DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68026#0103
ROYAL COMMISSION UPON DECENTRALIZATION.
97
44431**. Is it desirable that special officers
should be appointed for the inspection of district
record rooms 1—It is for Local Governments to
decide how the record rooms of their provinces are
to be inspected. Personally I would disapprove of
the arrangement of appointing one or two men to
inspect the arrangement of records for the province
if the heads of offices were held to be thereby
relieved of all responsibility.
44432**. Does the absence in Madras and Bengal
of consolidated Land Revenue Laws render the
control of Government there less satisfactory ?—
I am not in a position to give a useful answer to
this question so far as it relates to Madras. The
want of a consolidated Land Revenue Law is not
felt in Bengal, because the greater part of the
province being permanently settled, Bengal
Revenue Officers are more concerned with the
collection, than with the assessment, of land
revenue. The various legislative enactments in
force give Government ample power of control as
regards the collection of the land revenue and also
as regards its assessment in temporarily settled
areas. I do not think any advantage would be
gained by consolidating these enactments into a
single code, and any attempt to do so would give
rise to great difficulties as some of the existing
legislation is applicable only to particular locali-
ties.
44433**. Why is the control over the Punjab in
land revenue greater than that of the United Pro-
vinces?—The greater control in the Punjab is due
mainly to historical reasons. So far as statutory
restrictions are concerned, the differences between
the United Provinces and the Punjab are not very
important, but under the assessment instructions
the Punjab is subject to two special restrictions : —
(a) If the re-assessment of a tahsil as finally
arranged falls short of the forecast ac-
cepted by the Government of India by
more than 15 per cent, the instructions
of the Government of India must be
taken before the re-assessment is actu-
ally announced, unless the deficiency is
covered by a surplus in other tahsils
already assessed under the same sanc-
tion.
(b) No re-assessment is to be fixed for more
than 20 years except with the permission
of the Government of India. (In the
United Provinces the limit is 30 years.)
Both these rules were drawn up at a Conference
with Punjab Officers held in 1892 when the assess-
ment instructions were framed. The question of
relaxing the 20 years’ rule is now under considera-
tion.
44434**. As regards suspensions of revenue, the
Government of the United Provinces has power
to make rules. Why do the Government of India
claim to criticise and control the Local Govern-
ment in this respect?—The Government of the
United Provinces is not authorised by statute to
make rules regarding the grant of suspensions and
remissions of revenue on account of temporary
calamities. These are granted as a matter of
grace and not as a matter of right, and
the Government of India have always exercised
a considerable degree of control over Local Govern-
ments in matters affecting the collection of revenue.
Some degree of control over Local Governments
in this matter seems necessary, not only in view
of the financial considerations involved, but also
because the experience of recent famines shows the
necessity of prompt and liberal relief being granted
in this way.
44435**. Has the smaller degree of intervention
by the Government of India with regard to the
land revenue of Upper Burma, as contrasted with
that of Lower Burma, been disadvantageous to the
Government of India?—I am not aware that it is
a fact that the Government of India have inter-
vened less with regard to the land revenue of
Upper Burma as contrasted with that of Lower
Burma, though the legislative restrictions are not
the same in each part of the province. In any case
the interests of the Government of India are bound
33383
up with those of the provinces under their control,
and the Government of India cannot have suffered
unless Upper Burma has also suffered.
44436**. What claim has the Government of
India to settle above the heads of provincial
Governments the number, date, and amount of the
instalments of land revenue?—The Government of
India do not settle above the heads of provincial
Governments the number, date, and amount of rhe
instalments of land revenue.
44437**. Why do the Government of India under
the Burma Land Revenue Act—(a) claim to sanc-
tion grant of sites valued at Rs. 200, free of
revenue, for religious purposes (Rule 33) ; (b) claim
to sanction where the commission to be paid to
a revenue collector exceeds 20 per cent, of the
collection (Rule 141)?—Burma is the only province
in which alienations of land for religious pur-
poses are permitted at all. I have already stated
that I see no objection to the proposal of the
Lieutenant-Governor of Burma that the Local
Government should have power to grant land
free of revenue for religious purposes up to a
limit of Rs. 500, instead of Rs. 200 as at present,
(b) Rule 141 of the rules under the Lower Burma
Land and Revenue Act was framed by the Govern-
ment of Burma itself, when the rules were sub-
mitted for the sanction of the Government of India
in 1885. The Local Government has never asked
that the limit should be raised, and it seems quite
high enough.
44438**. Why did the Government of India im-
pose tlie system of suspensions and remissions of
land revenue from other provinces upon the
permanently settled districts of Bengal in spite of
the opposition of the Local Government? Are the
conditions in permanently settled parts of Bengal
comparable in this respect with those of other
provinces?—The Government of India have not
imposed the system of suspensions and remissions
of land revenue from other provinces on the per-
manently settled districts of Bengal. The Govern-
ment of India asked the Government of Bengal
to consider the advisability of introducing, in
Bengal, legislation similar to that contained in
Section 50 of the United Provinces Tenancy Act,
which applies to the permanently settled districts
of the Benares Division, the conditions of which
are in many respects comparable with those of
Bengal. But in deference to the views of the
Government of Bengal they subsequently withdrew
these suggestions, and allowed the Local Govern-
ment to issue a set of rules for the encouragement
of voluntary remissions and suspensions of rent
by the grant of corresponding remissions and
suspensions of revenue.
44439**. Does the Revenue and Agricultural
Department on a supposed analogy with other pro-
vinces press unsuitable economies in survey and
record-writing on Bengal ?—The cadastral survey
of Behar, which began in 1892, was the first
operation of the kind which had been undertaken
in Bengal, and at that time there was no officer
in the province who had any experience of the
making of surveys and records of rights on a
large scale. It was consequently necessary for
the Government of India to exercise considerable
control over the procedure adopted, and to offer
advice and suggestions regarding details to a some-
what unusual extent. In some cases the Govern-
ment of India, owing to want of local knowledge
and failure to appreciate the complexity of
agrarian relations in Bengal, suggested economies
which could not have been carried out without im-
pairing the accuracy of the work, but as a Bengal
officer, I am of opinion that, on the whole, the
control of the Government of India was of great
value, and that the benefits derived from it far
outweighed any injury caused by friction due to
suggestions made in ignorance of local conditions.
Of late years in proportion as the Government of
India has been satisfied that Bengal officers are
fully able to deal with the details of survey and
record-writing in Bengal, they have so relaxed the
control at one time exercised, that Bengal may
now be said to be on the same footing as other
provinces in respect of the control exercised by
the Revenue Department.
N
Mr. R. W.
Carlyle.
4 Apr., 1908.
97
44431**. Is it desirable that special officers
should be appointed for the inspection of district
record rooms 1—It is for Local Governments to
decide how the record rooms of their provinces are
to be inspected. Personally I would disapprove of
the arrangement of appointing one or two men to
inspect the arrangement of records for the province
if the heads of offices were held to be thereby
relieved of all responsibility.
44432**. Does the absence in Madras and Bengal
of consolidated Land Revenue Laws render the
control of Government there less satisfactory ?—
I am not in a position to give a useful answer to
this question so far as it relates to Madras. The
want of a consolidated Land Revenue Law is not
felt in Bengal, because the greater part of the
province being permanently settled, Bengal
Revenue Officers are more concerned with the
collection, than with the assessment, of land
revenue. The various legislative enactments in
force give Government ample power of control as
regards the collection of the land revenue and also
as regards its assessment in temporarily settled
areas. I do not think any advantage would be
gained by consolidating these enactments into a
single code, and any attempt to do so would give
rise to great difficulties as some of the existing
legislation is applicable only to particular locali-
ties.
44433**. Why is the control over the Punjab in
land revenue greater than that of the United Pro-
vinces?—The greater control in the Punjab is due
mainly to historical reasons. So far as statutory
restrictions are concerned, the differences between
the United Provinces and the Punjab are not very
important, but under the assessment instructions
the Punjab is subject to two special restrictions : —
(a) If the re-assessment of a tahsil as finally
arranged falls short of the forecast ac-
cepted by the Government of India by
more than 15 per cent, the instructions
of the Government of India must be
taken before the re-assessment is actu-
ally announced, unless the deficiency is
covered by a surplus in other tahsils
already assessed under the same sanc-
tion.
(b) No re-assessment is to be fixed for more
than 20 years except with the permission
of the Government of India. (In the
United Provinces the limit is 30 years.)
Both these rules were drawn up at a Conference
with Punjab Officers held in 1892 when the assess-
ment instructions were framed. The question of
relaxing the 20 years’ rule is now under considera-
tion.
44434**. As regards suspensions of revenue, the
Government of the United Provinces has power
to make rules. Why do the Government of India
claim to criticise and control the Local Govern-
ment in this respect?—The Government of the
United Provinces is not authorised by statute to
make rules regarding the grant of suspensions and
remissions of revenue on account of temporary
calamities. These are granted as a matter of
grace and not as a matter of right, and
the Government of India have always exercised
a considerable degree of control over Local Govern-
ments in matters affecting the collection of revenue.
Some degree of control over Local Governments
in this matter seems necessary, not only in view
of the financial considerations involved, but also
because the experience of recent famines shows the
necessity of prompt and liberal relief being granted
in this way.
44435**. Has the smaller degree of intervention
by the Government of India with regard to the
land revenue of Upper Burma, as contrasted with
that of Lower Burma, been disadvantageous to the
Government of India?—I am not aware that it is
a fact that the Government of India have inter-
vened less with regard to the land revenue of
Upper Burma as contrasted with that of Lower
Burma, though the legislative restrictions are not
the same in each part of the province. In any case
the interests of the Government of India are bound
33383
up with those of the provinces under their control,
and the Government of India cannot have suffered
unless Upper Burma has also suffered.
44436**. What claim has the Government of
India to settle above the heads of provincial
Governments the number, date, and amount of the
instalments of land revenue?—The Government of
India do not settle above the heads of provincial
Governments the number, date, and amount of rhe
instalments of land revenue.
44437**. Why do the Government of India under
the Burma Land Revenue Act—(a) claim to sanc-
tion grant of sites valued at Rs. 200, free of
revenue, for religious purposes (Rule 33) ; (b) claim
to sanction where the commission to be paid to
a revenue collector exceeds 20 per cent, of the
collection (Rule 141)?—Burma is the only province
in which alienations of land for religious pur-
poses are permitted at all. I have already stated
that I see no objection to the proposal of the
Lieutenant-Governor of Burma that the Local
Government should have power to grant land
free of revenue for religious purposes up to a
limit of Rs. 500, instead of Rs. 200 as at present,
(b) Rule 141 of the rules under the Lower Burma
Land and Revenue Act was framed by the Govern-
ment of Burma itself, when the rules were sub-
mitted for the sanction of the Government of India
in 1885. The Local Government has never asked
that the limit should be raised, and it seems quite
high enough.
44438**. Why did the Government of India im-
pose tlie system of suspensions and remissions of
land revenue from other provinces upon the
permanently settled districts of Bengal in spite of
the opposition of the Local Government? Are the
conditions in permanently settled parts of Bengal
comparable in this respect with those of other
provinces?—The Government of India have not
imposed the system of suspensions and remissions
of land revenue from other provinces on the per-
manently settled districts of Bengal. The Govern-
ment of India asked the Government of Bengal
to consider the advisability of introducing, in
Bengal, legislation similar to that contained in
Section 50 of the United Provinces Tenancy Act,
which applies to the permanently settled districts
of the Benares Division, the conditions of which
are in many respects comparable with those of
Bengal. But in deference to the views of the
Government of Bengal they subsequently withdrew
these suggestions, and allowed the Local Govern-
ment to issue a set of rules for the encouragement
of voluntary remissions and suspensions of rent
by the grant of corresponding remissions and
suspensions of revenue.
44439**. Does the Revenue and Agricultural
Department on a supposed analogy with other pro-
vinces press unsuitable economies in survey and
record-writing on Bengal ?—The cadastral survey
of Behar, which began in 1892, was the first
operation of the kind which had been undertaken
in Bengal, and at that time there was no officer
in the province who had any experience of the
making of surveys and records of rights on a
large scale. It was consequently necessary for
the Government of India to exercise considerable
control over the procedure adopted, and to offer
advice and suggestions regarding details to a some-
what unusual extent. In some cases the Govern-
ment of India, owing to want of local knowledge
and failure to appreciate the complexity of
agrarian relations in Bengal, suggested economies
which could not have been carried out without im-
pairing the accuracy of the work, but as a Bengal
officer, I am of opinion that, on the whole, the
control of the Government of India was of great
value, and that the benefits derived from it far
outweighed any injury caused by friction due to
suggestions made in ignorance of local conditions.
Of late years in proportion as the Government of
India has been satisfied that Bengal officers are
fully able to deal with the details of survey and
record-writing in Bengal, they have so relaxed the
control at one time exercised, that Bengal may
now be said to be on the same footing as other
provinces in respect of the control exercised by
the Revenue Department.
N
Mr. R. W.
Carlyle.
4 Apr., 1908.