ORGANIZATION FOR PURPOSES OF LAND ADMINISTRATION

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 Punjab divided into 29 district, each in charge of a Deputy commissioner or Collector. These districts are grouped into five divisions, each under a commissioner. The commissioner exercises control over all the revenue officers and courts in his division and is himself subject to the general superintendence and control of the Financial Commissioner, who, under the Revenue Member of Government, is the head of the revenue administration. At the headquarters of a district there are in addition to a large ministerial staff, several officers appointed by the local Government who exercise executive and judicial functions under the orders of the Deputy Commissioner. 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 Punjab civil service. One of these assistant or Extra Assistant Commissioners , chosen for his special aptitude for revenue work, and called the Revenue Assistant, devotes almost the whole of his time to business connected with land administration. A district is divided into several tehsils, to each of which a tehsildar and naib-tehsildar are appointed. The Poisson of the naib-tahsilder with reference to the tahsilder are appointed. The Poisson of the naib-tahsildar with reference to the tahsidar is like that of an Assistant Commissioner with reference  to the head of the distrait. Tahsildars and naib-tahsildars exercise administrative and  judicial functions within the limits of their  own tahsils. In the few there are two naib-tahsildars. 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.

204.  Villages and zails - The unit of revenue administration in the Punjab is the estate or mahal. Which is usually is enticed width the village or mauza. Of  these estates ,large and small, a tahsil as a rule, contains from two to four hundred . each of them is separately assessed to land revenue which it is the business of the duty commissioner to collect and has a separate record of rights and register of fiscal and agricultural statistics , which it is his duty to maintain. All its proprietors are by law jointly responsible for the payment of its land revenue, and in their dealings with Government they are represented by one or more headmen or lambardars. The bound which unites the proprietary body may be a strong and natural, or a weak and artificial, one. At the one end of the scale are the compact village communities of Rohtak and Karnal, whose landowners are held together by real or assumed ties of kinship; at the other. The estates of the south-western Punjab. Which are often mere collections of independent well holdings. While in the new colonies there is little bond beyond such similarities of tribe, religion and home of the original colonists as the colonization officer may had been able to secure. No deputy commissioner can rightly perform his duties without a full knowledge of the land tenures of his district. A careful perusal of the gazetteer ,and the reports of past settlements, will supply the foundation, but the superstructure must be built up by personal observation and enquiry and by the examination of village note books and records of rights. The village system of north western India, properly organized and wisely worked forms a powerful engine of administration. To make it still more effective clusters of villages which are quitted by the bond of tribal  or historical association, or of common interests, are usually formed into circles or zails over each of which the appointed a zaildar chosen by the Deputy commissioner from among the leading village headmen. The jaildars receive their emoluments from Government by the deduction from the land revenue, the headmen are paid by the communities which they represent by the surcharge of five percent on the revenue. Together they form the valuable unofficial agency, through which the deputy commissioner and the tahsildar convey the wishes of the government to the people and secure the carrying out of their own orders.

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 re-assessment, 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, Lyallpur, and at the agricultural farms.
(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)  Crop experiments when carried out by officers of the department.
(h)  The Lawrence gardens, Lahore.
(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 Lyallpur . in 1901 which was staffed with agricultural assistants trained at cawnpore. The first deputy director of agricultural was sanctioned in 1904, and about the same time the province shared an economic Botanist with the united provinces.

The dispatch to the secretary of state above mentioned(no. 16, dated 12^th jan.1905)enunciated the following policy:-

“in a country s largely agricultural as India, a government which owns the largest landed estate in the world, should do far more than we are now doing for the improvements of local agriculture. The ultimate aim, which we set before ourselves, is the establishment of an experiments farm in each large tract of country , of which the agricultural college, teaching up to a three years course in each of the larger provinces, and the provision of and expert staff in connection with these colleges for purposes of research as well as of education …. These establishment of seed and demonstration farms will certainly form part of our program.”

In the same year the government of India announced their policy of setting aside annually a sum of twenty lakhs of rupees, subsequently increased to Rs. 24 lakhs, for the development of agricultural research, experiment, demonstration and education in the provinces. The aim was to establish agricultural colleges, with expert staffs, for instruction and research under a whole time director and the experts were provided for by the constitution of an imperial agricultural service 1906. Progress along the lines prescribed in 1905 continued steadily, except for the interruption caused by the war, until the introduction of the reforms.

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, Lyallpur, was opened in September, 1909. Its main object is to give such training in scientific agriculture as will enable the student to promote the progress of agriculture in the providence on the most approved modern lines. In 1917 the institution was affiliated to the Punjab university , and since then it has had a four years degrees course. Combined with the college is a well equipped research institute which is the main center of agricultural research in the province.

The botanical section of the research institute works on improved types of wheat’s, cotton, grams, barleys, millets oil seeds, fodder crops, etc. and also deals with fruit cultivation and mycological problems.

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 lac-culture.

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, multan, montgomery, rawa;pindi and sargodha, in addition to various seed and demonstration farms. The experimental farms carry out experiment with different types of crops in order to ascertain their suitability to particular tacts, to show the effects of different methods of cultivation, irrigation and manuring, and to test the relative usefulness of different types of agricultural implements. 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 Lahore.
(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 Delhi and north –west fronter provinces.
(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 India: it was originally established in 1809 for camel- breeding, but work was the supply of artillery and ordnance bullocks. In 1899 the charge of the farm was transferred to the civil veterinary department of the government of India and on the abolition of the post of inspector general . it was transferred by the government of India to the Punjab government. Since then it has been the largest single source of pedigree bulls in the province, and has produced over 4,000 of these for service in villages. It is estimated that over 3,000 of there are still available and the number turned out at Hissar is sufficient to replace casualties and added to the total bull- power of the province. Most of the bulls are supplied to district boards at confessional  rates.

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, rawalpindi, jhelum, shahpur and mianwali district boards, for the improvements of the dhanni breed of cattle.

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 Montgomery cattle and the remaining 3 for Hissar cattle. In addition, a grantee dairy farm comprising an area of 485 acres, has been started in the town of Montgomery. Besides, there are in the neighborhood of shergarh, district Montgomery,” shergarh small holders grants” comprising  218 ½ rectangles of land in 7 different chaks. The condition on which the grants are allotted is that the grantee must maintain two cows of the Montgomery breed approved by the veterinary department for each rectangle of 25 acres.

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 Punjab, they must be most carefully preserved noticed either by the cultivator or by the revenue staff.”

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 Punjab lies on  slope, almost imperceptible in irrigated fields, but generally noticeable in barani lands, irrigated land is usually protected by the banks called wats of dauls made for retaining the irrigation water. Unirrigated lands require the same kind of protection and require also to be leveled so that rain water shall be evenly on them and not of top soil. Careful owners terrace and embank their fields, thus increasing the available moisture in the soil and conserving fertility by preventing the valuable top-soil from being eroded. but many landlords are careless and neglect this duties to the land. Both gully and sheet erosion occur in sloping fields and in fields which are not embanked or where the banks are neglected and allowed to break. Much land can be lost in a very short time and once gone can never be recovered. At the best, the top-soil, instead of being improved by farming, as it should be, steadily deteriorates through erosion. Where conditions of slope and soil however are favourable for such a  thing to happen, heavy rainstorms may wash away the shoal of the top-soil ,leaving the farmer to start allover again, with only the criss-cross marks of the plough tip on top of the hard sub-soil to remind him of his precious labours.

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 co-operative 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.”

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.

217. 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 Punjab, especially the villagers, so that he may be able toured stand their dealings with each other and relations with Government;
(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 Punjab in October.

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 co-operative 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 2^nd 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-in-charge 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 sub-division 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 19^th 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 os 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 Punjab and Haryana

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 1^st October to 31^st march and 36 days between 1^st April to 30^th 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 1^st October and 31^st march and 27 days between 1^st April and 30^th 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. Forest management is often regarded by the people as a grievance, and there are undoubtedly many points of detail in which local enquiries alone may bring proper understanding. But all matters of this kind require to be very carefully and discreetly handled and should not be taken o without sufficient reason. All roadside groves and avenues should receive attention.

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, co-operation, 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 Punjab and Haryana

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 tahsil 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 tahsil 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 1^st 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 niab-tahsildars 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 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.

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.”