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Punjab.

Date:: 1908

Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Punjab. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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Title Page
Table of Contents
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42/486 (page 10)

Civil and criminal justice. Land revenue. The Deputy-Commissioner as District Magistrate is re- sponsible for the criminal justice of the District, and civil judicial work is under the District Judge. Both are supervised by the Divisional Judge of the Multan Civil Division, who is also Sessions Judge. There is one Munsif, who sits at head- quarters. Burglary and cattle-theft are the chief forms of crime. The first summary settlement, made between 1848 and 1851, was based on a scrutiny of the revenue returns of the Sikhs. The main defect of the assessment was its inequality of distribution. A second summary settlement was completed in 1852, and local knowledge was then available to adjust the demand to the varying capacity and resources of estates with a considerable degree of fairness. The regular settlement was begun by Mr. Vans Agnew in 1852, and completed by Captain Elphinstone in 1856. Mr. Vans Agnew proposed a fluctuating assessment on land irrigated by canals or floods, but it was finally decided to impose a water-rent. This was to be paid for all canal-irrigated land, in addition to the ordinary revenue assessed at rates for unirrigated land; but remissions could be claimed if the supply of water failed. The total demand so fixed amounted to 3-4 lakhs. The settlement was revised between 1868 and 1872. A system of fixed assessments was continued in the Ravi tahsils (Gugera and Montgomery), the revenue consisting of a lump sum for each well in use (Rs. 8-12—0), a charge of from 8 annas to I rupee per acre on all cultivation, and a rate on all new fallow of 4 or 6 annas per acre. In 1879 fluctuating assess- ments were introduced in the riverain villages of this tract. All cultivable land was assessed at a fixed rate of i or i-| annas an acre, and a charge of Rs. 10 per wheel was levied on each well worked during the year, while, in addition, fluctuating crop- rates were framed for different forms of irrigation, varying from Rs. i-io-o to R. 0-12-0 per acre. Experience showed that the new system pressed hardly on the flood lands, and the rates were modified three times before 1886. In 1887 a still more lenient system was adopted, which practically assessed all crops at R. i an acre. This was extended to an increasing number of estates, so that by 1892—3 364 villages were under fluctuating assessments, and the demand had fallen from Rs. 85,000 to Rs. 31,000. In 1891 the Ravi tahsils again came under settlement. A fixed demand was imposed on wells, determined by the area it was estimated they could irrigate during the year. All crops actually maturing on areas

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