meet the
demands of railways, cities or cantonments ; to protect by forest growth
hillsides and prevent destructive drainage; to grow or protect a high class of
timber. The manner in which the reservations is likely to affect adjacent
estates or population should be noticed. To this end the map accompanying
should show not only the lands which it is proposed to reserve, but also the
lands adjacent thereto, distinguishing inhabited sites, cultivation and waste.
IT is ordinarily difficult for an agricultural or pastoral population to modify
their habits in conformity with novel demands of regulated forest management
and it is for the reporting officer to show either that the proposed
reservation will not affect the conveniences of the adjacent population , or
that sufficient necessity exists for restricting their convenience.
5. Disposal of report. The
Commissioner on receipt of the Collector’s report will forward it to the Chief
Conservator of
6. Map When
a proposal to constitute a reserved forest has been notified, and the forest settlement
officer has entered upon his duties and has issued the proclamation required by
section 6, his most immediate duty is to ascertain whether he has at his
command a sufficiently accurate map of the land to be reserved, and if he has
not, then to provide one, for which purposes section 8 of the Act furnishes him
with the necessary authority.
Except for special reasons, the map should not be on
a smaller scale than four inches to the mile. Its outer boundaries and the
boundaries of all interior holdings should be carefully attested and be
compared with the existing records available in the district record office.
7. Investigation of
claims. Section 7 of the Act. In the meantime all claims
preferred and statements of rights of which the existence is ascertained(
whether from previous records or from local enquiry, should be put up in a file
and be dealt with in the manner provided by the Act, claims should be clearly
set out, either by petition or by deposition, or in both ways. If rights are
believed to exist and the right holders do not appear, these persons should be
summoned and be examined with reference to their rights. Documents relied on
should befitted in original , or if copies are filed , they should be admitted
only after comparison with the originals . Where previous records are referred
to, the original records should be inspected and certified extracts should be
filed. If claims or rights are disputed, suitable issued should be framed,
evidence heard and findings be recorded thereon. In short, the Forest
Settlement Officer should remember that he is armed with the power of a
8. Four Classes of
Claims. In respect of the treatment of claims, attention
is directed to the following instructions:---
Chapter II of the Forest Act divides the claims with
which a forest settlement officer has to deal into four classes, and provides a
different method of treatment for each class. The four classes :-
(i) claims to public or private ways or water
–courses;
(ii) claims to rights of pasture or to forest
produce (section 12);
(iii) claims to other rights (section 11);
(iv) claims relating to the practice of shifting
cultivation (section 10).
9. Public and private
ways and water courses. The forest settlement officer
must be careful to record all public and private ways and water –courses
existing at the time his enquires, and in this class of claims must be included
right to use the water of well, springs and streams situate inside the
boundaries of the proposed reserve, for if the right to use such water exists .
It cannot be enjoyed unless a proper way to approach to the water is allowed.
But though the forest settlement officer is required to record all rights of
this class he has no authority to expropriate or commute them. His duty is
limited to the drawing up of a clear record of them. Their feature regulation
is a matter for the executive Government under section 25.
10. Rights of pasture
or to forest produce. The treatment of the second
class of claims viz. Claims to rights of pasture or to forest produce is the
most difficult part of the forest settlement officer’s duty. If after the
enquiry to which reference has been made in paragraphs , above he rejects a
claim in whole or in part, he should be careful that this order contains all
the particulars required by section 13. If he admits a claim, he should proceed
to record with as much completeness as is possible all the particulars required
by section 14.
Having made this record, it remains for the forest settlement
officer to secure by one of the three methods laid down in section 15 of the
Act the continued exercise of the rights so admitted. He may either transfer
the right to another forest tract under the condition stated in section 15(a) ,
or under the condition stated in section 15(b); he may exclude from the forest
an area sufficient for the exercise of the rights established. Both of these
methods possess obvious advantages, especially in the eyes of the right
holders, but it lies with the forest settlement officer to take care that in
resorting o them he does not burden any land with rights so extensive as to
insure its ultimate deterioration. IT is easy by a too ready resort to
expedients of this nature to purchase the proper forest preservation of one
forest area at the cost of the ultimate destruction of another forest area. The
forest settlement officer is under no necessity to sanction wasteful
adjustments of this nature. Under section 15(c) he can record an order
appointing the seasons at which, and the portions of forest in which , the
rights shall be exercised and he can also propose in his final report any rules
which , without restricting the rights admitted, place appropriate safeguard on
their excise. In making arrangements of this nature, it is useful to bear in
mind the necessity for providing that all areas burdened with rights shall be closed
in rotations for reproduction. For instance, where a right of grazing can be sufficiently
provided for in a hundred acres. It is expedient if possible to record the
right in larger in area, subject to adequate conditions for securing the
closing of the whole in rotation.
All this is to be done to the best of the forest
settlement officer’s ability and with due regard to the successful maintenance
of the forest under reservation Primarily the Government is not interested in
extinguishing rights of pasture or to forest produce. But in the last resort
and where really necessary in the interests entrusted to this charge, the forest
settlement officer has authority under section 16 of the Act to expropriate
these rights.
11. Other rights In
respect of the third class of claims the legislature leaves no option to the
forest settlement officer. He must either exclude from the forest the land on
which these rights are claimed or he must extinguish the rights. IN this
connection it should be remembered that provided a given area of land is
expressly excluded from the reserve being clearly demarcated off, the mere fact
that the reserved forest surrounds such land does not necessitate expropriation
of the latter. No doubt such areas (commonly known as chak khariji) often
create difficulties in forest management, and where this is the case the
settlement officer will act rightly in expropriating them. But in each case the
question is for his decision.
12. Expropriations .In
carrying out expropriations care should be taken to comply with the rules
issued by Government for the guidance of Collectors in their proceedings under the
Land Acquisition Act, I of 1894. For all proposed expropriations village
statements should be prepared and filed as required by paragraph 36 of Standing
order No. 28 and the award should be entered in form A given in paragraph 73 of
the Standing order. If reductions in the revenue roll are necessitated by these
expropriations, the forest settlement officer should prepare and forward to the
Collector the statement prescribed by paragraph 79 of the Standing order.
13. Certain Orders to
be communicated to forest officer. Under section 17 of the Indian
Forest Act., an appeal can be lodged by a forest officer against any order
passed by a forest settlement officer under sections 11,12,15 or 16. This
appeal must be presented within three months after the date of the order. The
forest settlement officer after passing an order under any of these sections
should at once send a copy to the local forest officer for communication to the
Chief Conservator of Forests.
14. Making of
boundaries. As the settlement of the reserved forest proceeds,
if its boundaries have not already been permanently marked out, it is the duty
of the district forest officer to set up permanently marked out, it is the duty
of the district forest officer to set up permanent pillars and to test the
agreement of these pillars with the final record of the forest settlement
officer.
Final record and
report.
15. Form of final
report. This final record will be prepared by the forest
settlement officer as soon as the decision of claims has progressed
sufficiently. It should comprise for each forest separately demarcated or where
the forest tract is of great size, for each convenient section thereof (I) map
(ii) proceeding and (iii) final notifications. Instructions as to the form and
contents of these documents are appended and no other paper should be added to
the file excepting only orders subsequently issued by the local Government under
section 22 of the Act.
16. Form and scope of
final report. All claims having been disposed of and the above record
having been complete. It will then only remain for the forest settlement
officer to move the local Government to issue the notification contemplated by
section 19. It is necessary that the local Government should before taking this
step be informed of the nature .of the proceeding to which its final sanction
is desired. To this end the forest settlement officer should draw up a brief
report standing in addition to the information required by clauses (a) , (b)
and (c) of section 20 of the Act, the general result of his proceeding . This
report should be written by way of continuation of the preliminary report
summated under paragraph 2, and need not repeat matters already sufficiently explained
therein. No exact form is prescribed for the report. What is required is a
brief summary of so much of the proceedings as has not already been reported,
and of such a nature as to satisfy the local Government that these proceedings
can appropriately be confirmed . It should notice specially the matters
referred to in paragraphs 11 and 12 above, and also the extent to which
expropriations (by agreement or by award) have been resorted to and the cost
and other results of such expropriations. It should be accompanies by a draft
notification for issue under section 20 of the Act, by a map showing the limits
of the forest as finally settled on the scale and with the other details
required by paragraphs 2, 4 and 6 above and also an English abstract of the
information given under heads (v) and (vi) of the proceedings prescribed by
paragraphs 1 and 3 of the annexture.
This abstract should be drawn up with some care for
its is intended to serve as a convenient guide to the officers by whom the
forest will be managed. If expropriations have been made an abstract statement
in the form prescribed by paragraph 79 of Financial Commissioner’s Standing
Order No. 28 should also be added. See Cir. No. 17-F. of 18th July, 1885, from
Government of India Home Department.
17. Boundaries of
reserves on rivers, Government of India No. 746 of 16th July,
1893. In case of all forest reserves which are situated on
the banks of a river, the exact position of which owing to allusion and
dilution changes, is not constant, the boundaries of the forest should be fixed
by maps giving bearings from boundary pillars on the firm land. The boundaries
can be altered from time to time under the Act whenever a change of sufficient
importance may take place. It would be only after the lapse of some years that
newly-formed land would become of sufficient importance may take place. It
would be only after the lapse of some years that newly-formed land would become
of sufficient importance from a forest point of view to make it worthwhile to
take it into a forest. In draft notifications under section 20 of the Act all
boundaries which are liable to river action should in future be described in
the manner here indicated. (This paragraph was added in 1893)
18. Disposal of Report.
The report should be addressed to the Commissioner of the division
, but it should be forwarded, unless the Collector is himself the forest
settlement officer, through the Collector, who is required to add to it both
his own opinion and that of the district forest officer. The Commissioner
before forwarding the report to the Financial Commissioner, will proceed as
directed in paragraph 5.
19. Disposal of final
record - The Final record (paragraph 15) should not be
forwarded to the commissioner, but should be deposited in the district record
office at the same time as the final report is submitted. These records will be
permanently preserved.
20. Preservation of
flies. The files of claims (paragraph 7) will also be
deposited in the district record office, and part A of these files should also
preserved permanently.
Special Proposals
Forest Settlement
Officer should consider effect of reservation on usage’s and submit special
proposals, if necessary. The preceding instructions
relate to the necessary procedure prescribed under Chapter II of the Indian
forest Act when it is proposed or resolved to constitute a reserved forest. In
carrying out this procedure, a forest settlement officer must carefully limit
himself to ascertaining setting and recording, settling and recording rights
actually existing and providing for their exercise and enjoyment in the manner
prescribed in the Act. But much more than this is required to enable the local
Government to judge whether after the events mentioned in section 20 of the Act
have occurred, it is. Or is not, expedient to issue a notification under that
section declaring the area to be a reserved forest. The result of the procedure
of the Forest Act, when rights have been recorded and maintained, is to impose
great restrictions on their exercise and materially to alter the previous
usage’s of the people. To such changes, as already observed, the people are
slow to accommodate themselves, and it is therefore incumbent on the Government
to satisfy itself as to the probable effect which the reservation of the area
and its strict management as a reserve will have upon the requirements of the
neighborhood and habits of the people. This can best be ascertained by the
forest settlement officer in the course of his inquiries for the settlement of
rights. If not ascertained and reported on by him, it would have to be
separately Enquirer onto and reported on, by the Collector or other revenue
officer, which would only cause delay and additional expense. In addition
therefore to having his record of rights in strict accordance with the Act the
forest settlement officer should in a separate proceedings, record his opinion
on the above points. If , on regarding his work from this point of view , he is
opinion that the Government ought to make certain concessions beyond what has
been awarded under the strict letter of the law, it is his duty to frame recommendations
accordingly and to submit them, either in a special report or as an appendix to
his final report required by paragraph 16.
21. Two classes of
recommendation usually made. The recommendation would
usually deal with two classes of cases, viz, those arising out of (1) the use
of forest produce permitted as a matter of ordinary convince in the absence of
any strict management but not supported by any clear right established by
adverse enjoyment ; and 92) the prospective wants of village communities or of
individuals whether members of village communities or not.
22. Use of forest
produce. A regard the first class, it is desirable to avoid
on the one hand, embarrassment to Government by hastily granting unduly liberal
concessions which must ultimately be withdrawn in the interest of should forest
management; and on the other hand serious popular discontent by the harsh ,
illiberal or undue restrictions of
usage’s which contribute to the comfort and
convenience of the adjacent population. The aim should usually be some
executive arrangement giving no ground for any substantial grievance, and so
carefully guarded as not to infringe the recognized principles of forest management
, or to suggest claims that cannot legally be sustained.
23. Prospective want of
neighborhood. The cases of the second class are amongst the most
difficult of any which occur in the course of a forest settlement. While it has
been determined that the Forest Act does not justify the forest settlement
officer, and possible more numerous generation . It is nevertheless pointed out
that he might have to take into account prospective wants in particular cases,
as when a claimant had established a right of such a nature that it would
probably in course of time entitle him to large benefits from a forest than he
was entitled to at the time of settlement. It is to be expected that in practice
many intermediate cases will arise in which the forest settlement officer will rightly
entertain doubts as to what should be done under the Forest Act, and what by order
of government outside the Act and by way of executive arrangement. It will be
the safest plan to refer, by an intermediate report, for the special orders of
Government (1) such doubtful cases (2) any cases in which the results of a
strict adherence to the procedure of the Forest Act would apparently conflict
with some local popular custom, and (3) any cases in which claims are advanced
or arrangements seem advisable not only for the present, but the prospective
population of any village or tract.
24. Reasonable requirements
of people and desirability of executive orders to be considered. On
receipt from a forest settlement officer of any intermediate or final report of
the nature required by these instructions , the Collector (when not himself the forest settlement officer) and the
Commissioner of the division will pay special attention to the questions how
far the awards under the Act adequately provide for the reasonable requirements
of the people , and what , if any executive arrangements , beyond the scope of
those awards , it would be expedient or equitable to make in order to meet
those requirements.
25. Orders on special
proposals to noticed in record and report. The orders passed
by Government of special proposals submitted under paragraphs 21 to 25 should
be briefly stated in the final – record ( See annexure), and, if passed before
submission of the final report, should be recapitulated therein.
26. Procedure when
reservation appears undesirable. If in any case a forest settlement
officer in the course of his Enquires ascertains that difficulties and
objections exist, which render the completion of the reservation probably
undesirable, he should stray proceedings and submit a report through the
Collector. This report will be dealt with by the Commissioner in the same
manner as directed in paragraph 5 for the original report.
27. Completion of
records. The attention of Collectors is directed to 3 (vii)
and 4 of the appended instructions concerning the record. The duty of
Completing the record by the addition of
a copy of the final notification an instructions of the nature contemplated in paragraph
21 to 27 have been issued by Government, which the forest settlement officer has
not already incorporated into head (vii) of the proceeding it is duty of the
Collector to add them.
ANNEXURE
Instructions as to the form and contents of final
records prepared by
The final record shall consist of map, a proceeding
and a copy of the final notification issued under section 19 of the Act.
2. The map should not
usually be on a smaller scale than 4 inches to the mile.
It shall show distinctly boundary pillars, permanent survey mark sand physical
features so far as may be convenient. The direct distance between each pair of
boundary pillars shall wherever possible, be chained and recorded on the map.
The map shall also distinguish by interior boundary lines and survey numbers.
(i) Areas surrounded by the forests, but excluded
from them (chak khariji);
(ii) Areas from which rights have been expropriated
or in which they have been maintained, or in which claims have been rejected in
their entirely;
(iii) Public and private ways, water-courses,
springs, and watering –places.
3. The proceedings shall contain the following
information.
(i) It shall quote the number and date of the
notification issued under section 4 of the Act, and give the contents of the
notification, and the name of the forest settlement officer appointed
thereunder.
(ii) It shall give a list of all areas (Chaks
khariji) surrounded by the forest boundaries but excluded from the forest,
thus:---
Number of map A Village
to which it appertains
(iii) It shall give an abbreviated list of all
claims rejected in entirely under sections 11 and 12 of the Forest Act, thus:---
Area in which claimed
Description of
Right claimed
Number on map Area By whom
Claimed
(name with
description)
Shortabstract
of order
rejecting the
claim
(iii) Also a list of all rights expropriated,
whether expropriated under section 11 or
section 16, thus :-
Area in which
claimed
Description of
right claimed
Number of map Area Persons
expropriated(name
with description)
Short
abstract of
award
(iv) It shall describe the rights to pasturage and
rights to forest produce admitted by the forest settlement officer under
section 12 of the Act , and the manner in which he has, under sections 14 and
15 directed that those rights shall be hereafter exercised, recording them in a
schedule in the following form:---
Area in which
awarded
Names of
description of
personsto whom
rights have been
awarded
Number of
map
Area Nature of rights,
with full detail
of all matters
covered by
section 13 of the
Act
Orders issued
under section 14
of the Act for
the future
exercise of
these rights
(v) (vi) It shall describe rights of way; public or
private , and existing watercourses, also springs and watering places to which
any persons have access, arranging them in the schedule thus:---
Area in which exercised Nature of rights Number of
map By whom, or how used And shall declare that these rights will in future be
subject to regulation as provided in section 25 of the Forest Act.
(vi) (vii) A brief resume shall be given of any
special report submitted to Government under paragraphs 21 to 25 of this
appendix and of the orders passed thereon . This resume shall be in sufficient
detail to guide both revenue and forest officials and also parties interested
in these reports. Copies off the reports themselves should not be given to
applicant; and any notice of opinions expressed by the reporting officers, but
not approved by Government, should be excluded.
4. 4. When the final notification issues a copy and
translation thereof, shall be added to the record. This copy shall be endorsed
with a report stating the date on which, and the villages in which translation
has been published ,as required by section 21 of the Act.
5. 5. The records shall be drawn up in the
vernacular language used in land revenue proceedings, and the survey shall be
made on the land measure used in the land revenue records of the district in
which the forest is situate.
NOTE :- In the above instructions the words names,
with description mean name, father’s name caste or tribe and residence. If the
entry is in favour of a whole village, it may be so stated name of individuals
being omitted.
Appendix
III
(see
paragraphs 783 and 784)
(1) RULES FOR THE LEASE OF
WASTE LANDS IN THE
(Sanctioned by Government of India letter No. 132-2,
dated 20th April
1897.)
1. 1. Areas in which
leases may not be granted. Except, with the previous
sanction of the local Government leases of waste lands owned by Government may
not be granted in any tract of country included in any colonization scheme
established for lands commanded by a Government canal or in any large tract of
country for which there is a prospect of perennial canals being contracted by
Government.
B – GENERAL RULES IN
RESPECT OF SANCTION.
2. Lists of Government
waste lands to be maintained. Lists of Government waste lands
in each district shall be maintained by the Collector. The local Government
will determine from time to tome which of these lands shall be deemed available
for leasing and which of these again should be leased with a condition for
acquiring occupancy rights , and which a condition for acquiring proprietary
rights.
Where lists such as are contemplated in this rule,
are not already in existence in any district. The financial Commissioner has
directed that a register in English in the form below should be opened. Land
acquired for public purposes, nazul lands and encamping grounds will be
executed from this register.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Name of Annual Income
estate
Whether
consisting of
whole or part
or estate.
Area Whether
irrigable
from a
canal or not.
Year income
Source
of
income
remarks
Note :- Column 1. Observe that all demarcated rakhs
are estates by Land Revenue Rule 31.
Column 5 :- This column will contain a continuos
record of income.
Column 8. Note the purpose for which the land is
useful. If the land is sold or granted away, note this.
8. 8. Powers of
sanction - Leases of waste land owned by Government not
irrigable by a canal may be granted up to a limit of 75 acres by the
Commissioner and 150 acres whether irrigable from a canal or not , by the
Financial Commissioner, for a maximum period of 20 years in each case, provided
the total area held on lease by single lessees does not exceed 75 and 150
acres, respectively . Proposals for the leasing of lands commanded by a
Government canal should be accompanied by a report by an officer of the
Irrigation Department regarding the extent to which water will be available. A
lease of a larger area than 150 acres, or a lease which (if sanctioned would
make the total area held on lease by a single lessee more than 150 acres.
required the sanction of the local Government , and should only be recommended
in special cases.
C- Procedure in dealing
with applications for leases.
4. General procedure in
cases of individual applications for leases. If an applicant
is made to the Collector for the lease of any waste lands owned by Government,
the Collector shall subject in every case to the provisions of rules 1-3, deal
with the application in accordance with the instructions relating to the
cultivation of such waste lands from time to time received by him from the
Financial Commissioner.
5. Rejection of
application. The Collector may reject the application at any
stage of the proceedings if, with reference to those instructions or for other
reasons, objections exist in his opinion to granting a lease of the land. If
the Collector rejects an application, he shall record his reasons in writing.
6. 6. Procedure if
application is not rejected (I) If the collector entertains
the application he shall, when necessary require the applicant to deposit the
cost of demarcating surveying and mapping the land and cause the land to be
demarcated, surveyed and mapped. He shall , at the same time publish a
proclamation stating that the land has been applied for on lease, and that all
claims and objection should be preferred within three months.
(ii) The proclamation shall be published in the
vicinity of the land applied for on lease and after it has been so published, a
copy shall also be posted at the Collector’s office and at the office of the
tahsil in which the land is situate.
7. 7. Report by Collector for
grant of lease. If no claims or objections are preferred within
three months of the posting of the proclamation at the Collector’s office, or
in the event of any claim or objection being preferred, then after the
proceedings contemplated by Act XXIII of 1863 have been concluded, the
collector may prepare a report giving particulars of the land which it is
proposed to lease and the terms on which he proposes that it shall be leased
and may submit the same for the orders of the authority who under these rules,
is empowered to sanction the lease. The report shall be drawn up, as far as may
be in the form annexed to these rules.
8. 8. Consideration in
defining area to be leased. In determining the area
proposed to be leased, the Collector shall see that it forms a compact block so
as not the detract from the value of the surrounding land. And, in case the
area be bounded on one side by a canal , river or public road, the block shall
ordinarily be so formed that the length of canal river or road frontage shall
not exceed one-half of the depth of the block.
9. 9. Term of lease. IN
the absence of special orders fixing the term for any case or class or cases ,
the term of lease applied for under rule 4 shall be fixed with reference to the
purpose to which the land is to be applied, the time and capital required to
bring it under cultivation and other like considerations, but shall not exceed
twenty years, except with the sanction of the revenue authority who immediately
controls the officers sanctioning the lease.
10. 10. (1) Assessment of land
revenue. In the absence of special instructions issued by the
Financial Commissioner with the sanction of the local Government for lands of
the class to which the area applied for belongs, in fixing the charges payable
in the case of a lease applied for under rule 4, the land revenue shall be
assessed with due regard(a) to the revenue rates assessed on similar land at
the last settlement of the district and (b) the present renting value for
cultivation and grazing of similar land in adjacent estates. Care should ,
however, be taken that the land revenue imposed on such land does not raise the
total assessment of the circle in which it is situated to more than one-fourth
of the net assets of the circle. If the land forms part of an estate and is not
excluded from the provisions of section 51(3) by section 51(4) of Punjab Land
Revenue Act, 1887, this object can in most cases be secured for all practical
purposes by providing that the average rate of incidnece of such land does not
exceed the average rate of the estate in which it is included. Any case in
which this is not suitable, as for example of specially aluable land, should be
referred for orders. If, however, the land consists of a fresh estate, the rate
of incidence of the assessment imposed thereon should into be such as to raise
the existing average rate of incidence of the assessment circle beyond the
limit prescribed in section 51(3). In applying this rule, so much or the area
to be leased shall be treated as cultivated as the lessee may fairly be
expected to bring under cultivation within the term of the lease.
(2) (2) Malikana ordinarily to
be calculated on market value. To this assessment of land
revenue there shall be added as proprietary due or malikana a sum which shall ordinarily
be calculated with reference to the market value of the land in its waste condition
, (Subject to land revenue and cessess). The malikana so fixed shall be four percent
of that market value unless the Financial Commissioner for special reasons to
be stated, considers that a lower rate of malikana should be fixed.
(3) (3) Malikana to be based on
land revenue and rent in other cases. If the market value of the land
or of similar land in adjacent estates is not ascertainable or approximately
ascertainable the malikana shall be sum based on the difference between the
land revenue assessment and the renting value as ascertained under clause (1),
but which shall not ordinarily be less than half the land revenue assessment.
IF any case it is proposed to fix a rate or proprietary due less than one-half
of the land revenue assessment ,the case shall be reported to the Financial
Commissioner for sanction, and the Financial Commissioner may , for reasons to
be stated, reduce the malikana to a sum not lower than one-fourth of the land
revenue assessment.
(4) (4) Considerations
in fixing land revenue and proprietary due. In fixing the assessment
of land revenue and malikana in the manner above prescribed, regard shall be had
to the improvements necessary to bring the land into cultivation and to the
time necessary for the execution of those improvements; and the authority by
whom the lease is sanctioned may in view of these considerations, exempt the
lease for a portion of the term of the lease from payment of the whole or part
of the land revenue or malikana or both assessed under this rule.
11. 11.
Orders on Collector’s report. On
receipt of the report of the Collector by the authority who under these rules
is empowered to sanction the lease, that authority shall subject to the
provisions of these rules and to any instructions issued by the Financial Commissioner
in respect of any case or class of cases –pass such order in respect of the refusal
or sanctioning the lease and in the event of his sanctioning the lease in
respect of the area, term , assessment and other conditions of the lease, as he
shall think fit.
D-RULES AND CONDITIONS
APPLICABLE TO ALL LEASES.
12. 12. Execution of dead of
lease and giving possession. When a lease has been sanctioned
by the authority appointed by these rules in that behalf , the Collector shall execute
and cause to be executed a lease in form A attached to these rules, provided
that, if Act V of 1912 has been extended to an area in which leases are being
granted , the provisions of that Act shall be followed.
Possession of the land shall not be given to the
applicant until the lease has been executed or until the provisions of section
4 , Act V of 1912 have been complied with, as the case may be.
13. 13. Rates and cesses. A
lessee shall in every case convent with Government to pay all rates and cesses
chargeable on the land ; and also all charges (other than penalties), at any
time livable under chapter VIII of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887, in
respect of the land leased to him. He shall also convenient to pay the price as
determined in the manner hereinafter laid down , of the timber and brushwood on
the leases area.
Explanation :-
The words “rates” and “cesses” in this rule have the same meaning as in the
Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887.
14. 14. Failure to take
possession. If within six months of the execution of the lease having
been communicated to the applicant he fails to take possession of the land , or
if at any time he fails to comply with any of the conditions of the lease the
Collector may cancel the lease and shall report the fact to the officer by whom
the lease was sanctioned.
15. 15. Reservation of certain
rights of Government and settlement of disputes.(I)
There shall be reserved in every lease the right of Government over all rivers
and streams , and the rights of the public to use existing thoroughfares
traversing the grant. There shall also be reserved in every lease all mines,
minerals , Coals, gold-washings, earth-oil and quarries in or under the land
leased, together with the right of entering on the said land and doing all acts
and things that may be necessary or expedient for the purpose of searching for
, working , getting or carrying away any such mines, minerals coals ,
gold-washings and quarries.
(ii) The
Government on its part will in every case, convent with the lessee to make
reasonable compensation to him for all damage occasioned by the exercise of the
said rights.
(iii) And the lessee on his part shall convenient
with Government that , in case of a dispute arising between the lessee and
Government as to the property and rights hereby reserved, or any matter
incidental or in any way relating thereto, or as to any compensation as
aforesaid , the decision thereon , in each case, of the officer empowered by
these rules to sanction the lease of the land shall be considered final and
binding on both parties.
16. Trees and brushwood.
(I) where trees or brushwood are found on land proposed
for lease under these rules, the collector shall estimate the value of such
trees or brushwood. In estimating the net value the Collector shall into take
account of the prices which the lessee will probably be able to realize and of
the probable facilities for sale and shall also make due allowance for expenses
, waste and other losses likely to be incurred in the cutting , removal and
sale of the said produce. If the Collector funds that the value which the
lessee could obtain for the timber or brushwood would only equal or be less
than , the cost of cutting or removal nothing shall be charged for it.
(ii) The
Collector shall record the grounds of this estimate and the amount thereof in a
proceeding; and in the same proceeding either require the lessee to pay the amount
before entering into possessions or fix the installments and dates in and on
which the lessee shall pay the same.
(iii) In cases in which these installments extend
over a longer period than twelve months from the date of entry, the proportion
of the produce actually removed by the lessee in any given year shall not
exceed the proportion of the value payable within that year, and in the event
of the lessee’s removing in any year a larger proportion, the entire
outstanding proportion of the amount of the estimate shall at once become due.
17. Rights of lessee in the
land leased. A lessee shall be entitled to sink wells, make water
courses, plant trees, build houses and otherwise improve the land; and subject
to the due fulfillment by him of the conditions and liabilities of the lease
and to provisions of rules 15 and 16 shall be entitled to all the products of
the land, but except with the sanction of the local Government previously
obtained no lease of waste land shall authorize the lessee to construct a
private canal for the irrigation, either of the land leased to him or of any
other land. In granting any sanction in cases falling under this clause, the
local Government may attach to its sanction such other special terms and
conditions in respect of the constructions and maintenance of a canal and
irrigation from a canal as it shall think fit.
17-A. Loyalty and good
conduct. The lessee shall be bound to be and to remain at all
times of loyal behavior and to render active support to the Government and its
officers in any time of trouble or disorder. The decision of the local
Government whether this condition has been violated by the lessee shall be
final , and if the local Government is of opinion that the lessee has committed
a breach of this condition, it may resume the grant or any portion thereof,
either temporarily or permanently, and such resumption shall not affect any
other penalty to which the lessee may be liable under these conditions or otherwise.
For leases carrying a
promise of occupancy rights on fulfillment of Certain conditions
18. 18. Acquisition of
occupancy rights. If at the expiration of five years from the date of
the lease the lessee has regularly paid all sums due to Government under the provisions
of the lease, has fulfilled the other conditions of the tenancy and has brought
under cultivation one –half of the culturable area held on lease , a right of
occupancy of the nature of the subject to the conditions attaching to a right
of occupancy established under section 8 of the Punjab Tenancy Act may on the
payment of the Nazarene (if any) fixed by the lease, be conferred on the lessee
by an endorsement by the Collector to that effect on the lease.
For lease carrying a
promise of proprietary right on fulfillment of certain conditions
19. Purchase of proprietary
right. (I) The lessee may purchase the proprietary right
of the land at any time during the currency of the lease at the full marked
price of the land to be fixed by the Deputy Commissioner, subject to the same
sanction to which the grant of the lease was subject.
(ii) The lessee may pay the sum so determined,
either in a lump sum or by such installments, extending over a period of not
more than five years, as the authority sanctioning the sale may fix. When the
whole of the purchase money has not been paid previous to the delivery to the purchaser
of the deed of conveyance, the purchaser shall execute a deed of mortgage to
secure payment within five years of the unpaid balance with or without interest
as the authority sanctioning the sale may determine . The deed of conveyance
shall be in form B and the deed of mortgage in form C attached to these rules.
They shall both be registered, and the deed of mortgage shall be stamped at the
purchaser’s expense, and both shall remain in the possession in the Deputy Commissioner
until the whole of the purchase money , with the interest due thereon , if any
shall have been paid, when the deed of conveyance shall be made over to the Purchaser
or his heirs or assigns, the mortgage deed having first been cancelled by the Deputy
Commissioner.
(iii) Should the local Government consider that for
special reasons the sum payable should be reduced, it may reduce it to such an
amount as it thinks fit.
General
20. Procedure on expiry of
lease.(I) On the expiry of the lease (if neither
proprietary nor occupancy rights have been acquired by the lessee), Government
may resume the whole of the land or any
portion of it.
(ii) Failing such resumption ,the lessee shall be
entitled to a renewal of the lease for such term and on such conditions as to
the amount of land revenue and rent or malikana and other charges to be paid by
him as the authority who sanctioned the lease may , subject to the provisions
of section 68 of the Punjab Tenancy Act, then determine.
(iii) In fixing these terms and conditions, the
sanctioning authority shall be guided by the rules for the lease of waste lands
for the time being in force, so far as these rules can be made applicable.
20.-A. Power to
sanction alienation by lessees. The power of the local
Government to sanction alienation’s by the lessee of State lands has been
delegated to the Financial Commissioner, in all leases where it is a condition
of the lease that alienation should not be made without the sanction of
Government . In cases in which the transfer is a bonafide attempt to arrange
for the cultivation of the land without lessee himself giving up his position
as cultivator or manager , the power delegated to the Financial Commissioner
may be exercised by Commissioners of divisions.
21. Readjustment of rent. If
the lessee has acquired occupancy rights during the currency of the lease on
the expiration of the term of the lease originally given , the amount of rent
including land revenue and malikana and the other charges to be paid by him,
will be readjustment in the manner provided by rule 20 , provided that the rate
of malikana shall in no case exceed 12 annas per rupee of the amount of land
revenue.
22. Compensations to
lessee in certain cases. Should the lease be determined
under provisions of rule 20 , the lessee shall be entitled to receive
compensation in accordance with the provisions of the Punjab Tenancy Act from
Government for any improvements made by him in the said land.
23. Appeal and review
of orders. All orders passed by revenue officer under these rules
shall be subject to review and revision by the authorities which would review
or revise his orders under the Punjab Land Revenue Act 1887.
24. Saving of operation
of rules in certain cases. Nothing in these rules shall be
held to prohibit the local Government from authorizing by general or special
orders the lease of the grazing of waste land or the lease to tenants at will
of the right to cultivate plots of cultivable land in blocks of waste land for
a single harvest only.
Nothing in these rules shall be held to affect the
power of the local Government to make rules for the granting of leases of plots
of land along the sides of roads not exceeding ten acres in area for the
purpose of providing roadside groves for the convenience and comfort of
travelers.
Nothing in these rules shall be taken or understood
to interfere with or anywise affect, the rights of Government under the Land
Acquisition Act, 1 of 1894.
From of report on an application for a lease of
Government waste land under rule 7 of the rules for the lease of waste lands in
the
1. Districts and tahsil in which the land is situate
2. Area and description of the land applied for.
3. Present income from the land
4. Facilities for irrigation , existing or proposed.
5. Name and description of applicant, with date of
his application.
6. Proposed terms of lease, distinguishing.
(a) nature of lease, where to carry a promise of
proprietary rights or of occupancy rights or lease for the purpose of planting
and maintaining roadside plantations;
(b) duration;
(c) annual payment;
(d) disposal of existing timber;
(e) other matters;
7. Recommendations and orders of the Collector and
revenue officers of higher classes to be entered consecutively by each officer
who deals with the application.
FORM A
RULE 12
“A lease made by Governor of the Punjab (hereinafter
called Government) of the one part to _____________________”; and son
_____________________resident of village __________________parties Tahsil ___________in
the _________District of the
IN PURSUANCE of the orders contained in letter No.
_______dated the ____recital Form the _____________to the ______________.
WHEREAS the tenant has paid to Government:---
(i) the sum of _____________ rupees on account of
trees and brushwood;
NOW THIS DEED WITNESSETH as follows :-
Terms of the
Lease
1. Area leased. Government
hereby demises to the tenant all that plot of land, containing
____________acres more or less, more particularly described in the schedule
hereto and delineated and coloured _______________in the plan hereunto annexed,
subject to the exceptions and reservations and on the terms and conditions hereinafter
appearing.
2. Purpose
of the lease. (a) The land is leased for purposes of agriculture only.
(b). The lessee may take to himself all natural
products growing on the surface of the land, excluding/including trees and brushwood, subject to
the payments and conditions hereinafter mentioned.
(c) The lessee may construct such water – courses,
temporary buildings or similar improvements as may be necessary for the purpose
of cultivating the land as herein provided, subject to the conditions
hereinafter provided and to the condition that no claim shall be made against
the Government for improvements of any kind, except as hereinafter specifically
provided.
3. Period of the lease
. The period of the lease shall be for ___years , and shall be deemed
to have commenced with effect from the Rabi /
kharif season of ______ 4. (1) The tenant shall pay a yearly rent of
______rupees in two equal half –yearly installments of
___________________rupees each.
(3) Out of each installment a sum of ____________
rupees shall be paid in advance during working hours at the nearest treasury or
at such other place as the Collector may appoint on the ________________Day of
and the ___________day of ____________during each year and the rest as provided
hereunder.
Rent and other
payments. (3) The balance of each installment, amounting to
_________ rupees, shall be paid in the manner provided for the payment of land
revenue and the teant shall in addition to the rent reserved above pay to
Government or as the Collector may direct a sum equivalent to all rates, cesses
and other periodical charges which would have been payable by the owner of the
land if it had been assessed to land revenue at this rate.
(4) The tenant shall further pay all other rates,
cesses, taxes, charges and other out going which are or may become payable by
the owner of the land or occupier thereof.
(5) The tenant shall further pay on account of the
trees and brushwood now standing on the land and described in the schedule
hereto a sum of __________rupee’s , to paid strike out whichever is
inapplicable):---
(1) before entry
(2) in the installments herein stated namely :-
on the day of Rs.
On the day of Rs.
Provided that the value of the trees brushwood
actually removed by the tenant in each year shall not exceed the following
proportions namely:---
In the year
In the year
And In the year
Of the whole value of the wood and brushwood now
existing on the said lands, and if the tenant removes in any year a larger
proportion of the wood and brushwood on the said lands then as above stated,
the whole amount then outstanding on account of the sum of rupees shall at once
become due.
Exceptions and
reservations on behalf of Government
5. Mines and Minerals. Government
does not demise but excepts and reserves to itself al mines minerals and
quarries of whatsoever nature existing on, over or below the surface of the
land with liberty to search for, work and remove the same , in as full and
ample manner as if this lease had not been made.
6. Rivers , water
courses and roads. Government does not demise but
excepts and reserves to itself all rivers and streams with their beds and banks
all water courses and drainage channels and all public thoroughfares now
existing on the land or shown as proposed for construction in the plan annexed.
7. Construction and
alteration of roads and water –courses . Government
reserves the right to create a public right of way not exceeding three karams
in width across the land whenever this may be considered desirable in the
public interest by the Collector, without paying any compensation.
8. Re-entry for the
exercise and protection of rights reserved. For the full
discovery enjoyment and use of the rights hereby reserved, or for the
protection and maintenance of any property hereby excluded, it shall be lawful
for government through its authorized agents or for any officer of the Crown to
enter upon the land and make such used thereof as may be necessary for these
purposes without making any compensation to the tenant for such use and
occupation except as may be provided hereunder.
Obligations of The Tenant.
9. The
tenant hereby convenience with Government as follows:---
Payment of rent etc. : (1)
To pay to or on behalf of Government the rent and any other payments which may
become due under this lease at the proper time and place and in such manners
may be prescribed by law or by the order of any competent authorit.
Use of Land. (2) To
use the whole or any part of the land for no purpose other than that of
agriculture , and not to use it in any way likely to lessen its value.
Boundary marks. (3)
At his own cost, when so required by the Collector, to erect permanent marks on
the lands hereby leased, demarcating correctly the boundaries and limits
thereof, and at all times to maintain the same in good repair in accordance
with any directions from time to time issued in that behalf by the Collector.
Against injury and
interference. (4) Not to do or suffer to be done any act
inconsistent with or injurious to any of the rights excepted and reserved to
Government.
Entry. (5)
To permit without let or hindrance all officers or servants of the Crown or other
persons duly authorized by Government in this behalf to enter the land at all
times and do all acts and things necessary for or incidental to,---
(a) The purpose of enforcing compliance with any of
the terms of this lease , or of ascertaining whether these have been duly
performed or observed or,
(b) Any purpose connected with the full enjoyment
discovery and use of the mineral or other rights hereinafter reserved to
Government without claim to compensation whether by reduction of rent of
otherwise except as hereinafter specifically provided.
(c) Public rights etc. (6) Not to interfere with
lawful used by the public of any thoroughfare on the land or with the exercise
by any third person of any existing rights and easements now existing thereon
or which the tenant thereon is bound by the terms of this lease to create or
allow.
Private canal. (7)
Not to construct a private canal for the irrigation of the land demised or of
any other land , without the permission of Government in writing first obtained
in granting which sanction Government may impose such terms and conditions in
respect of the construction and maintenance of the canal and. Or irrigation
therefrom as it may deem fit.
Surrender for public
purpose. If the land or any portion thereof is required for
any public purpose, to surrender the whole or so much of the land as may be
required on demand by the Collector, without claiming compensation except as
provided hereunder ,and subject only to a proportionate remission of rent.
Restriction on assignment.(9) Not to assign , sublet
or transfer by mortgage or otherwise or part with land or any part thereof,
except to cultivators holding directly under him who will cultivate the land in
a proper manner, without the permission of Government first obtained.
Cost of Survey Etc., (10) To pay such towards the
cost of following works as the Collectors acting under the general or special
orders of Government may determine whether the cost has already been incurred
at the time of the grant or may be incurred thereafter –
(a) the survey and demarcation of the land;
(b) The construction of any water – course on the
estate in which the land situated and from which a supply of water is available
for the land;
(c) The construction of any roads , paths, culverts
or bridges necessary for the general convenience of the estate in which the
land is situated; and
(d) The maintenance and repair of any such roads,
paths, culverts or bridges.
Peaceful surrender. (11) At the end or sooner
termination of lease, to leave the land and surrender it peaceably to the
collector, and during the concluding season of the lease that is the season of
kharif / Rabi 19, not to sow any Rabi / kharif it crop.
Loyalty . (12)
To remain at all times of loyal behavior and in any time of trouble or disorder
to render active support to the Crown and its officers, and to accept the
decisions of Government as to whether this convenient has been fulfilled or
not.
(13) To render all such assistance in the prevention
or discovery of crime as is incumbent on the owner or the occupier of land by
any law or rule for the time being in force in the
[Sub –clauses(14) to
(18) shall only apply if the area of the demised land is 125 acres or more and
the lease is for 10 years of longer.] (14) Within 6 calendar months
next after the date of these presents at his own cost to erect and finish fit
for use on on the land hereby demised or elsewhere as near to the land as
possible , houses for the use of sub – tenants and dependents in accordance
with a plan or plans to be approved in writing by the Collector and not erect
or suffer to be erected on the demised land any building or permanent structure
other than and except the said houses and buildings for agricultural purposes
and to comply with all such directions as the Collector may issue from time to time
as regards the construction of boundary marks and keep the same when erected in
good repair and order.
Re-entry.(15) Not
to make any alteration in the plan or –elevation of the said houses without
such consent as aforesaid in order to use the same or permit the same to be
used for any purpose other than that of houses for sub – tenants and
dependents.
(15) At
all times to keep the said houses and premises in good and substantial repair
and on the termination of this lease peaceably to yield up the property in such
good and substantial repair unto the Government.
(16) At
all times to keep the said houses and premised in good and substantial repair
and on the termination of this lease peaceably to yield up the property in such
good and substantial repair unto the Government.
(17) To
ensure that the methods of farming ,housing and living of sub –tenants and dependents
conform as far as possible to the principles and program of rural reconstruction
laid down in the publications of the Department of Rural Reconstruction,
(18) Failure
to comply with either sub-clause (14) or (15) or (16) or (17) above shall be deemed
to be a breach of the terms of this lease and the Collector’s decision whether there
has been a breach or non-fulfillment of the said clauses or any of them shall
be final.
Provisos
10. In
any of the following events:---
(a) if the tenant commits any breach or fails to
perform any of the terms or conditions of this lease, or suffers or permits
such breach or non-performance.
(b) If the tenant is declared insolvent, or
(c) If the tenancy is attached.
Government may at any time thereafter re-enter upon
the land and determine this demise, in which case the tenant shall make all the
payments due under these presents for the current season, provided that such
termination of the tenancy shall not prejudice any right of action or remedy of
Government in respect of any antecedent breach of this agreement by the tenant.
11. Compensation. No
compensation shall be payable by Government to the tenant in respect of the exercise
of any of the rights reserved in this lease or on the termination of the
tenancy, except as provided hereunder:---
(a) For
damage caused to the surface of the land or to anything attached thereto, or to
any property of the tenant by act or negligent omission of any person duly authorized
to enter the land in exercise of the mineral rights reserved to Government such
compensation as may be assessed by the officer under whose orders such action
is taken.
(b) For
damage to standing crops caused in exercise of the right to construct or alter water
–courses , such compensation as may be assessed by the officer under whose
orders such action is taken.
(c) For
any improvements existing on the land on the termination of the tenancy otherwise
than through any default of the tenant , such compensation as may be assessed
by the Collector in accordance with the provisions of the
Provided that,---
(i) the amount of any compensation so assessed may
be enhanced or reduced under the orders of the Financial Commissioner,
(ii) any compensation payable by Government to the
tenant or any sum or sums otherwise due to Government from the tenant may
either be deducted from or set off against any such compensation or may be
recovered otherwise as and at such time as Government may deem fit.
12. Stamping and
registration . The lessee shall purchase the stamp and within four months
from the date of execution shall present this instrument for registration at
his own cost failing which, without prejudice to Government’s rights otherwise,
such failure shall be regarded as a breach of the conditions thereof and the
Collector shall be entitled to rescind and cancel the same without any
compensation whatsoever.
13. Arbitration (1)
IF any question , doubt or objection shall arise in any way connected with or
arising out of these presents or the meanings or operation of any part, thereof
or the rights duties or obligations of either party , then save in so far as
the decision of any such matter has been hereinbefore , provided for and has
been so decided ,every such mater shall be referred to the arbitration of the
Commissioner, including the following questions :-
(a) Whether any other provision has been made in
these presents for the decision of any matter and if such provision has been
made , whether it has been finally decided accordingly and;
(b) Whether the lease should be terminated or has
been rightly terminated and what are the rights and obligations of the parties
as the result of such termination.
Interpretation (2) The
decision of the Commissioner shall be final and binding and when any of the
matters above mentioned involves a claim for or the payment, recovery or
reduction of money only the amount so decided shall be recoverable in respect
thereof.
14. In
these presents unless context otherwise requires:---
(a) “the Collector” and the “Commissioner” mean the
Collector and the Commissioner for the time being of the District Division in
which the land is situated and include any other person duly authorized by
general or special order to act on behalf of Government in this behalf
(b) “Government includes the successors and assigns
of Government.
(c) “kharif crop” and “rabi crop” mean the crops
generally sown and harvested in the kharif and rabi seasons respectively; and
should any question arise whether any is kharif or a rabi crop, the question
shall be decided by the Collector.
(d) “the kharif” season and the “rabi season” mean
the season for approximately six months each generally known as the kaharif and
rabi seasons respectively ; and should any question arise whether the date on which
anything has been done or should be done falls in one season or another the question
shall be decided by the Collector, whose decision shall be final;
(e) “the land” means the land hereby demised
together with all rights appertaining thereto and not herein excepted or
reserved;
(f) “the tenant” includes the heirs, legal
representatives and permitted assigns of the tenant and if the said term
includes co-shares , any liability imposed by this deed shall be joint and
several liability of each co-shares.
(g) “minerals” includes all substances of a mineral
nature which can be won from the earth, such as coal earth-oil , gold washings
stones and forms of soil which can be used for a profitable purpose or removal.
IN WITNESS Whereof the parties have hereto set their
hands on the dates
hereinafter in each case specified.
THE SCHEDULE ABOVE MENTIONED
Description and
boundaries of the land
An area of _____________acres ______________roods
_______poles(equal to –
ghumaons_____________ kanals
____________________marlas).
Situated in the (mauza /the town of) Tehsil
______________District________
Shown in the (Revenue records / records of the local authority) as
no. ______
And bounded as follows :-
On the north by ;
On the east by ;
On the south by ;
On the west by ;
THE PLAN (Note – The following
alterations and additons made to the above lease in the circumstances specified
below:-
If it is proposed
tosell trees and brushwood existing on the land –
For clause 1(2)(b) substitute the following :-
“(b) The tenant may
take to himself all the natural products growing on the surface of the land
including trees and brushwood, subject to the terms and conditions hereinafter mentioned”.
Add the following to
1(4)
“(c) The tenant will
also pay on account of (as in the present clause 5 on page 365)) Signed
for an on behalf of the Governor of the
__________ acting under Officer the orders of the
Governor of the
Singed by the said ________________ in the presence
of ___________(address) _______________(description) on the __________Day of
_____in the year one thousand nine hundred and ____________________
“References to the
colonization of Government Lands(
Recital
IN PURSUANCE OF the conditions contained in Punjab (Notification/Letter Government _____________No.
______________dated.
WHEREAS the land hereinafter mentioned vests in the
Crown for the purposes of the Government of the Punjab , which is authorized to
dispose of the said land by the provisions
of section 175 of the Government of India Act, 1935.
AND The grantee has paid a sum of
________________rupees to Government.
NOW THIS GRANT WITNESSETH as follows:---
Grant. (1)
Government on behalf of the Crown as beneficial owner grants unto the grantee
ALL that plot of land , containing ___________acres more or less, and more particularly
described in the schedule hereto, and delineated in colour ___________
In the plan annexed, TO HOLD the same in proprietary
right subject to the exception and reservations and on the terms and conditions
hereinafter appearing.
2. 1. This
grant is made for the purpose of agriculture only.
Exceptions and
reservations on behalf of Government
Mines and minerals. 3.
Government does not grant but excepts and reserves to itself in full
proprietary right all mines, minerals and quarries of whatsoever nature
existing, on over below the surface of the land with liberty to search for,
work and remove the same in as full and ample manner as if this grant had not
been made.
Rivers, water –courses
and roads. 4. Government does not grant but excepts and reserves
to itself all rivers and streams , with their beds and banks all water courses
and drainage channels and all public thoroughfares now existing on the land or
shown as proposed for construction in the plan annexed.
Construction alteration
of water-courses. 5 Government reserves the right:---
(a) to create a public right of way not exceeding
three karams in
width across the land whenever this may be consindered desirable in the public
interest by the Collector;
and
(b) to construct new water –courses on the land, or
to alter the direction of any water course now existing on the land or to be
constructed in future, whenever this may be considered necessary by the canal
officer in the interest of irrigation.
Without any liability to pay compensation except as
provided hereunder.
Re-entry for the
exercise and protection of rights reserved. 6 For the full
discovery enjoyment and use of the rights hereby reserved or for the protection
and maintenance of any property hereby excluded, it shall be lawful for
Government through its authorized agents or for any officer of the Crown to
enter upon the land and made such use thereof as may be necessary for these
purposes without making any compensation to the grantee for such use and
occupation except as may be provided hereunder.
Obligations of the
grantee
Land revenue and other
payments. - The grantee hereby covenants with Governments as
follows:-
(a) To
pay promptly the land revenue and all rates cesses, charges and outgoing to which
the land be from time to time assessed.
(b) Against injury . Not
to do suffer to be done any act inconsistent with or injurious to any of the
rights except and reserved to Government.
(c) Entry. To
permit without let or hindrance all officers or servants of the Crown and all
other persons duly authorized by Government in that behalf to enter the land at
all times and to do all acts and things necessary for or incidental to –
(h) the purpose of enforcing compliance with any of
the terms and conditions of this grant or of ascertaining whether they have
been duly performed or observed or (iii) any purpose connected with the full
enjoyment discovery and use of the rights hereby reserved to Government.
(d) Public rights and
easements. Not to interfere with the lawful use by the public of
any thoroughfare on the land or with the exercise by any third person of any rights
and easements now existing thereon or which the grantee is bound by the terms
of this grant to create or allow.
(e) Boundary marks. At
his own cost, when so required by the Collector , to erect permanent marks on
the land demarcating correctly the boundaries and limits thereof, and at all
times to maintain the same in good repair in accordance with any directions
from time to time issued by the Collector.
(f) Construction of water
–courses. Not to construct or alter any canal water – courses
or drainage channel upon the land without the permission of the Canal Officer.
(g) Resumption. If
the land is resumed under the terms of this grant to leave the land as soon as
the grant is terminated and surrender it peaceably to the collector and if so
required by the Collector, to pull down and remove any structure existing thereon,
and deliver up the land in a level state as in its former condition.
(h) Surrender for
public purpose. If the land or any portion thereof is required for any
public purpose to surrender the whole or so much of the land as may be required
on demand by the Collector, without claiming compensation except as provided
hereunder.
(i) Loyalty. Remain
at all times of loyal behavior and at any time of trouble to render active
support to the Crown and its officers, and to accept the decision of Government
as to whether this convenient has been fulfilled or not.
(j) To
pay such amount towards the cost of the following works at the Collector or the
Canal Officer, acting under the general or special order of the Government may
determine whether the cost has already been incurred at the time of the grant
or may be incurred thereafter :-
(i) Cost of survey, etc. The
survey and demarcation of the land;
(ii) The construction of any water –course on the
estate in which the land is situated , and from which a supply of water is
available for the land;
(iii) The construction of any roads ,paths ,
culverts or bridges necessary for the general convenience of the estate in
which the land is situated; and
(iv) The maintenance and repair of any such roads,
paths , culverts or bridges,
(v) Not to use the land for any purpose other than
that for which it is granted and not to permit or suffer such usage.”
Provisos
8. (a) Application of the
Colony Act (to be omitted for sales of land to which this Act has not been
applied). This grant is subject to the provisions of the
Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab) Act, 1912, so far as they are applicable
thereto.
(c) The grantee shall be deemed to be a tenant of
such land unless and until he has fulfilled the terms and conditions of this
grant.
9. Resumption. If
the grantee fails to perform or commits any breach of any of the terms or
conditions of this grant, or suffers or permits such a breach or
nonperformance, the Collector may at any time thereafter determine the grant
and resume possession of the land and may pull down any structure existing
thereon and may sell the materials thereof and retain the proceeds of the sale,
whether these rights may have been waived in respect of any earlier default or
not without prejudice to any other right or claim.
10. (To be omitted for
sales of land to which this Act has not been applied). (I)
(Except as provided in section 25 of the Act) no compensation shall be payable
by Government in respect of the exercise of any rights reserved or conferred by
the terms of this grant, except as provided hereunder:---
(a) Compensation. For
actual damage or occupation arising out of the exercise of rights other than
those relating to the construction of water-courses, such compensation may be
determined by the Collector;
(b) For
damage caused to standing crops in exercise of the rights relating to water courses,
such compensation as may be determined by the Canal Officer;
(c) On
resumption of the whole or any portion of the land otherwise than on exchange
or for breach of conditions, a proportionate reduction of the rent or a proportionate
refund of the purchase price, if any paid and such additional sum if any, as
may be determined by the Collector in accordance with the general principles
applicable to the acquisition of land for public Purposes.
(ii) When any claim for compensation arises, the
officer assessing the amount of the compensation shall give the grantee an
opportunity of being heard; and when the amount to be determined by the
Collector , he shall act under the control of the Financial Commissioner ,
Punjab.
(iii) When any sum becomes due to the grantee by way
of compensation any moneys due to Government shall be deducted therefrom; and
if Government has any unsettled claim against the grantee, the sum due may be
withheld until the claim is settled.
11. Stamping and
registration. The grantee shall purchase the stamp and within four
months from the date of execution , shall present this instrument for
registration at his own cost failing which, without prejudice to Government’s
rights otherwise, such failure shall be regarded as a breach of the conditions
thereof.
12. (I) If
any question or difference whatsoever shall at any time hereafter arise between
Government and the grantee in any way touching or concerning this grant , or
the construction meaning operation or effect thereof or of any clause herein
contained, or as to the rights duties or liabilities of either party under or
by virtue of this grant, or touching the subject matter of this grant, or
arising out or in relation thereto, then save in so far as the decision of any
such matter has been hereinbefore provided for and has been so decided, the
matter in difference shall be referred to the arbitration of the Commissioner,
who shall have power to decide any matter so referred, including the following
questions:---
(a) Arbitration. Whether
any other provision has been made in these presents for the decision of any
matter and if such provision has been made, whether it has been finally decided
accordingly and,
(b) Whether
the grant should be terminated or has been rightly terminated and what are or
will be the rights and obligations of the parties as the result of such termination.
(II) The decision of the arbitrator shall be final
and binding and when any matter so referred to arbitration involves a claim for
the award increase of reduction of a sum of money by way of compensation or any
other payment or recovery of money, only the amount decided by the arbitrator
shall be recoverable in respect of the dispute so referred.
Interpretation
13. In these conditions, unless there is anything
repugnant in the context. [(a) (to be omitted for
sales of land to which this Act has not been applied). “the
Act” means the Colonization of Government Lands (Punjab) Act, 1912, as in force
for the time being;]
(b) “the Canal Officer” means the appropriate
officer of the Irrigation Branch of the Public works Department, Punjab;
(c) “the
Collector “ and “the Commissioner means the Collector and the commissioner for
the time being of the district of division in which the land is situated and
include any other person duly authorized by general or special order to
exercise the powers of a Collector or Commissioner in respect of conditions governing
the grant;
(d) “the
Government “ and “the grantee” include their successors in title respectively ;
all rights hereby conferred and obligations hereby imposed shall be available
for and bind their successors in title as the case may require; and when the
term “the grantee” includes co-sharers , any liability of each co-sharer;
(e) “the
land” means the land which is the subject of this grant and includes all
rights, easements and appurtenances thereto belonging or pertaining; and
(f) “minerals
“ include all substances of a mineral nature which can be won from the earth,
such as coal, earth oil, gold –washings, stones and forms of soil which can be
used for a profitable purpose or removal.
THE SCHEDULE above mentioned.
Description and boundaries of the land
An area of _________ghumaons ______________kanals
________________
Marlas.
Situated in (mauza/the) town
of tahsil _____________district _______________
Shown in the revenue(records/records) of the local authority as no :-
And bounded as follows :-
On the north by :
On the east by :
On the south by :
On the west by :
THE PLAN
Signature of expectants
and witnesses. Signed for and on behalf of the Governor of the Punjab
by ________________officer of _____________acting under the orders of the Governor
of the Punjab in the presence of ____________(address)___________
description) on the _____________day of
_____________in the year one thousand nine hundred and _______________________
Signed by the said ___________in the presence of
____________address) ___________
(description) on the _______________Day of in the
year one thousand nine hundred and __________
Note: - If there is no canal omit references to
Canal Officer and water –courses.
Instructions to
officers preparing conveyances of proprietary rights.
1. If the conveyance is to be made in favour of a
body of persons, reference should be made to the instructions circulated with
the Home Secretary’s letter No. 1289-J ,
dated the 17th March
, 1938.
2. No conveyance is to be drawn up until the last
installment has been paid.
3. The total of the installments should then be
entered in words, and not in figures , in the rectal of the deed.
4. Two copies of the deed should be prepared and
both should be signed by the grantee as well as by the Collector ; it is not
sufficient to keep an office copy,
5. The Collector should see that the copy put up by
the grantee is properly stamped before he signs it, and should refuse to sign
any deed which is not so stamped.
6. Before the deed is executed ,a special assessment
of land revenue should be made under Section 59 of the Land Revenue Act, 1887.
7. Only after the deed has been properly executed ,
should any change in the revenue records be allowed.
8. No entry of proprietary rights should be made in
the revenue records without an addition stating that these rights are subject
to the relevant statement of conditions issued by Government.
FORM C
Rule 19(ii)
AGREEMENT
Parties. A GRANT made
by the Governor of the Punjab (hereinafter called Government) of the one part
to ___________son of ___________resident of ___________tehsil
_________________in the District of the
Recital In
pursuance of letter No. _________________dated the __________from The Deputy
Secretary to Government, Punjab Development Department to the address of the
Commissioner, ____________division.
Whereas the grantee has offered to purchase the Crown
land vested in the Governor of the
AND WHEREAS the grantee has paid to Government at
the time of the execution of this agreement the sum of______________________
rupees as first installment of the price
of the land.
NOW THIS GRANT WITNESSETH as follows:---
1. (a) Area granted. Government
hereby grants to the grantee all that plot of land containing
_______________________Acres more or less and more particularly described in
Schedule “A” hereto and delineated in the plan and coloured with _________colour
therein , attached hereto , subject to the exceptions and reservations and on
the terms and conditions hereinafter appearing.
(c) (I) Purpose of the
grant. The land is granted for the purposes solely of agriculture.
(ii) The
grantee may take to himself all natural products growing on the surface of the
land including trees and brushwood, subject to the payments and conditions hereinafter
mentioned.
(iii) The grantee shall pay to the Government,
within six months from the date of the allotment of the land, the value of the
trees and brushwood existing on the land at the commencement of the grant as
determined by the Government;
Provided that any tree not cut before the
determination of the grant and any tree cut but still lying on the land when
the grant is determined shall be the property of the Crown and that one tree at
least shall be left standing in each acre of the land. (iv) the grantee may
construct such water –courses temporary buildings or similar improvements as
may be necessary for the purpose of cultivating the land.
(d) Period of the grant. The
grant shall be deemed to have commenced on the ___________________and to have
concluded on the day the deed of conveyance referred to in clause 4(e) is
registered unless the grant is sooner determined in accordance with the
provisions hereinafter appearing.
(d) Price and interest.
The price of the land shall be _____________rupees . The first
installment of price has already been paid and the balance of the price shall be
paid by the grantee to Government in ____________installments on the _______________Day
of _____________________in each year with interest on unpaid balances at the
rate of __________________per cent per annum, the second installment or price
and interest being payable on the of _____________;
provided , however that if any of the said
installments are not paid on the due dates then such installments shall bear
interest during the periods of such default at the rate of
__________________per cent per annum instead of percent per annum. The last
installment of price and interest shall be paid on the ______________ .
(e) The
grantee shall pay land revenue demand, or rent, for the time being assessed on
the land and all general taxes local taxes and cesses to which revenue paying lands
are liable.
Exceptions
and reservations on behalf of Government
2. (a) Mines and Minerals.
Government does not grant but excepts and reserves to itself in
full proprietary right all mines minerals and quarries of whatever nature
existing on over or below the surface of thel and with liberty to search for,
work and remove the same, in as full and ample manner as if this grant had not
been made.
(b) Rivers,
water-courses and roads. Government does not grant but
excepts and reserves to itself all rivers and streams with their beds and
banks, all water –courses and drainage channels and all public thoroughfares
now existing on the land or shown as proposed for construction in the plan
annexed.
(c) Construction and
alteration of paths and water-courses. Government
reserves the right:---
(j) To create a public right of way not exceeding
three karams in width across the land whenever his may be considered desirable in the public
interest by the Collector; and
(ii) To construct new water –courses on the land or
to alter the direction of any water course now existing on the land or to be
constructed in future, whenever this may be considered necessary by the Canal
Officer in the interest of irrigation.
(e) Re-entry for the
exercise and protection of the rights reserved. For
the full discovery, enjoyment and use of the rights hereby reserved or for the protection
and maintenance of any property hereby excluded, it shall be lawful for
Government through its authorized agents or for any officer of the Crown to
enter upon the land and make such use thereof as may be necessary for these
purposes without making any compensation to the grantee for such use and
occupation except as may be provided hereunder.
THE END
---------------------------------------------------
(a) PATWARIS AND KANUNGOS (PARAS, 264-304,
264. Patwari and Kanungo staff before 1885:-The term village officer as
used in the land Revenue Act, means a headman, a chief headman, and a patwari.
In this chapter we are only concerned with the patwari or village registrar and
accountant, and with his immediate superior, the Kanungo. No efficient revenue
administration of a district is possible unless the patwari staff is strong,
properly trained, and strictly supervised by the Kanungos, Tehsildars, Revenue
Assistant, and Deputy Commissioner.
265. Object of reforms initiated in 1885:- In the Course of years
effective measures have been taken to secure the proper performance by the
patwari of his three chief duties.---
(1) the maintenance of the crops grown at every harvest;
(2) the keeping of the record-of-right up-to-date by the punctual record of
mutations; and
(3) the accurate preparation of statistical returns embodying the information
derived from the harvest inspections, register of mutations, and
record-of-rights.
These duties will be fully described in the 9th, 10th,
and 11th Chapter of this work.
266. Principles of revenue policy, sound, but machinery for carrying them
out wanting:- The revenue policy of the
267 To 270. Cancelled.
271. Indian Finance Commission of 1880 Proposed: (1) Formation of
Agricultural Department in each province:- Inspite of efforts to secure
improvement, the revenue statistics of the province remained incomplete and
unreliable until late into last century. But the lessons learned in the famine
of 1877-1878 made it impossible to leave things where they were. In the report
of the Indian Famine Commission, which was presented to presented to Parliament
in 1880, great stress was laid on the necessity of creating in each province a
special agricultural Department. The Commissioner remarked:---
"Such an office in each province would have charge of all the records of
post famines, and take note of all that is being usefully done or learnt in
neighbouring provinces, so that the gathered results of past experience might
be collected and made accessible, which has hitherto been hardly possible.
Through this office should be brought together the more comprehensive and exact
record of the agricultural withal, and economic condition of the people to the
urgent necessity of which we have already drawn attention. Especially, when a
famine is thought to be impending such an office would become important, as it
would supply the Government with all statistics bearing on this subject, and
would be responsible for working out from them the conclusion on which the
decision as to future action would mainly rest. When a famine is in progress
all the information relating to relief measures, their extent, their results,
would be collected in it and presented in a uniform and intelligible manner,
and through it all orders of the local Government to famine administration
would be issued.
272. Reform of patwari and Kanungo agency:- (2) " The efficiency of
such a special department , as we have proposed, will depend mainly on the
completeness and accuracy with which the agricultural, vital and economic
statistics with which it has to deal are collected in each village and compiled
in each sub-division and district throughout the country ****** "The
revenue system in the greater part of British-India is such as to present unrivalled
means of ascertaining, in the fullest manner, all necessary facts relating to
agriculture, and to the different incidents of landed tenures in every village;
but those means have nowhere been completely utilized and made as efficient as
they might be. We recommend that, the body of village accountants should
everywhere be put on a sound and satisfactory footing as responsible public
officers, with a clearly defined set of duties, but with due consideration to
the importance of their permanent connection with their own
village."****** "Over the village accountants there should be a staff
of active sub-officers employed in keeping them to their duty, inspecting their
work, visiting each village in turn, and checking the accuracy of all the items
recorded concerning it."
273. Appointment of Revenue Assistant in each district:-- (3)
"Above these there should be a special officer in every district who would
be, as a rule, of the rank of Deputy Collector, and whose main or only duty
should be to take charge of all matters connected with the economic condition
and well-being of the people. He would test and compile the agricultural
returns and examine the market prices and ascertain form these and other data
the relative value of each year’s crop, according as it is below or above the
average. Form such a continuous record of the harvests he would obtain date for
judging whether the landed classes were in a depressed or a prosperous
condition, and how far they were prepared to meet a calamitous season. It would
be his object to obtain similar information as to all section of the
population, and to learn what are the causes of depression, and what classes
would be the first to succumb under the pressure of scarcity and high prices.
The accurate regulation of vital statistics and the investigation of causes of
any abnormal mortality, would he within his province, and he would be the agent
of the health officer of the district for the purpose of scrutinizing the
record of births and deaths. The extent of the food stocks, the ebb and flow of
local trade, the current rate of interest charged on loans to different
classes, the deficient or superabundant supply of any kinds of labour and the
customary wages paid to each kind, these and other kindred topics in which information
is at present far from precise, would fall within the scope of his enquiries.
These officers, while generally subordinate to the Collector, would be
specially under the orders of the Agricultural Department in respect of the
system on which their returns are to be prepared and checked.
274. Appointment of Director of Agriculture in each province. – "A
Director of Agriculture should be appointed in each province as executive head
of this Department, chosen for his knowledge of the condition of the people and
particularly of the agricultural and statistics. In ordinary times he would
discharge these duties and superintend all measures designed to improve the
agriculture of the country; and in times of famine he would be the officer
responsible for warning the Government as to the agriculture outlook, and for
preparing such a forecast as should guide it in issuing instructions and setting
on foot measures of relief."
275. Introduction of reforms in Punjab. – The measures proposed by the
Commission, therefore, embraced,---
(a) the reform of the patwari staff;
(b) the provision of sufficient staff of supervisors or Kanungos;
(c) the appointment of a revenue assistant in each district; and
(d) the appointment of a Director of Agriculture in each province. It fell to
Colonel Wace, first as Settlement Commissioner and later as Financial
Commissioner, to carry out these reforms a task which he welcomed with
enthusiasm. To enable him to deal with the matter effectively he was
appointment in 1882 Director of Agriculture which retaining the post of
Settlements Commissioner. In 1883 a Revenue Assistant was appointed in each
district, except Simla. In the same year Colonel Wace prepared a scheme for the
re-organization of the Kanungo staff, which was sanctioned with some
modifications next year, and carried out in 1885. Hitherto the establishment in
each district had consisted of a sadr Kanungo at headquarters on Rs. 60 at each
Tehsil. The staff was now doubled. The Kanungo at the Tehsil headquarters
became the officer Kanungo and a staff of field Kanungos was provided to
supervise the patwaris’ work in their villages. The pay and prospects of
Kanungos were much improved. A Director of Land Records was appointed in 1885.
276. Object of reforms in land record agency and procedure. – These
changes and the procedure connected with the reformed system of record were
embodies in a new code of patwari and Kanungo rules,
the object of which was explained to be the securing of,---
(a) real efficiency
among the patwaris and Kanungos;
(b) improved field-to-field inspection, and record of the result of each
harvest;
(c) the continuous record in convenient tables of the total results of each
harvest and each year’s husbandry, these tables being kept first by villages,
secondly, by assessment circles, and thirdly, by Tehsils;
(d) the punctual record and attestation of all mutations of rights and their
prompt incorporation in the Jamabandi;
(e) the cessation of the practice, under which in numerous cases mutation
orders were passed in the absence of the parties, or after calling them away
from their villages to the Tehsil office;
(f) the release of the Tehsildars and Naib-Tehsildar from a large amount of
revenue case work, which, under the procedure hitherto prescribed for such work
tied them to their Tehsil offices and overburdened their small office
establishment with clerical duties; and
(g) as a consequence the systematic visiting of each village, either by the
Tehsildar or Naib-Tehsildar.
277. Effect of reforms. -- The new system was
embodied in the Punjab Land Revenue Act of 1887 and the rules
issued under it. Since it was introduced it has been modified in some of its
details. But no change affecting its main features has been made, and the
soundness of the scheme has been proved by a steady improvement in the work of
the patwaris and in the revenue administration of the districts.
278. Organization of patwari and Kanungo staff reconsidered at settlement. –
The organization of the patwari and Kanungo staff is carefully reconsidered
when a district is being assessed, and it is rarely necessary to make many
changes in the interval between two settlements. The limits of patwaris’
circles are matters for the Commissioner to decide; the number, grading and pay
of patwaris as also the revision of the limits of field Kanungos’ circles
require the sanction of the Financial Commissioner.
279. Points for consideration in forming patwaris’ circles. – In fixing
the limits of a circle the chief points to consider are the number of fields to
be worked over at the harvest inspections and the number of owners’ holdings
and cultivators’ holding, for which entries have to be made in the
record-of-rights. The number given to each field in the village map is known as
the Khasra number, that assigned to each owner’s holding in the
record-of-rights is called the Jamabandi number, and that allotted to each
cultivator’s holding the khatauni number. A patwari should usually be able keep
up the records of a circle containing from 4,000 to 5,000 Khasra and 1,200 to
1,600 khatuni numbers, but regard must be paid to the distances patwari will
have to travel, the nature of the country, the simplicity or complexity of the
land tenures, and the inclusion in the circle of estate subject to river action
or under fluctuating assessment, and the degree of fragmentation or
consolidation of holdings. A circle generally consists of several adjoining
estates, but some large estates require the whole services of a patwari and a
few have more than one.
280. Grading of patwaris. – Before 1885 there was a separate patwari
cess, and each patwari received the amount levied in the villages of his
circle. A man which a small circle of right highly cultivated estates drew much
more pay than his fellow incharge of a much larger and more difficult circle
containing villages where the precariousness of the crops had enforced a light
assessment. Now the patwaris of a district are distributed into grades with
varying rates of pay, Patwaris are graded as under:---
1st grade, on Rs. 26 per mensem … 20
per cent.
2nd grade, on Rs. 23 per mensem … 40 per cent.
3rd grade, on Rs. 20 per mensem … 40 per cent.
282. Assistant patwaris. – It is usual to have a few young assistant
patwaris receiving Rs. 15 monthly. Assistants should be used to help patwaris
whose work is very heavy or to fill temporary leave vacancies. Except in the
latter case, they should not ordinarily be given any independent charge.
283. Pay of patwaris. – Salaries are drawn monthly and care should be
taken that they are punctually disbursed. Besides their pay patwaris receive a
two-fifth’s share of the fees levied for the entry of mutation in the record-of-rights,
and are allowed to make certain small charge for allowing the inspection of
their records and giving certified extracts. It is rule to which no exceptions
are allowed that the whole of the pay and all the fees must be given to the
person who actually performs the duties of patwari.
284. Appointment, punishment and dismissal of patwaris. – No Revenue
Officer below the grade of Collector can appoint, punish, or dismiss a patwari.
With this exception that the Revenue Assistant may impose on a patwari a fine
not exceeding Rs. 2 and a Tehsildar a fine not exceeding Re. 1 on any one
occasion. But the Deputy Commissioner should keep the power to sanction
appointments and dismissals in his own hands. Recommendations should be
received from the Revenue Assistant, and where he is an impartial and sensible
man, they should usually be accepted. Upon him mainly depends the efficiency of
the patwari and Kanungo staff. He cannot have the proper amount of authority
over it or be excepted to work with zeal if his subordinates are given any
reason to suspect that he has not the support and confidence of his chief.
285. Patwari candidates. – A register of patwari candidates is kept up
for each Tehsil. In most districts it is now possible to exclude men who have
not passed the Middle School examination. Near and clear handwriting in the
Urdu character and the power to work out simple sums in arithmetic quickly and
correctly are essential, and no candidate, however well qualified otherwise,
should be accepted who has not good physique and health and good eyesight.
Candidates must be between the age of 15 and 25 years. It is undesirable that a
large proportion of the candidates should belong to the money-lending or
trading class, and the sons of agriculturists should be encouraged to come
forward as candidates. A clever and well-educated lad who enters Government
service as a patwari has very fair chances or promotion to higher posts. The
appointments of Tehsil revenue accountant (wasil baki navis) and siyaha navis
are, whenever possible, reserved for them, and two-thirds of the Kanungos must
be promoted patwaris. Once he becomes a field Kanungo a patwari may hope to
climb still higher on the official ladder. Patwaris are also eligible for the
post of Tehsil judicial muharrir.
286. Patwari school. – Every candidate must attend the
287. Filling up of vacancies. – The most "suitable" candidate
must be selected, and relationship to the former patwari confers no claim. But
the Deputy Commissioner is bound to consider any representation made by the
land-owners of the vacant circle, and, if it is evident that they really with
for the appointment of a relation of the late incumbent, who is fit for the
post, some regard should be had to this in weighting claims. The fact that the
candidate is already a resident of the circle and has the confidence of the
proprietors, has a strong bearing on his "suitability". However
well-qualified to he seems to be, a candidate should not be chosen if any of
his near relations lend money in the circle.
288. Residence of patwari in his circle. – Every patwari is bound to
reside with his family in his circle, and must not leave it without permission.
The Deputy Commissioner may free him from this obligation, but circumstances in
which it would be right to do so very rarely arise. Where a suitable
patwarkhana exists, the patwari must keep his records in it, live in it with his
family and repair it when necessary. Land-owners must not be asked to spend any
part of the common village fund (malba) in buildings of maintaining
patwarkhanas, and only in special circumstances will the expenditure on these
objects be met by Government. Where no patwarkhana exists the patwari must make
his own arrangements, but reasonable help enabling him to do this will be given
to him by the revenue authorities.
It is intention of Government to provide additional patwarkhanas streadily year
by year.
289. Disabilities of patwaris. – A patwari is forbidden to engage in
trade, or to have any interest whatever in the lending of money to
agriculturists, and he must not tour for any legal practitioner or borrow from
any agriculturist in his circle. He cannot acquire land in his circle, except
by inheritance, and if he possesses any interest in land anywhere he must
report the fact to the Tehsildar. Nor can he purchase or bid for either
agriculture land for building sites in colonies without the sanction of the
Local Government previous obtained. A patwari sometimes tries to evade these rules by buying or taking mortgages in the name on of
his sons, but transparent subterfuge of this sort are easily brushed aside. He
is not permitted to write, attest or witness deeds for private individuals. He
may be dismissed if he is deeply in debt, as well as for misconduct, neglect of
duty, or incompetence. As soon as he becomes unfit through age or chronic ill
health to do this work properly he must be relieved of his office. Small
rewards are payable on retirement to well-conducted patwaris who have served
for a long time.
290. Employment of patwari on other but his proper duties forbidden. –
Care must be taken that no patwari is employed on any duties except those laid
down in the Financial Commissioner’ standing Order No. 15 (now see Chapter 3,
PLR Manual) which are only sufficient to occupy his whole time. The chief
branches of this work, the registration of the crops, the maintenance of the
record-of-rights, and the writing up of the statistical register of each estate
will be described in latter chapters. But the other duties which he has to
discharge may be briefly noticed here.
291. Miscellaneous duties of patwaris. – It is his business to report at
once all serious calamities affecting the land or the crops, and all severe
outbreaks of disease among man and beast. He must bring to the notice of
inspecting officers encroachments on Government lands, the death of pensioners
and assignees, the emigration or immigration of cultivators, and the
unauthorised cultivation of groves held revenue free on condition to the extend
noted in Chapter XV. He must allow any one interested to inspect his records,
and, if required, give certified extract from them.
292. Patwari’s diary. – He keeps up a diary (Roznamcha) and a word-book.
The first part of the diary, which is renewed annually, should contain a record
of all facts of importance regarding the cultivation of the land, the state of
the crops, the condition and relations of land-owners and tenants, and the
interests of Government. The entries should be made on the day on which the
events come to the notice of the Patwari. At the end of each Sambata month a
careful general note on the crops and the cattle of the circle should be added.
Orders received by the patwari from the Kanungo or from any Revenue officer
should also be entered in part of the diary. Where, however, an order consists
of directions of a general nature it should be inserted in Part II, which is
not renewed every year. The diary, like all other revenue records, is kept by
the agricultural year, beginning on 16th Bhadon, corresponding to
the 1st September.
293. Kanungo staff: - The Kanungo establishment consists of field
Kanungos, office Kanungos, and a district Kanungo, Its strength in each
district can only be altered with the sanction of the local Government.
Ordinarily there is one field Kanungo for about twenty patwaris, an officer
Kanungo at each Tehsil, and a district Kanungo with at least one assistant at
headquarters.
294. Duties of field Kanungo:-- The field Kanungo should be constantly
moving about his circle supervising the work of the patwaris on the spot,
except in the month of September, when he stays at the Tehsil to check the
Jamabandi received from the patwaris.
295. Duties of office Kanungo:-- The office Kanungo is the Tehsildar
revenue clerk. His chief word, the maintenance of the statistical revenue
records will be described in a latter chapter. He has also charge of the forms
and stationery required by patwari, keeps the accounts of mutation fees,
records the rainfall, and maintains the register of assignees of land revenue
and other miscellaneous revenue registers. He is custodian of all the records
received from patwaris, and a well-ordered Kanungo office is an important
factor in the revenue management of Tehsil.
296. Duties of district Kanungo:-- The district Kanungos, is responsible
for the efficiency of both the office and the field Kanungos, and should be in
camp inspecting their work for at lest fifteen days in each month from 1st
October to 30th April. He is the keeper of all records from Kanungos
and patwaris, maintains with the help of his assistant copies of the prescribed
statistical register for each assessment circle, Tehsil and the whole district.
It is necessary, as already noted, to give him one or more assistants for
office work. The pay of a Sadar Kanungos is Rs. 75—5/-2—100 per mensem, and his
assistant receives Rs. 60 per mensem, except in Simla where he receives Rs. 50—5—75
per mensem, while special Kanungo entertained in connection with the scheme for
making the contents of revenue records more readily accessible to litigants in
Civil and Revenue Courts are paid at Rs. 65 per mensem.
297. Kanungos to be employed only on their proper work:- All Kanungos
must be strictly confined to their own allotted work. It would, for example, he
improper to allow the district Kanungo to be used by the Revenue Assistant as
reader. Nor should a Tehsil office Kanungo be used for casework.
298. Grades and pay of Kanungos:- Field and office Kanungos are graded
on a single list, office Kanungos being chosen from among the older field
Kanungos. On first appointment a field Kanungo receives Rs. 40 per mensem. His
appointment is on probation pending the obtaining of a certificate of
efficiency from the Director of Land Records. No Kanungos is confirmed unless
and until he has obtained this certificate, and it he does not obtain it within
2 years of his first appointment, his name is struck off the list of Kanungos
and he is reverted to his original post, if any, no longer remaining a Kanungo
candidate. Field Kanungos in the highest grade, on one-fourth of the whole
number, draw Rs. 50 monthly. All field Kanungos receive Rs. 20 per mensem as
horse allowance. Settlement Kanungos are paid at the same rates as field
Kanungos on the district staff. Field Kanungos not employed in settlement work
get a stationery allowance of Re. 1 per mensem. Tehsil office Kanungos receive
Rs. 60 per mensem.
299. Kanungo candidates. – A register of accepted candidates for the
post of Kanungo is maintained. Patwaris on the district, establishment and
settlement patwaris drawing Rs. 20 or more per mensem are eligible for this
register, provided they have completed three year’s approved service as such
and have passed the middle school examination; but a lower educational
qualification may be accepted in special cases with the sanction of the
Financial Commissioner obtained through the Director of Land Records. Patwaris
of three years service and belonging to the 1st or 2nd
grade are eligible. Most of the candidates should be drawn from this class, as
two-third of the vacancies along Kanungos must be given to patwaris. In
choosing candidates it should be remembered that a patwari whose age exceeds
thirty-five year should not, as a rule, be promoted to a kanungoship. A few men
below the age of twenty-five who have passed the Entrance Examination of the
Punjab University may be accepted. But such candidates must not be given appointments
till they have served two years as a patwari’s or as apprentice learning
patwari’s work. No one should be accepted as a candidate who is no of active
habits and able to ride. There is no such thing as a hereditary claim to a
Kanungo’s post, and the caution given as to the classes from which the bulk of
the candidates should not be drawn in the case of patwaris applies equally tot
that of Kanungos. Candidates must appear at the local examination held by the
Director of Land Records. On passing it and giving evidence that they have
received a practical training they are entitled to certificates of efficiency.
300. Claims of Kanungos to higher post. – Great care should be taken in
choosing Kanungo candidate and there is no much difficulty in getting suitable
men. The post itself is a respectable one as regards pay and position, and it
carries the chance of promotion to the office of district Kanungo, the
appointment of district receive accountant (Sadar wasil baki navis), or a
Naib-Tehsildar-ehip. Any Kanungo who has served Government for five year
including at least two year’s approved services as field Kanungo may be
selected as a Naib-Tehsildar candidate. The Commissioner’s register should
always contain some names drawn from the kanungo’s list. It is true that few
promoted Kanungos are likely to rise above the ran of Naib-Tehsildar by
becoming Tehsildars. They are usually, at least when they have started as
patwaris, made Naib-Tehsildars too late in life to do so. But their previous
training fits them to do very good work at Naib-Tehsildar, and the post of a 1st
Grade Naib-Tehsildar is sufficiently honourable and well paid to satisfy the
ambition of most men of the class from which the Kanungo staff is mainly drawn.
A permanent or officiating district Kanungo is entitled to appear at the
Naib-Tehsildar’s examination, and, if he passes his name is put on the register
of candidates. A district Kanungo of not less than two years standing may be
selected by the Financial Commissioner as a candidate for the post of
Tehsildar.
301. Kanungos in districts under settlements. – When a district is being
reassessed, the kanungos work under the orders of the Settlement Officer who
finds it necessary to employ in addition a number of extra or settlement
kanungos. He also becomes responsible for the training of candidates. At the
end of the settlement he ought to leave in the district a thoroughly efficient
kanungo staff with a number of qualified candidates.
302. Training of kanungo candidates in settlement work. – Where possible
the Director of Land Record arranges to give kanungo candidates from districts
not under settlement a practical training in settlement work.
303. Filling up of post of district kanungos. – A vacancy in the office
of district kanungo must be filled by the promotion of an office or field
kanungo. The post is on which can only properly be filled by a well-educated
man of active habits, of god natural ability, and sufficiently acquired
experience. A fair knowledge of English is an indispensable qualified for
appointment. No particular examination test has been prescribed, but ability to
read and write English reports intelligibly and fairly quickly is demanded. The
Deputy Commissioner should consult the Director of Land Records demi-officially
when a vacancy in the post for six months or more is to be filled. If they do
not agree as to the person to be appointed each should state his case for the
consideration of the Commissioner of the Division, who will make the final
selection. An appeal from the decision will lie to the Financial Commissioner.
304. Disabilities of kanungos. – The rule regarding residence is the
same mutatis mutandis for field kanungos as for patwaris, and kanungos are
under the same regulations as patwaris as regards trading, borrowing and
lending, holding land, writing and attesting documents.
(b) VILLAGE HEADMAN, INAMDARS AND ZAILDARS
(Paras.
305—348. Punjab L. A. M.)
305. Value of unofficial agency. – In the last two chapters the strong
body of Government servants, of which the Deputy Commissioner is the haad, has
been described. It is a powerful piece of administrative machinery, but as
links between the higher officers and the communities for whose welfare they
are responsible, its inferior members have the defect which belong to purely
official agency. They have, therefore, been supplemented by representatives of
the land-owners in the shape of village headmen, inamdars and zaildars.
306. Convenience of dealings with village communities through headmen. – It
is obviously convenient for the State to deal with bodies like village
communities through headman. The internal affairs of such communities used to
be, and in some placed still in a measure are, managed by informal councils or
panchayats. But these have fallen into decay, and in any case their
constitution was too loose for them to serve intermediate between the rulers
and the landowners. The Sikh Government, like our own, found it useful to have
such intermediaries. The chaudhris and muskaddims through whom it dealt with
the people corresponded roughly with or zaildars and Lambardars.
307. Duties of headmen. – The headmen of a village act on behalf of the
landowners, tenants and other residents in their relations with the State. They
are bound to attend when summoned by officer of Government, and to aid them in
the execution of their public duties. Their important functions as regards the
prevention and detection of crime do not fall within the scope of this work.
Their chief duties are set-forth in some detail in a vernacular memorandum
which is given to each headman on his appointment. Those concerned with land
administration may be summarized as follows: --
A. Duties to Government: --
1. To collect and pay into the treasury the land revenue and all sums recoverable
as land revenue.
2. To report to the Tehsildar: --
(a) The death of
assignees and pensioners, and their absence for over a year.
(b) Encroachments on, or injury to, Government
property.
3. To aid—
(a) In carrying out
harvest inspection, surveys, the record of mutations and other revenue
business;
(b) In providing, on payment, supplies or means of transport for troops and
officers of Government.
Duties to land-owners and tenants of estate:---
1. To acknowledge every payment received from them to their parcha books.
2. To collect and manage the common village fund (malba), and account to the
shareholders for all receipts and expenditure.
The duties of headmen as regards the collections of revenue (A 1 and B 1 above)
are dealt with in Chapter XV. Those which fall under head A 2 (a) and A3 (a)
call for no remark. The financial Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 58 deals
with transport and supplies for troops. As regards the village malba (B 2) the
93rd and 94th paragraphs of the Settlement Manual may be
consulted.
308. Remuneration of headmen. – The manner in which headmen are
remunerated for their services has already been noticed. The pachotra or
surcharge of 5 per cent on the land revenue to which they are entitled is
calculated not on the demand, but on the amount collected. A suspension or
remission of the land revenue, therefore, involves the suspension or remission
of a corresponding share of the pachotra. As headmen collect their own
pachotra, it may be doubted whether this rule is always carried out, but, in
case of dispute, it must be enforced. Headmen usually receive and allowance of
3 per cent on account of collections of canal occupier’s rate.
309. Appointment and dismissal in districts under settlement.—When a
district is under settlement, headmen are appointed by the Settlement Officer,
When the question of dismissing a headman arises, he settlement officer deals
with the matter if the malfeasance was connected with work under his control,
otherwise the Deputy Commissioner is the final authority, The officer with whom
the actual decision rests should consult his colleague before passing orders.
310. Headman must be landowner of village.--- The headman or headmen
must be chosen from among the landowners of the village. In the case of Government
estates, or estates in which Government owns a considerable share, he may be
one of the Government tenants.
311. Too many headmen often appointed at first regular settlement. ---
The existing Lambardari arrangements in most villages were made when they were
first brought under a regular settlement. It was often found that a
considerable number of the owners had in fact received a share of the pachotra,
and that there were many claimants for the office of headman. The original
arrangements can be recast and the number of headmen reduced with the sanction
of the Financial Commissioner (See paragraph 329). When a readjustment of
pachotra is advisable for any reason, the Collector can take action under Land
Revenue Rule 21 (iv).
312. Matters to be considered in making new appointments.--- In making
new appointments, as distinguished from the filling up of vacancies in existing
posts, the chief matters to consider are---
(a) the constitution of the community to be represented,
(b) the family claims of the candidates,
(c ) the extent of their landed property and their freedom from debt.
(d) their character, ability and personal influence, and
(e) any services rendered to the State by themselves or the families to which
they be long.
The first point is important in deciding how many headmen are required. The
number should be as small as possible, having regard to the claim of each
principal branch of the community to have its own representative.
313. New appointments of headmen. --- New appointments are nowadays
exceptional, save in the case of estates carved out of the Government waste.
Where such an estate is leased to a single lessee, he becomes ipso facto
headman for the period of his lease. In the village which have recently been
planted in hundreds on state lands brought under cultivation b means of the
Upper and Lower Chenab, the Upper and Lower jhelum, the Lower Bari Doab and the
Sutlej Valley Canals, the Lambardari arrangements are governed by the
constitution of the groups of colonists while have occupied the new
settlements. In an ordinary district new appointments are only necessary when
the family in which the post is hereditary becomes extinct, when a headman
resigns or is dismissed, or in the rare cases in which an increase in the
number of headmen is sanctioned by the Commissioner.
314. Ordinarily headman must perform duties himself.—A headman once
appointed holds office for life unless the Deputy Commissioner dismisses him or
accepts his resignation, No man should ordinarily be retained in office who
either does not, or cannot, carry out the duties efficiently, But is some cases
where inability to do so is of a temporary nature, and in others where it
springs from unavoidable circumstances, the Lambardar is allowed to retain the
title, and even in some cases a share of the emoluments, while a substitute is
appointed to do the work.
315. Appointment of substitutes in certain cases. – The commonest
instance of a temporary inability is that of a headman being too young to act.
In that case the appointment of a substitute is imperative. Another instance is
absence from the village with the Deputy Commissioner’s consent for a period
not exceeding one year. Old age or physical infirmity is a disability which it
might savour of harshness to treat as a ground of dismissal. A wide discretion
is left to the Deputy Commissioner for he can allow a substitute or sarbarah
not only in the circumstances mentioned above, but in any case in which
"good cause" can be shown for the lambardar’s unfitness to do the
work himself. An absentee landlord owning a whole estate may nominate for the
approval of the Deputy Commissioner any of the residents to be his substitute.
As a rule, he will have an agent on the spot whom he will naturally put
forward. Should he fail to nominate a fit person, the Deputy Commissioner
chooses one of the resident tenants. Where in an estate owned by more than one
person an absentee headman is responsible either individually or as a
representative of other absentees for more than half of the land revenue, the
Deputy Commissioner may appoint any resident owner to tenant to be sarbarah. In
this, and indeed in all cases in which substitutes are appointed for a
Lambardar, who is not a minor, the wishes of the substantive holder of the
office should be put on record and fully considered. Other things being equal,
the best plan, when the headmen has become unfit to do his work, is to choose
as his substitute the man who wound naturally succeed him in the office in the
event of his death. If this is his son, he will usually not be a
"land-owner", but this is no obstacle, for "regard shall be had
to the property which the candidate will inherit from the person he is intended
to represent in like manner as if he has already inherited it." In the
case of minor lambardars, their mothers often ask for the appointment of
maternal uncle as sarbarah. Ordinarily he is ineligible because he owns no land
in the village, and in any case it is generally much more in accordance with
local sentiment to select a near relative of the boy’s father.
315-A. Appointment in canal colonies. – In the colonies it has been the
practice from the foundation of each estate to restrict the number of
lambardars to one or two. Where service condition exist as, for instance, in
the horse-breeding chaks of the Lower Jhelum Canal Colony it is usually
considered preferable to have only one lambardar. These posts are so much
coveted that the ordinary objection against having too few lambardars does not
hold good. Hereditary claims need not be regarded since the landholders are not
proprietors, and, therefore, the Collector is free to select the most suitable
landholder. In the newer colonies, where service conditions do not exist, two
lambardars are ordinarily appointed.
It making such appointments care should be taken to ensure that the lambardar
appointed resides, or will reside personally in the chak. It must be remembered
that the post of lambardar has been created in order to ensure the performance
of services necessary for the efficiency of the administration of the province
and the district. These posts are not created to add to the prestige and
influence of influential and wealthy land-owners, who have no intention of
fulfilling the obligations of the post. An additional objection to the
appointment of such posts as lambardars is that in many chaks the result of
their appointment would be that the work of the lambardar to all intents and
purposes, would be performed by a servant, and that land-holders of
considerable social standing, such as retired Commissioned military officers,
would occupy a position of subordination to the sarbarah lambardar—a state of
affairs to which they naturally have a strong objection. The land revenue rules with regard to the appointment of substitutes should,
therefore, be most carefully observed. The only concession which can property
be made to influential and wealthy non-resident land-holders is that they
should be appointed lambardars for the land which they hold themselves. In such
cases they should not be permitted to have any hand in the management of the
land allotted to the menials of the village.
316. Division of pachotra. – It is permissible to divide the pachotra
between the headman and his substitute. If it is intended to do so, the
arrangement must be noted in the order of appointment, otherwise the substitute
will receive the whole on the principle that the man who does the work should
get the pay. In any case the substitute’s share must not be fixed at less than
one half.
317. Removal of substitute. – The Deputy Commissioner may remove a
substitute for any reason which would justify the removal of the headman
himself or for any other sufficient reason.
318. Resignation of headman. – When a headman resigns he generally asks
for the appointment of his son to succeed him, and, in order to give him the
landowner’s qualifications, offers to transfer a share of his holding to him by
gift. Arrangements of this sort, being apt to lead to quarrels over the
division of the family holding after the father’s death, should be discouraged.
Where the lambardar has done nothing to merit dismissal, it is better to retain
him as nominal headman and to appoint his son to be his substitute.
319. Dismissal of headman. – The chief grounds on which a headman may
properly be dismissed are four—
(a) loss of the status of landowner in the estate.
(b) poverty.
(c) persistent neglect of duty.
(d) crime.
The first calls for no remarks. Dismissal in such a case in imperative.
320. Poverty as ground of dismissal. – As regards the second, the
collection of the dues of the State cannot safely be entrusted to a man who is
himself insolvent. If a headman has mortgaged his own holding, and has ceased
to be the person from whom its revenue is due to Government, he ought to be
dismissed unless he can make arrangements to pay off within a short time the
whole mortgage debt or so much of it as will suffice to release so much of the
holding as will be sufficient security for the Government revenue which passes
through his hands. In such a case a headman may be allowed a reasonable period
within which to recover himself if meanwhile he can furnish security for the
payment of the revenue and the discharge of his other duties. But make shift
arrangements of this kind should not be continued for any length of time. A
headman, who is a defaulter in respect of his own holding, ought no to be kept
in office. The mere fact, however, that one or other of the minor processes
referred to in paragraphs 520 521 of this Manual has been employed against him
need not necessarily entail dismissal, If the estate or sub-division of the
estate which the headman represents has had to be attached on account of
arrears, the Deputy Commissioner may dismiss the lambardar, and the same course
may be followed if the attachment is made by an order of any Court law. Proof
that a headman is heavily in debt, or that the amount of unencumbered land
remaining in his possession is very small, at once raises the question of his
fitness to retain office. In these cases much depends on the cause of the man’s
difficulties and the likelihood of his being able to surmount them. If the
revenue is paid in punctually, no readiness should be shown to harass a headman
and gratify his rivals by fishing enquiries into hi private affairs. The
practice which has prevailed in some places of encouraging patwaris to report
cases of indebtedness is very objectionable. No Tehsildar who exercise proper
control over the land revenue collection, and who moves freely among the
people, has any need of such written reports, and the acceptance of them puts
the patwari in a position with reference to headmen which he has no right to
occupy.
321. Punishments for neglect of duty. – Neglect of duty
which is either gross of persistent, should be followed by removal from office.
Minor breaches of rules or acts of negligence may
be punished—
(a) by the forfeiture of the whole or part of the pachotra, or
(b) by suspension form office for a term not exceeding a year.
Orders attaching the pachotra usually only relate to that due at the next
harvest, and in no case should the pachotra of more than two harvests be
declared forfeit. A substitute may be appointed to do the work of a headman
under suspension.
322. Commission of criminal offence as ground of dismissal. –
Considering that one of the chief duties of a headman is to aid in the
prevention and detection of crime, he ought to be removed from office if
convicted of any serious offence. If he is sent to jail for a year or more, the
Deputy Commissioner has no choice; he must dismiss him; otherwise he has a
discretion. Every petty breach of the criminal law need not be magnified into a
ground for dismissal. The conditions of life in a Punjab village are such that
a man is very liable to be hauled before a Magistrate for acts, or alleged
acts, which are offences under the Indian Penal Code, but which it is an abuse
of language to qualify as crimes. The only rule that can be laid down is that,
if the facts proved against a headman indicate that he is unfit to be entrusted
with the duties of his post, he should cease to hold it. If he is shown to be
dishonest, or to consort with bad characters, obviously he should be dismissed.
A conviction of theft or cheating prove him unfit to have charge of public money;
an order to give security to be of good behaviour or trustworthy evidence of
connivance with illicit distilling makes it clear that the offender cannot be
relied on for help in suppressing crime or in enforcing the excise laws.
323. Filling up of vacant posts. – Where the office of headman becomes
vacant, it is the duty of the Tehsildar to report without delay regarding the
appointment of a successor, It is convenient to use a tabular form for such
reports as information on certain point is required in every case, and any
special features of a particular case can be noted in the brief remarks
explaining the recommendation of the Tehsildar.
323-A. Appointment to vacant posts should not be delayed. – In view of
the importance of the duties performed by village headmen, it is imperative
that when a post falls vacant, it should be filled as quickly as possible. In
cases where the deceases is to be succeeded by his heir, under Land Revenue
Rule 17 (ii) and no other candidate is forthcoming, no reference need be made
to the Collector as the appointment is sanctioned by the Assistant Collector, 1st
grade. It is advisable, however, that the sanad or appointment should be signed
by the Collector himself as this emphasizes the importance of the post, and
enhances the value of the sanad. In cases of disputed succession, the
appointment is made by the Collector, and subordinate officials have no direct
responsibility with regard to the appointment other than the provision of such
accurate information as will enable the Collector to come to a correct
decision. In colony areas where the estate are chiefly or wholly owned by
Government and hereditary claims carry but little weight, the emoluments of
lambardars are very considerable because of the large sums of land revenue and
water-rates to be collected. The value of these posts is still further enhanced
in peasant chaks by the allotment of a Lambardari square or half-square. It is,
therefore, all the more desirable that such cases should not be delayed before
they reach the Collector. In no circumstances should a greater delay than of
one month be permitted to occur between the occurrence of the vacancy and the
placing of all the papers before the Collector for his decision. The practice
of subordinate officials sending repeatedly for all candidates to examine them
with regard to their claims and qualifications opens the door to opportunities
for extortion. As soon as the vacancy occurs, a report should be made by the
patwari to the Tehsildar. An early date should then be fixed by the Tehsildar
or Naib-Tehsildar on which on which he will consider and investigate all the
applications for the vacant post. He should, if possible, arrange to hold the
investigation in or near the estate concerned. The claimants should be given an
opportunity of making any objections which they wish to make against the other
claimants. A report should be called for from the local police station as to
whether there are any written complaints against any of the candidates. In no
circumstances should the candidates be called upon to attend the police station
for the investigation of their claims or their objections to other claimants.
The papers should then be forwarded to the Assistant Collector 1st
Grade, who should record his opinion on the file from his own personal
knowledge and form the material already collected. He should not delay the case
by sending for the claimants. The papers should then been laid before the
Collector within one month from the date for the decision of the case, notify
all the claimants and have the date proclaimed in the estate concerned.
Meanwhile he should forward the papers to the Superintendent of Police for an
expression of that officer’s opinion. That opinion should be given by the
Superintendent of police from the material already collected on the file, and
from his personal knowledge of the claimants.
324. Hereditary claims. – Except in estates chiefly or wholly owned by
Government, much weight is attached to hereditary claims. The eldest fit son of
the late lambardar should ordinarily be appointed, and, when there no is son,
the nearest collateral relations, according to the rule of primogeniture. Where
there are no near collaterals, the necessity of regarding hereditary claims
disappears. The nearest heir may, of course, be set aside for any reason which
would justify his removal from office if he were already headman. Whether the
claims of sons should be considered where a headman has been dismissed depends
on circumstances. If the ground of dismissal has been insolvency, the son will
be subject to the same disqualification: if serious misconduct, it can rarely
be wise to let a son succeed. Even when he is innocent of any share in his
father’s misdeeds; he will generally be under his influence. If the other
reasons for excluding him seem insufficient, the mere fact that he owns no land
during his father’s lifetime does no bar his appointment. The property which he
will inherit on his father’s death may be taken into account as if it was
already his own.
325. Votes must not be taken. – Even where hereditary claims have to be
set aside, the votes of the landowners must no be taken as a means of deciding
between rival candidates.
326. Appointment of females. – Female are ordinarily ineligible. But
woman who is sole owner of an estate may be appointed, and special reasons may
occasionally exist in other cases for departing from a general rule.
327. Appointment when hereditary claims are set aside. – Where
hereditary claims do not exist, or have to be set aside, the considerations
governing appointments are those mentioned in paragraph 312.
328. Classes of transferees. – Where a headman is removed because his
own holding or the whole estate or sub-division of the estate for whose revenue
he is responsible has on account of arrears been transferred to a solvent
co-sharer, put under direct management, or leased to a farmer, the transferee
manager, or farmer may, if the Deputy Commissioner thinks fit, he appointed
lambardar. Where a headman loses office because he has mortgaged his holding,
the mortgagee has usually no claim whatever to succeed him. But the may, at the
Deputy Commissioner’s discretion, he allowed to do so where the revenue of the
transferred holding is more than half of the whole revenue for the payment of which
the late headman was, as such, responsible. The appointments referred to in
this paragraph are not in their nature permanent. When the temporary
alienations from which they spring come to an end, the transferee, manager,
farmer or mortgagee must lay down his office. A fresh selection is then made by
the Deputy Commissioner, having regard to the grounds stated in paragraph 312.
329. Reduction of headman when number is excessive difficult. Reference
has already been made to the inconvenience caused by the needless
multiplication of headman’s posts at the first regular settlements. Substantial
means heads of villages among the most necessary instrument of a vigorous
revenue and criminal administration. The framing of a general scheme of
reduction requires a large amount of local knowledge, and a patient enquiry
into the history of past appointments in every estate affected. The files
relating to the arrangements made at the first regular settlement and those
dealing with subsequent appointments must be scrutinized and the enquirer must
obtain a clear idea of the constitution of each estate and must trace the
origin of its sub-divisions by examining the village administration paper
(wajib-ul-arz) and genealogical tree (shajra-nasab). The time for making such an
enquiry is hard to find in the throng of daily duties which besets a Deputy
Commissioner. Of course, much of the information which he requires can be
collected and put into shape for him by his officers, but, even so, task is
heavy one.
330. General schemes of reduction. – (1) When a district is brought
under resettlement, and the Settlement Officer finds that a reduction in the
existing number of headmen is required in the interests of good administration
in a considerable number of villages throughout the district or in any
particular Tehsil, he should, in consultation with the Deputy Commissioner,
prepare a scheme for affecting the necessary reduction gradually as vacancies
occur.
(2) The main positive ground for reduction of a Lambardari in an estate is that
the existing number lambardars is excessive for the purposes of administrative
efficiency, while the existence and degree of this excess will generally appear
from the fact that the pachotra of the post which it is proposed to reduce in
insignificant as a remuneration for the duties to be discharged. It is
difficult to lay down a standard figure for the whole province as much must
depend on local conditions, but any individual pachotra less than Rs. 20 per
fannum may as a rule, and in the absence of special circumstances, such as the
existence of a ferry, encamping-ground, &c., be regarded as insignificant.
The Commissioner should prescribe a suitable general standard for each district
in his division and in some cases it may be advisable to fix such standard for
particular Tehsils. It is not, however, by any means intended that every
lambardari of which the pachotra is below the prescribed amount should
necessarily be proposed for reduction apart from the other modifying
considerations, of which some are noticed below, On the other hand, where the
pachotra is more than such amount, reduction may, in special cases, be
desirable nevertheless. In calculating the pachotra the amount received in
respect of canal occupier’s rates (paragraph 308) should not be neglected.
(3) In determining what appointments should be retained and what abolished,
special attention should be paid to the composition of the village proprietary
body, to the circumstances under which exiting appointments became vested in
certain families and to the present position and influence of these families.
No proposal for reduction can be fully satisfactory unless it takes sufficient
account of the origin and history of the lambardari which is proposed for
reduction. For instance, it is generally desirable to reduce the lambardari
held by the junior branch of a family, rather than that held by the senior,
and, in order to secure this, it may be advisable to forego an otherwise
suitable occasion for reduction and defer the latter step unit the occurrence
of a more appropriate vacancy.
(4) In estates homogeneous as regards caste and tribes, reductions may properly
be made more freely than in those where there is considerable diversity in
these respects.
(5) Reduction is not generally advisable where its effect will be to place any
considerable number of proprietors of one religion, tribe or caste under a
lambardar of another Patti or sub-division of a different religion, etc.
(6) As a rule, it is better if the conditions permit to reduce the post of
second lambardar of one taraf, Patti or other sub-division of an estate, rather
than that of the sole lambardar of another taraf, etc.
(7) The proposals of the Settlement Officer and the Deputy Commissioner should
be embodied in a register in the form prescribed in paragraph 5 of standing
Order No. 20—Village Headman. They should not be announced to the villagers,
nor will they be submitted to higher authority for sanction. But, if there is
any difference of opinion between the Settlement Officer and the Deputy
Commissioner, the register, together with any connected papers relating to any
lambardari about which there is such disagreement, shall be forwarded to the
Commissioner, who will decide whether such lambardari shall or shall not be
retained in the register. The register will then he made over to the Deputy
Commissioner, with whom it will remain.
(8) Whenever a vacancy occurs in a lambardari which has been recommended for
reduction in the register prepared at settlement, the Deputy Commissioner will,
subject to what is said in the next sentence, send up the case to the
Commissioner, with an extract from the register and other papers required by
Standing Order No. 20 in the case of casual proposals, whether he agrees with
the recommendation made in the register or not. But he should not, save in very
exceptional cases, send up cases in which the Settlement Officer’s proposal
would result in either the total number of lambardars in village being reduced
to one, or in the passing over of an heir in the direct line, especially a
minor, In the above contingencies the Financial Commissioner will not generally
sanction a reduction. In other cases if the Deputy Commissioner thinks that
effect should not be given to a reduction proposed in the scheme, in the
special circumstances of the vacancy which has occurred, he should submit a
note of his reason. If the Commissioner considers that the occasion in not
appropriate for reduction, the case may be disposed of by his order, but in
cases in which he considers that reduction should be made a reference should be
made to the Financial Commissioner, and the procedure prescribed in paragraph
332(3), (4) and (6) below will be applicable in them.
(9) A similar scheme may, at any time, for sufficient reasons, be prepared by
the Deputy Commissioner of a district not under settlement with the Financial
Commissioner’s previous approval.
(10) To ensure that the recommendations made in a scheme prepared by a
Settlement Officer or Deputy Commissioner are not overlooked, Deputy
Commissioner of districts in which a register has been prepared should require
the ahlmad in charge of lambardari cases to note on all files of appointment to
a vacant lambardari whether the vacant lambardari whether the vacant post has
been recommended for reduction or not.
331. Cancelled.
332. Casual proposals for reduction. – (1) Casual proposals
for a reduction in the number of headman in an estate should be made by
transmission of the files in originally through the vernacular office, together
with an English abstract in the tabular form given in paragraph 6 of the
Financial Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 20 and a skeleton abstract of the
shajra nasab, showing the origin of each of the patties or tarafs of the
village, the revenue paid and the number of revenue-papers in each, and the
relationship of the sub-division of the village, the lambardari of which it is
proposed to reduce, the sub-division in which it is proposed to be absorbed as
regards lambardari arrangements.
(2) The mere absence of a properly qualified hereditary successor to a vacant
lambardari, though it may help to render the vacancy a suitable occasion for a
reduction desirable on other grounds, is not alone and of itself an adequate
ground for reduction. Much less should reduction be proposed solely as a
penalty for delinquencies of the last incumbent or of his family. For such a
case other appropriate measures are available. The principles laid down in
paragraph 330 should also be followed in making casual proposals for reduction.
(3) When a Collector decides to propose a casual reduction, he shall intimate
the fact to all the parties interested, viz., those whose names are entered in
a columns 5 and 6 of the form, and shall give them sufficient opportunity to
bring to his notice any objections any of them may think fit to urge against
the proposed reduction. He shall cause his proceedings in this connection to be
recorded in the vernacular files in detail, and shall also cause a detailed
record to be made of such objections as are made to him. Where the Collector is
not himself the Deputy Commissioner of the district, he shall forward the file
to the Deputy Commissioner, who shall return it with his opinion.
(4) The Collector, after completing his proceedings, shall, in a case in which
he considers reduction desirable, forward the papers prescribed above to the
Commissioner for orders.
(5) If the Commissioner is of opinion that a reduction is not appropriate, he
shall record his order on the papers and return them to the Collector.
(6) In other cases the Commissioner shall ordinarily retain the papers on his
file till the expiry of two months from the date of the Collector’s proposals;
and if any person has objected to the proposals, he shall give the objector or
objectors an opportunity of being heard, and shall record the objections urged
by them. He shall then complete the papers be recording an opinion in which he
shall deal with the objections made to the proposal, and shall forward the
papers to the Financial Commissioner for orders.
333. Chief headmen. – A device which was formerly adopted in order to
lessen the inconvenience caused by the excessive number of lambardars appointed
at the first regular settlements was the institution of the office of chief
headman (ala lambardar) in estates with several headmen. It is generally
admitted that the office of chief headman has served no useful end, and, later
a large number of ala lambardari posts were reduced. In 1909 the gradual
abolition of the ala lambardari system in the districts in which it still
obtains was ordered. In future, vacancies will not be filled up, and the ala
lambardars of any man who is dismissed or is granted a zaildari on other inam
will be resumed. All existing ala lambardar’s will enjoy their present
emoluments for life unless they become resumable as above. In addition to his
ordinary pachotra on the revenue of the sub-division which he represents as
headman, the ala lambardar receives one per cent on the revenue of the whole
estate. Orders to be carried out by a headman may, if thought desirable, be
addressed to the chief headman and the latter is responsible that any orders
issued are properly executed and should carry them out himself it the headman
responsible fails to do so.
334. Zaildars. – As already remarked, zaildars represent the chaudhris
of former times. The existence and value of chauredhris was recognized at the
time of the annexation of the Punjab, but the measures taken to maintain the
influence of men of this class were not sufficiently definite and practical and
the position of chaudhris fell into decay. The credit of revising it and of
making it under another name a regular part of our administration systems
belongs mainly to Mr. Prinsep. Almost every where in Punjab, and even in so
democratic a tribe as the Jats, there are men who stand head and shoulders
above ordinary headmen, and whose influence extends not to one, but to number
of villages. If the proper men are found, and the higher officials of the
district know them will and use them widely, the work of administration is
greatly assisted. In his zaildars the Deputy Commissioner has a ready means of
getting into touch with his people, of understanding them and getting them to
understand him. He will find many places of revenue and administrative work in
which he can utilize the services of the zaildars, and, above all, he has in
them a powerful engine for the prevention and detection of crime.
335. Formation of zails. – In the closing paragraphs of the Settlements
Manual the measures connected with the first introduction of the zaildari
agency into a district and the principles to be followed in grouping estates
into zails are described.
336. Duties of zaildars. – The duties of the zaildars are set forth
under seven heads in the sanads which they receive on appointment. Their
functions with regard to crime are within their larger spheres similar to those
of headmen within their villages. They are of very great importance, but this
is not the place to describe them. Like lambardars, they are bound to aid in
all sorts of revenue work, and to report when Government buildings, roads or
boundary marks are out of repair. When called on to do so they notify
throughout their zails all Government orders, and use their personal influence
to secure compliance with them. While abstaining from personal interference
with the work of lambardars and patwaris, it is their duty to see that they
perform it properly, and to inform the authorities of and failure to do so.
Forbidden to intermediate of their own motion with cases pending in the law
Courts, they can sometimes be employed with advantage as conciliators, or in
making preliminary enquires into criminal complaints, which appear to be
probably the exaggerated reflections of petty village or family quarrels. It is
incumbent on zaildars "to see that the headmen……………………of the zail perform
their duties properly "including, of course, the duty of paying in land
revenue promptly. But a discreet use should be made of the rule, and zaildars
ought not to be employed as if they wee peons. More especially they should
neither be ordered themselves to collect any sums due to Government not
permitted to take land revenue collected by lambardars to the Tehsil.
337. Duty of attendance on offices vising their zails. – Theymust attend
on Government officers who pass through their zails. This is a duty which is
usually cheerfully performed, and which should always be enforced. A Deputy
Commissioner should try to see all his zaildars at least once at year in or near
their zails, and should encourage them to visit him from time to time at
headquarters. If they find that the district officer talks freely to them on
matters of local interest, and encourages a frank expression of their views,
they are sure to value these opportunities of meeting him.
338. Percentage of land revenue allotted for remuneration of zaildars and
inamdars. – For the remuneration of zaildars a sum is set aside out of the
land revenue amounting usually to 1 per cent. If inamdars, as well as zaildars,
are appointed, and additional ½ percent, is allowed. This deduction is made
from assigned, as wellas from khalsa revenue. In the case of assigned revenue,
the highest contribution that can legally be taken is 1 ½ per cent. But the
usual rate is 1 ¼ percent as noted above, and more than ½ percent should not be
devoted to the remuneration of inamdars.
339. Methods of remuneration. – There are two ways of treating the sum
devoted to the payment of zaildars. Each zaildar may receive 1 per cent of the
land revenue of his own circle in the form of an inam paid out of the jama of
some particular estate; generally that in which in he himself is headmen. Thus,
if the zail is assessed at Rs. 24.900 the inam will be Rs. 249 and the zaildar
will keep back that sum when the revenue of his village is paid to Government.
A better plan is to have inams arranged in different grades, the total being
equal to one per cent of the land revenue of the Tehsil or district.
340. Advantages of grade system. – The grade system gives the officer
who fixes the limits of zail a much freer hand. It secures a fairer
distribution when zaildars are first appointed for it by no means follows that
the zail which yields the biggest revenue is either the largest in area or the
most troublesome to manage. Above all it enables the Deputy Commissioner to
recognize good work by promoting deserving men on the occurrence of vacancies,
and now and then to punish slackness by reducing a zaildar to an inferior
grade. In order to make the system effective, a zaildar appointed to fill a
vacancy should always be put in the lowest grade. Even where the plan of graded
inams is in force, the zaildar gets his pay in the shape of an inam out of the
revenue of some village. The reason is that to Indian this seems to more
honourable form of payment than the receipt of money from the Tehsil treasury.
341. Inam first charge on revenue of village from which payable. – The
zaildar’s inam is a first charge on the revenue of the estate from which it is
paid. Partial suspensions or remissions, therefore, do not affect the zaildar
so long as the balance is large enough to cover his inam. If it is not, the
deficiency should be made up to the zaildar from the revenue of some other
village.
342. Zaildar must as a rule be headman. – In choosing a zaildar, the
field of selection is usually confined to the headmen. Occasionally the most
able and influential man in zail may be a landowner or Government tenant,
perhaps a jagirdar or pensioned Indian Officer, who is not a lambardar. On a
vacancy occurring, such a man may be appointed if the Commissioner of the
division has previously accepted him as a suitable candidate. Care must be
taken in putting forward names that a pushing newcomer is not taken at his own
valuation, and allowed to thrust aside deserving men of the old chaudhris
class.
343. Qualifications of candidates. – Its true that it is settled rule
that "in the appointment of zaildars regard shall not be had to any
alleged hereditary claim." But, as two of the chief matters to be
considered are "the candidate’s personal influence and the degree in which
he is by race or otherwise fitted to represent the majority of the
agriculturists who reside in the zail" and the "services rendered to
the State by (the candidate) himself or by his family," it is obvious the
questions of descent cannot be wholly excluded. Influence is very commonly
hereditary in certain families, and a man who has done nothing to forfeit the
respect in which his ancestors have been held in the countryside may assuredly
be allowed to urge in his own behalf the services they have rendered in the
past an chaudhris and zaildars. The other points for consideration are—
(a) personal character and ability.
(b) extent of property in the zail, and freedom from debt.
344. Appointment of minor. – It sometimes happens that the only suitable
candidate is a minor. It may be found, especially in the hills, that to take
the zaildar from any family but one involves a breaking up of the old ties and
a weakening of the means Government has of influencing the people. In such a
case if the representative of the family is a minor, one of two courses ma be
followed. The minor may be made zaildar, and a substitute may be appointed to
discharge during his nonage the duties of the office, or, if it is thought
expedient, the post may be left unfilled for a time.
345. Votes of headmen may be taken. – To assist him in deciding between
rival candidates, the Deputy Commissioner may, if he thinks fit, have the votes
of the headmen taken in his own presence at some place within the zail. The
course, though not suited for general application, may be usefully and
appropriately adopted where there are two or more candidates of nearly equal
merit. It may also be followed in other cases of a special nature the
circumstances of which appear to demand it. Such cases will probably increase
in number with the lapse of time. Care, however should be taken that the
special procedure for taking votes is not so used as to encourage the idea that
the post of zaildar is one dependent merely on popular favour, and not rather a
distinction received from the representative of Government, and in this
connection it should be noted that the Deputy Commissioner is not bound to
appoint the candidate who secures most votes.
346. Inamdars. – In many districts it has been thought expedient to
supplement the zaildari agency by setting up a class of inamdars or
safedposhes. The services required of an inamdars are within his own sphere of
the same type as those rendered by a zaildar, but he receives a much smaller
inam, and has no defined group of estates put under his charge. He should
clearly understand that he is bound to assist in every possible way the zaildar
in whose zail he resides. Occasionally services of a special kind are required
by the condition on which the inam was originally granted. The orders regarding
appointment, loss of office and succession are the same for inamdars and
zaildars, subject, in the case of the former, to any special conditions imposed
by Government when the inam was first granted. In Jhelum district and in the
Talagang Tehsil of Attock district, which Tehsil was formerly a part of old
Jhelum district, special rules exist, which will
be found in the Land Revenue Rules. Some of the inams
are of a semi-hereditary nature. Such inamdars, who sometimes are called
ilaqadars or halaqadars perform all the duties of zaildars.
347. Punishment and dismissal of zaildars and inamdars and appointment of
substitutes. – The orders regulating the punishment and dismissal of
zaildars and inamdars, and the appointment of substitutes to perform their
duties, are practically identical with the corresponding orders in the case of
headman. A zaildar must be deprived of office when---
(a) he ceses to be a land-owner in the zail, or has mortgaged his
holding and delivered possession to the mortgagee;
(b) his holding has been
transferred, or its assessment annulled, on account of failure to pay land
revenue;
(c) he is sentenced to imprisonment for one year or upwards.
348. Zail books. – Wherever the zaildari
agency exists, zail books should be maintained. One volume should ordinarily be
kept for each Tehsil, and should contain in a pocket a map of the Tehsil
showing the zail concerned. The book should be of foolscap size, and map of
each zail should be bound into the pocket in the proper place, together with
statistical tables showing the information prescribed in the Financial
Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 21. Whenever a new zaildar is appointed, and abstract
of the order passed by the Collector should be copied into the zail book,
giving briefly the names of all the candidates, and the reasons why the
Collector has selected or rejected them. The results of appeals should
similarly be shown.
Zail books should be
treated as strictly confidential, and kept I the personal custody of Collector.
Copies of entries in the book should on no account be given either to the
persons concerned or to anyone else. It will thus be possible for the Collector
to record remarks in these books, expressing frankly his own opinion about the
zaildar and various matters connected with the zail. These remarks will be of
the greatest use of his successors. Ordinarily, the Collector should arrange to
record a no once a year about each zaildar and inamdar so that the record may
be kept up-to-date.
The books which are kept by the zaildars and inamdars are also official books
and should be provided at Government expense. They are not the property of the
persons to whom they are given, and should be surrendered when those persons
cease to hold the appointment for which the book has been granted to them. The
book should contain a map of the zail and the statistical information required
by Financial Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 21. Where an inamdar has been
made specially responsible for a portion of the zail, this should be noted in
his book. An abstract of the order of Appointment of the zaildar or inamdar
should be copied into the book. The Collector should insist on seeing all such
books at least once a year and should make a point of recording an entry at
least once a year in each book and of seeing that the Superintendent of Police
has had a similar opportunity of recording his remarks. No entry should be made
in the book by any officer below the rank of an Extra Assistant Commissioner
but Revenue Assistants, Excise officers, Deputy Superintendents of Police,
Assistant Registrars of Co-operative Societies and Deputy Directors of
Agriculture, and in horse breeding circle, District Remount Officers should be
encouraged to make entries in these books.
Since the book is not
the property of the zaildar or inamdar, it should be clearly explained to him
that he should not paste into it any sanad or certificates, and that, if he
wishes to preserve remarks recorded about him by officials for his own use, he
should have copies of these made since at any time he may have to surrender the
official book to the Collector.
Divisional and District
Inspectors of schools may also write their remarks when a zaildar presents his
book for the purpose. They are not, however, empowered to call for these books
or to insist on the attendance of zaildars. A zaildar should do all that he can
to co-operate with educational Inspectors in the development of schools.
(c) THE RECORD-OF-RIGHTS
(Paras. 366-394, Punjab
L. A. M.)
366. Cancelled.
367. Nature and contents of record-of-rights
described in Settlement Manual. – It is needless to describe here the nature and
contents of a standing record-of-rights, which is usually drawn up at
settlement, and of the subsequent revised editions of it, whose legal
description is "annual records" though in the great majority of
estates they are prepared only at intervals of four years. The reader is
supposed to be familiar with the fourteenth chapter of the Settlement Manual,
where these matters are fully discussed.
368. Duty of Deputy Commissioner to keep the record-of-rights up to date. –
The Settlement Officer hands over to the Deputy Commissioner a record-of-rights
for each estate, the chief documents included in which are the village map or
shajra kishtwar and the Jamabandi, that is to say, a list owners’ and tenants’
holdings, with a detail of the fields contained in each, of the rent paid by
each tenant and of the revenue due from each owner. It is the business of the
Deputy Commissioner to keep both of these up to date. The provision contained
in section 44 of the Land Revenue Act (XVII of 1887) attaching an equal
presumption of truth to entries is standing records-of-rights and in annual
records can only be justified by the great care taken in preparing them. The
instructions regarding the keeping of the village map up to date in the
interval between two Settlements will be found in Part F of the Financial
Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 16 (now see Chapter 4, Punjab Land Records
Manual).
369. Law as to change of entries in record-of-rights explained in the
Settlement Manual. – The law as to the circumstances under which the
alteration of an existing standing record-of-rights or annual record is
permissible is discussed in paragraphs 279-282 of the Settlement is Manual,
which should be read as part of this Chapter.
370. Revision of record when complete remeasurement is ordered. – We are
not here concerned with the elaborate procedure for the revision of the
Jamabandi, which is carried out when a complete re-measurement of an estate is
ordered for such remeasurement, as a rule, only takes place in connection with
a general reassessment of the land revenue. Should, however, the remeasurement
of an estate become necessary at another time, the procedure will be that laid
down in the seventh appendix to the Settlement Manual.
371. Forms of Jamabandi and of list of revenue assignments. – The forms
of the Jamabandi and of list of revenue assignments and pensions, which is
included in the annual record, with instructions for their preparation, will be
found in Financial Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 23.
372. Classification of rights to be recorded. – The rights of which the
acquisition or loss gives rise to an alteration in the record-of-rights, may be
classified as follows: --
A. Rights of persons responsible to Government for land revenue.
1. Landowners.
2. Mortgagees with possession.
B. Rights of persons responsible to land-owners
for rent.
3. Occupancy tenants.
4. Lease-holders.
5. Tenants-at-will. "Leaseholders" in this connection means persons
holding land as tenants for period exceeding one year on written or oral
leases.
373. Reports of acquisitions of right to patwari. – The first three
classes are legally bound to report to the patwari the right which they have
acquired. If they fail to do so within three months from the date of
acquisition they render themselves liable to small fine. Assignees of land
revenue and mortgagees without possession are also bound to report, but their
rights are not of a kind which must be recorded in the body of Jamabandi though
certain notes regarding them are made in the "remarks column" of that
document. Redemptions of mortgages must be reported by the land-owners whose
lands have been redeemed. For his knowledge of acquisition of title by
lease-holders and tenants-at-will the patwari must rely mainly on his own
observations and on the result of enquires as to the cultivating occupancy of
land made at the harvest inspections. Among the thing which he has to enter in
his diary are the deaths of tenants owner, village officer, pensioners, and
revenue assignees, the ejectment, absconding, or setting or cultivators and
right-holders, the relinquishment, change or renewal of any and the execution
of any lease or agreement for cultivation. Lease-holders and tenants-at-will
are under no obligation to report to the patwari, but like all other persons
whose rights are recorded in the Jamabandi they are bound on demand to furnish
him and any Revenue Officer engaged in revising it with accurate information.
To aid in recording mutations is one of the duties set forth in the memorandum
given to village headmen on appointment, and the lambardar of the patti in
which a mutation take place is expected to attest by his seal or signature the
report made on it by the patwari for the orders of the Revenue Officer.
374. Reports of registered deeds. – Registrars and sub-registrars shall
send monthly to Tehsildar particulars of all registered deeds which purport to
transfer agricultural land. The entries relating to each deed are made on a
separate slip. The office kanungo forwards these slips to the field kanungo of
the circle, who distributes them to the patwaris concerned (see paragraph 6 of
Financial Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 23, now incorporated in Chap. 7,
Punjab Land Records Manual)
375. Register of mutations. – The patwari keeps up a register of
mutations in which the records all acquisitions of rights of the kinds
described in the preceding paragraphs, reported to him or which he "has
reason to believe to have taken place,’’ except those relating to land revenue
assignments and undisputed mutations of tenants-at-will, "as soon as they
are acted on. The last words do not occur in the Act, but in a rule framed
under it. They were seemingly introduced to carry out the principle that the
Revenue Officer who is revising a record-of-right is concerned only with rights
actually enjoyed by the persons claiming them. But a mere entry in the register
cannot cause any alteration in the Jamabandi without an order by a Revenue
Officer, and for the sake of convenience the patwari enters all transfers by
registered-deed, of which he has received intimation under the procedure
described in the last paragraph. It is the duty of the Revenue Officer to
refuse to sanction the mutation in such a case unless he is satisfied that the
transfer has actually been completed.
376. Copy of mutation register filed with Jamabandi. – The form of the
mutation register with instructions regarding the making of entries in it will
be found in Financial Commissioner’s Standing Order No. 23, Paragraph 1. It is
kept up in duplicate, one copy being retained by the patwari and the other sent
to the Tehsil to be attached to the Jamabandi as an authority for the new
entries which it contains. The patwari’s report, the attestation of it by the
filed kanungo, and the order of the Revenue Officer are written only in the coy
of the register to be filed with the Jamabandi. It is enough in the patwari’s
copy to show bow the case was disposed of by entering the briefest possible
abstract of the order, and thus abstract should be written by the Revenue
Officer with his own hand.
377. Cancelled.
378. Undisputed entries relating to tenants-at-will. – Most of the
alteration in the Jamabandi which the patwari can make of his own authority are
undisputed mutations of tenants-at-will. These are not entered at all in the
register. When the new Jamabandi is being complied they are taken straight from
the khasra girdawari. Disputed changes of tenants-at-will are treated exactly
like other mutations.
379. Orders in mutations cases. – Orders in mutation cases can be passed
by an Assistant Collector or either grade. In practice nearly the whole of the
work is disposed of by Tehsildars, and naib-tehsildars. In a country of small
peasant proprietors the number of mutations to be attested annually is very
large, and it is found necessary every year to appoint in some districts one or
more extra naib-tehsildars selected from the lists of accepted candidates and
to invest them with the powers required for the disposal of business under
Chapter IV of the Land Revenue Act. An appeal, of course, lis to the Collector
against orders sanctioning or refusing mutation of names, and the minute
proportion which the number of such appeals bears to the number of mutations
decided it evidence of the general satisfaction with the procedure.
380. Mutation work largely done by officers of no great standing or
experience. – It is clear from what has been just said that much of the
mutation work is done by officers of small standing and little practical
experience. It is also true that the work has often to be carried out very
rapidly, if the important object of keeping the jamabandi up-to-date is to be
attained. These are matters for reflection considering that such jamabandi now
possesses the same authority as a record-of-rights drawn up and settlement.
Fortunately the bulk of the work is exceedingly simpler there is no dispute as
to facts, and no opening for doubt as to the order that should be passed. But
this is by no means true universally and cases find their way into the mutation
register which require both care and knowledge to decide correctly.
West Pakistan Land Revenue Rules, 1968
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