Barkley’s Directions to Collectors, appendix XVI. The registers prescribed

Barkley’s Directions to Collectors, appendix XVI. The registers prescribed.  The prescribed registers of revenue-free tenures are as follows:-

(I)  The general register of every kind of revenue-free holding, whether of whole villages, portions of villages or plots of land, is in the annexed form (A).

This register is divided into three parts—

(i)  revenue-free tenures released in perpetuity;
(ii)  revenue-free tenures released for life or lives; and
(iii)  revenue-free tenures released for the maintenance of institutions.

2.  A list of inams granted to members of the agricultural community where such grants exist.
3.  Register of grants for the formation of roadside groves and the sinking of wells in the annexed form (B).

II.  Registers: were kept. These registers are prepared in duplicate in vernacular with bilingual headings for each tehsil as soon as final orders in regard to the revenue-free cases of the tehsil have been received, is deposited in the tehsil, and the other in the district office.

III.  Report of death of assignee of land  revenue, and orders to be passed on the report. The village headman and patwaris of the villages in which revenue-free tenures exist are required to report immediately to the tehsildar the decease of any holder of such a tenure unless not resident in the district.  It is the duty of the tehsildar, on receiving such a report, to inform the Deputy Commissioner, who will pass orders with reference to the tenure according to the terms of the final orders in the revenue free case.

IV.  In February of each year these will be prepared in the tehsil three inspection registers of revenue free grants—two for the circles of the tehsildar and naib-tehsildar and the third for assignees residing outside the tehsil.  In each part of these will be shown, first, the free grants entered in general register A; second inams  granted to members of the agricultural community; and third, grants for wayside groves and wells (register B).  The register will be in the following form:--

(1) Serial no.

(2) Register number and page.

(3) Village, with hadbast no.

(4) Names and additions of assignees.

(5) Conditions of grant (in brief).

(6) Remarks.

The tehsildar and naib-tehsildar will take on tour with them during the month of March the inspection registers appertaining to their respective circles, and, as far as may be, verify personally the existence of assignees, entering a note to this effect in the remarks column.  Where the grant is for the maintenance of an institution or of a roadside grove or well, a note should be made as to the manner in which the conditions are being fulfilled.  Where it is impossible to verify the existence of the grantee in this manner, or where he lives outside the tehsil, a life certificate, signed by the patwari, and attested by the headman of the village in which the assignee resides, whether that in which the grant is situated or not must be furnished to the tehsildar.

V.  Lists to be furnished by tehsildar:    The tehsildar is required to furnish before the end of April a list of all changes by lapses or change of occupancy by inheritance which have occurred during the official year and a list of assignees of land revenue who have neither attended nor furnished a life certificate.  Extracts from these lists should be entered in the diary of the patwari of the circle to which the entries relate.

VI.  The tehsildar must, at the same time, report, with reference to all grants for institutions such as mosques, kharghas, formation of roadside groves and the sinking of wells in his tehsil, the present condition of the grant, and whether the terms on which it was made have been complied with.

VII.      Inquiries to be made by the district authorities when in camp.  The Deputy Commissioner or his assistants, when marching in the district each cold weather, should ascertain, in a number of cases, by personal inspection, at or near the village in which the revenue-free plot is situated that the revenue-free holders not included in the lists received from the tehsildar are in existence, and that the lists and reports furnished by the tehsildars are correct.  The number of cases so tested should be mentioned in the annual revenue report of the district.

VIII.  Orders to be passed on receipt of the lists furnished by the tehsildar.  On receipt of the lists from the tehsildars, the Deputy Commissioner should cause them to be carefully tested by comparison with the general register, and, when this has been done, should enter his orders respecting absent or deceased assignees of land revenue in the register, and record a separate proceeding in each case containing the order passed, whether to secure the attendance or ascertain the existence of an absentee, or to bring the lands of a deceased assignee under settlement, and stating the facts on which the order was based.

IX.  Existence of absentees: how to be ascertained.  Extracts from the register containing the entries to assignees of land revenue resident in other districts should be furnished to the district officers of such districts, with a request that the tehsildar should be directed to proceed as prescribed in the preceding rules, and to forward the annual lists prepared by him, with the life certificates of the surviving assignees, to the Deputy Commissioner of the district in which the land is situated.

X.  Disposal of tenures of assignees not ascertained to be in existence.  The tenures of assignees, whether resident or non-resident of whose existence at the time of the annual inquiry no proof has been obtained, should be attached by the Deputy Commissioner, and the proceeds should be held in deposit until two years elapse unless it be ascertained in the interval that the assignee is living of his death be duly reported.  On the lapse of such period, without satisfactory proof of the existence of the assignee being obtained, the grant (if for the life of the absentee) should be resumed, and cannot be restored without the sanction of Government.  In all other such cases, the assignee should, on the lapse of the period of two years, be assumed to have died, and the assignment should be continued to the persons or persons entitled to succeed or be resumed if no such persons exist, the previously attached proceeds held in deposit being paid to the successor, if any.  If the absent assignee appears at any time after action has been taken in accordance with the above instructions, and applies for the restoration of his assignment, a report should be submitted to the Financial Commissioner for a revision of the order.

XI.  Procedure on then death of assignees on land revenue on grants exceeding a life tenure.  In case of grants extending beyond one life, or held during maintenance of an institution, the heirs are required to notify the death of the incumbent  to the tehsildar, and the patwari to furnish a  death certificate to the kanungo.  The procedure for carrying out mutations of assignment  is given in paragraph 7.27 of the Land Records Manual.

Cis-Sutlej  assignments

XII.  Special rules relating to pattidari tenures, Cis-Sutlej States: - Except       in  the Ambala District, and pargana Indri and tehsil Kaithal of the Karnal district, where a new form has been adopted for  registering both pattidari jagirs and the large jagirs of the district (see letter no.4-C., dated the 12^th March, 1889, from the Junior Secretary to Financial Commissioners, Punjab, to the Commissioner, Delhi), the register of pattidari tenures (or horsemen’s shares) in the Cis-Sutlej State is in the annexed form (C).  One or two leaves, or more when necessary, have been assigned to each village and the statements of the villages of one pargana have been bound into  a single volume (when possible) with blank leaves for future use.  This register includes a genealogical tree of each family of pattidars, showing the descent of the present holders from the common ancestor in possession in 1808-09 or other date the possession at which has been taken as the basis to regulate collateral succession.  It also shows the shares of the present holders as they stood after the completion of enquiries as to past concealed lapses, and the passing of final orders in such cases.  References are given to any village belonging to the same fraternity of pattidars.

XIII.  Register: where kept. The register is kept up in duplicate, one copy being in the district office, and the other kept by the tehsildar within whose jurisdiction the pargana lies.

XIV.  Reports of births of male children - Every pattidar is required, on having a male child born to him, to report the fact at the tehsil within seven days.

XV.  When the birth of a male child is reported in the family of a jagirdar, an entry, should be made accordingly in the genealogical tree.  No inquiry of any kind, 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 those kinsmen have moved in the matter in their own interest.  If there are no such kinsmen, it may become necessary to make some private inquiry; but even this should not be done unless rumours of fraud reach the ears of the Deputy Commissioner.  If the Deputy Commissioner thinks some private inquiry necessary,  he will, before moving, obtain the sanction of the Commissioner, to whom he will, in due course, report the result for further orders. 

XVI.  Inquiry will usually be desirable in doubtful cases when the birth is posthumous; and if the widow of the jagirdar declares herself to be pregnant, it may be desirable to make  the enquiry before the actual birth takes place or is due, and in some such cases it may be desirable, if possible, to arrange to use the services of a competent lady doctor for the personal examination of the lady alleged to be pregnant; but as already stated, the previous sanction of the Commissioner must in all cases be obtained before instituting enquiries.

XVII.  Special agency for the report of deaths of pattidars and births of male children in the Ambala and Karnal districts - In the Ambala district, and in the portion of the Karnal district formerly included in that of Thanesar, as the pattidars were so numerous that it was impossible to insist on their attendance at the tehsil once a year for the purpose of having their existence recorded, and as the collection of the commutation for service paid by them was difficult and as they had temptations to conceal the death of their brethren, sirkardar have been appointed for each patti or village, who are held responsible for reporting at the tehsil, within seven days of the occurrence, every birth of a male child and every death of a pattidar belonging to his village or patti with the names of his lineal male heirs, if he had any, and are charged with the collection of commutation money.  They are selected by the Deputy Commissioner (or, when a settlement is in progress, by the officer in charge of the settlement), a free voice being given in their election to the fraternity which they are to represent.  Penal engagements are taken from them, rendering them liable to forfeiture of their own shares or to such fine as may be proper in case of neglect of duty.  As remuneration for the performance of all their duties, they are allowed for 5 per cent., upon the amount of the commutation money realized by them, this percentage being deducted from the amount paid to Government.  They are not responsible for the collection of revenue for the pattidars, nor have they any right to collect it unless they are appointed agents by the pattidar for the purpose.

XVIII.  Special register of larger jagirs in the Ambala district - Reference has already been made in rule XII to the special form of register which is maintained for the larger jagirs in the Ambala district and parts of the present Karnal district.  With reference, however, to the succession to those jagirs, the orders contained in paragraph 6 of Government of India no.461, dated the 12^th February, 1851, must not be lost sight of.

Rule XIV  is applicable.

XIX.  Special register of the conquest jagirdar,  Trans-Sutlej States.      Form (C) has been prescribed for the register of conquest jagirs in the Trans-Sutlej States, the genealogical tree commencing with the ancestor whose descendants in the male line will inherit the aggregate jagir revenue so long as any such descendants exist.  Rules XIII and XIV are applicable to the register.

XX.  Register in the Delhi and Hissar divisions - In the portions of the (old) Delhi and Hissar divisions which were under the Government of the North-Western Provinces up to 1857 the registers of assignments of land revenue released before that date are, in some cases, those prescribed by the Board of Revenue, North –Western Provinces; these registers, where destroyed, have been prepared afresh from tehsil registers which escaped destruction, or from the statements furnished to the Board of Revenue.  In the Delhi and Karnal districts a separate register is also maintained of jagir since granted in reward for services for whatever terms, and in the Gurgaon district a separate register of hereditary grants held during the pleasure of Government exists.

These registers should be kept up-to-date until fresh registers are prepared, when the arrangement followed in the Punjab registers should be adopted, so far as circumstances will admit.  When this is done, hereditary grants of transferable character should be entered in a separate part of the general register, and the register of grants for religious and charitable purposes, not exceeding 10 bighas, released at the last settlement by the Settlement Officer under regulation XXXI of 1803, section 2, clause 7 should be kept separate where such register exists.  The forms given at pages 442 and 444 of Directions for Revenue Officers, North-Western Provinces, are sufficient for these portions of the general register as detailed information in regard to the holders of transferable tenures is not required.

XXI.  Grants released by Commissioners or Settlement Officers before 1853- Grants of under 10 acres released in the Punjab before the issue of Financial Commissioner’s circular no. 10 of 1853 by Settlement Officers or Commissioners are in some districts entered in separate registers; where such registers exist, they should be maintained.  Where such grants are not shown in any register, they should either be brought upon the general register, or a separate register should be prepared, as may be most convenient.

XXII.   General register may contain additional sub-divisions to those specified in rule I - In some districts the general register contains other sub-divisions in addition  to those specified  in rule I. Where this is the case, the register may be maintained in its present form, provided that the principal of the classification given in rule I is not departed from.

XXIII.  English registers -Where English registers of any class of revenue-free tenures exist, they should be maintained and kept up-to-date in the manner in which the vernacular registers are kept up.

FORM  (A)

Register of revenue-free tenures released in________tehsil______district

Note:-  (1)  Columns 1 and 2 will be filled in when the register is prepared, the other columns being left blank until the contingencies for which they are intended to provide arise.

(2)  In column 2 the names of villages should be arranged in alphabetical order.

(3)  In the portion of the register relating to revenue free tenures released for life, column 6 should show, in case of joint holdings, whether the share of each individual should lapse on his death, or whether the entire holdings should be maintained until the death of the last survivor.  The names of all the shares should appear in column 7.  If the terms of the grant be that the share of each should lapse on his death, each share should have a separate number in column 1, and a detail showing the extent of each share should be given in column 5.  If the terms be that the tenure should not be interfered with until the death of the last survivor, only one number should be entered in column 4 before the name of the first sharer, and no detail of shares in column 5 will be necessary.

(4)  In drawing out the descriptive roll, stereotyped phraseology, useless for purposes of identification should be avoided, and, if possible, some immutable physical peculiarity or indelible mark on the person which would enable the assignee to be easily identified should be described.    

(5)  Changes in appearance, such as may arise from age or accident, should be entered in column 13.

(6)  The decease of each revenue-free holder and the date of tehsildar’s report should be entered in columns 14 and 15 immediately on such report being received.

 FORM  (B)

Registers of grants for the formation of roadside groves and the sinking of wells in the______________tehsil______________district

FORM (C) 

Registers of pattidari shares in village_______paragana or tehsil_________district

NOTE:- (1)  Columns 1 to 6 are filled up when the register is prepared, and the remaining  columns by the tehsildar as mutations occur.

(2)  In columns 5 or 6 the names are entered in the Nagri, as well as in the Persian character.

(3)  In column 11 references are given to other villages belonging to the same fraternity of pattidars.  

(4)  The pages of the register are numbered in English throughout and when the statement of any village has been filled up owing to the number of lapses and successions, a footnote is written referring to the page to which the statement is transferred.  When it becomes necessary to renew the volume, the entries in columns 1 to 6 and 11, unaffected by lapse of time, are transferred to the new volume, and the entries in columns 5 and 6 are modified in accordance with the mutation recorded in columns 7, 9 and 10 of the superseded statement.