DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34367#0068
10
REGULATION II,
[A.D. 1793.
been directed, in its arrangements for the internal government of these
provinces. As being the two fundamental measures essential to the
attainment of it, the property in the soil has been declared to be vested
in the landholders, and the revenue payable to Urovemment from each
estate has been fixed for ever. These measures have at once rendered it
the interest of the proprietors to improve their estates, and given them
the means of raising the funds necessary for that purpose. The property
in the soil was never before formally declared tb be vested in the land-
holders, nor were they allowed to transfer such rights as they did possess,
or raise money upon the credit of their tenures, without the previous
sanction of Government. With respect to the public demand upon each
estate, it was liable to annual or frequent variation at the discretion of
Government. The amount of it was fixed upon an estimate formed by
the public officers of the aggregate of the rents payable by the ryots or
tenants for each begali of land in cultivation, of which, after deducting
the expenses of collection, ten-elevenths were usually considered as the
right of the public, and the remainder the share of the landholder.
Refusal to pay the sum required of him was followed by his removal from
the management of his lands, and the public dues were either let in farm
or collected by an ofhcer of Government, and the above-mentioned share
of the landholder, or such sum as special custom, or the orders of Govern-
ment might have fixed, was paid to him by the farmer or from the public
treasury. When the extension of cultivation was productive only of a
heavier assessment, and even the possession of the property was uncertain,
the hereditary landholder had little inducement to improve his estate, and
monied men had no encouragement to embark their capital in the pur-
chase or improvement of land, whilst not only the profit, but the security
for the capital itself was so precarious. The same causes, therefore, which
prevented the improvement of land, depreciated its value. Further mea-
sures, however, are essential to the attainment of the important object
above stated. All questions between Government and the landholders
respecting the assessment and collection of the public revenue, and dis-
puted claims between the latter and their ryots, or other persons concerned
in the collection of their rents, have hitherto been cognizable in the
courts of Maal Adawlut, or revenue courts. The collectors of the revenue
preside in these courts as judges, and an appeal lies from their decision to
the Board of Revenue, and from the decrees of that board to the Gover-
nor-General in Council in the department of revenue. The proprietors
can never consider the privileges which have been conferred upon them as
secure, whilst the revenue officers are vested with these judicial powers.
Exclusive of the objections arising to these courts from their irregular,
summary, and often proceedings, and from the collectors being
obliged to suspend the exercise of their judicial functions whenever they
interfere with their financial duties, it is obvious, that if the Regulations
for assessing and collecting the public revenue are infringed, the revenue
officers themselves must be the aggressors, and that individuals who have
been wronged by them in one capacity, can never hope to obtain redress
from them in another. Their financial occupations equally disqualify them
for administering the laws between the proprietors of land and their
tenants. Other security, therefore, must be given to landed,property and
to the rights attached to it, before the desired improvements in agriculture
REGULATION II,
[A.D. 1793.
been directed, in its arrangements for the internal government of these
provinces. As being the two fundamental measures essential to the
attainment of it, the property in the soil has been declared to be vested
in the landholders, and the revenue payable to Urovemment from each
estate has been fixed for ever. These measures have at once rendered it
the interest of the proprietors to improve their estates, and given them
the means of raising the funds necessary for that purpose. The property
in the soil was never before formally declared tb be vested in the land-
holders, nor were they allowed to transfer such rights as they did possess,
or raise money upon the credit of their tenures, without the previous
sanction of Government. With respect to the public demand upon each
estate, it was liable to annual or frequent variation at the discretion of
Government. The amount of it was fixed upon an estimate formed by
the public officers of the aggregate of the rents payable by the ryots or
tenants for each begali of land in cultivation, of which, after deducting
the expenses of collection, ten-elevenths were usually considered as the
right of the public, and the remainder the share of the landholder.
Refusal to pay the sum required of him was followed by his removal from
the management of his lands, and the public dues were either let in farm
or collected by an ofhcer of Government, and the above-mentioned share
of the landholder, or such sum as special custom, or the orders of Govern-
ment might have fixed, was paid to him by the farmer or from the public
treasury. When the extension of cultivation was productive only of a
heavier assessment, and even the possession of the property was uncertain,
the hereditary landholder had little inducement to improve his estate, and
monied men had no encouragement to embark their capital in the pur-
chase or improvement of land, whilst not only the profit, but the security
for the capital itself was so precarious. The same causes, therefore, which
prevented the improvement of land, depreciated its value. Further mea-
sures, however, are essential to the attainment of the important object
above stated. All questions between Government and the landholders
respecting the assessment and collection of the public revenue, and dis-
puted claims between the latter and their ryots, or other persons concerned
in the collection of their rents, have hitherto been cognizable in the
courts of Maal Adawlut, or revenue courts. The collectors of the revenue
preside in these courts as judges, and an appeal lies from their decision to
the Board of Revenue, and from the decrees of that board to the Gover-
nor-General in Council in the department of revenue. The proprietors
can never consider the privileges which have been conferred upon them as
secure, whilst the revenue officers are vested with these judicial powers.
Exclusive of the objections arising to these courts from their irregular,
summary, and often proceedings, and from the collectors being
obliged to suspend the exercise of their judicial functions whenever they
interfere with their financial duties, it is obvious, that if the Regulations
for assessing and collecting the public revenue are infringed, the revenue
officers themselves must be the aggressors, and that individuals who have
been wronged by them in one capacity, can never hope to obtain redress
from them in another. Their financial occupations equally disqualify them
for administering the laws between the proprietors of land and their
tenants. Other security, therefore, must be given to landed,property and
to the rights attached to it, before the desired improvements in agriculture