REVENUE ADMINISTRATION

LAND RECORDS DEPARTMENT

Introduction.-THE LAND REVENUE SYSTEM PREVALENT IN BULDHANA DISTRICT IS Rayatwari and it is based on a complete survey, soil classification and settlement of every field.

Buldhana was a part of West Berar District up to 1863. In 1864, Malkapur, Chikhli and Mehkar tahsils were separated from the district of West Berar. The district headquarters were shift-ed to Buldhana in 1867 and the district was renamed as Buldhana district. Khamgaon and Jalgaon tahsils from Akola district were included in Buldhana district at the time of reconstitution of dis-trict boundaries in Berar in 1905. In 1956, after the Reorganisa-tion of States, the district was transferred from Madhya Pradesh to Bombay State and since 1st May 1960 the district forms part of Maharashtra State.

The old Gazetteer has given the following account of the Land Revenue Administration prevalent in the district since the Muhammedan period.

Sovereignty.- "The early history of the District is obscure; but what little is known shows that the District forming part of the north-western tract of the Deccan was under various Hindu dynas-tics down to 1294 A.D. In that year the Musalmans first appeared in Berar and the result of the raid of Ala-ud-din Khilji was the assignment of the revenue of northern Berar, in which the Jalgaon and Malkapur taluks were probably included, to Delhi. In 1312 A.D. the District with the rest of Berar came directly under Muhammadan administration. For a brief period from 1316 to 1318 A.D. the District reverted to Hindu rule but from 1318 to 1595 A.D. it was in the hands of various Muhammadan dynasties. In 1596 Berar became an appanage of the crown of Delhi, and remained in this position till 1724 A.D. In that year the battle of Sakharkhelda in the Mehkar taluk gave the sovereignty to the Nizam of Hyderabad. But this sovereignty was subject to the limitation of the right of the Marathas to levy an impost known as chauth, amounting to one-quarter of the land revenue, and a further contribution known as sardeshmukhi amounting to one-tenth of the revenue to cover the cost of collecting the chauth. This dual sovereignty lasted till 1803 A.D. when the Maratha power came to an end. From 1803 A.D. to 1853 A.D. Berar remained under the direct control of the Nizam. In 1853 A.D. Berar was assigned to the British and till 1903 A.D. it remained for administrative purposes under the Resident at Hyderabad. In October 1903 it was amalgamated with the Central Provinces, and has since formed a division of that Administration.

Territorial Divisions.-Berar was one of the four provinces or tarafs into which the Bahamani kingdom was divided about 1350 A.D. and was in charge of a governor or tarafdar. In 1480 this province was further divided into two divisions the Gawil on the north and the Mahur on the south the latter probably including the Chikhli and Mehkar taluks and the former the three taluks of Malkapur, Jalgaon and Khamgaon. According to the Ain-i-Akbari the present District of Buldana comprised a large part of Akbar's sarkars of Narnala and Baitalwadi and the greater part of the sarkar of Mehkar. In 1634 a redistribution of territory took place. Berar was divided into 2 subahs, each under the control of a subahdar. The northern subah known as the Payanghat included the Malkapur, Jalgaon and Khamgaon taluks; and the southern subah known as the Balaghat contained the talukas of Chikhli and Mehkar. This arrangement did not however, last long, and in 1636 Berar as a separate subah formed one of the four divisions of the Deccan. Berar was assigned to the East India Company in 1853, when the District consisted of the following parganas: 1. Malkapur, 2. Jalgaon, 3. Badner Bholji, 4. Pimpalgaon Raja, 5. Jepur, and 6. Rajur. After the assignment Berar was divid-ed into two districts, South Berar (the Balaghat) with its head-quarters at Hingoli, and North Berar with headquarters at Bul-dana. After the Mutiny the province was reconstituted into East Berar with head-quarters at Amraoti, and West Berar with head-quarters at Akola, the present Buldana District being included in the latter. In 1864 the taluks of Malkapur, Chikhli and Mehkar were separated from the West Berar district and formed into an independent charge styled the South-West Berar district. This designation was changed to the Mehkar district in 1865. In 1867 Buldana was selected as the headquarters of the District to which it thenceforth gave its name. On the reconstitution of the six districts of Berar in August 1905, Buldana received the Khamgaon and Jalgaon taluks from the Akola District. The District as it now stands is composed of five taluks, Chikhli, Mehkar, Malkapur, Jalgaon and Khamgaon.

Taluk Boundaries.-From the time of the Muhammadan con-quest the lowest administrative denomination was the pargana or mahal, both of which terms seem to have signified the parcel of lands known by separate entry and assessment in the revenue rolls of the State. Akbar grouped the pargana into sarkars, of which thirteen formed in his reign the Berar subah. In 1853 the number of parganas that lay in the Narnala division, which nearly repre-sented Western Berar in which was included the present Buldana District, was fifteen, and nearly half of these lie still in the District. The organisation into sarkars and parganas survived in the records till 1853, but even before that date ir had for practical revenue purposes become obsolete. It was superseded by the term taluk, which meant the parcel of villages made over to one talukdar, and after 1853 signified the sub-circle. of revenue collections under a State Tahsildar. Of the five taluks constituting the District, only four were in existence in 1853.They were as follows:-

The fifth taluk of Khamgaon was formed in 1870 by transfer of 148 villages from the Balapur taluka.

At the original survey (1861-1870) the number of villages attached to each taluk was as follows:-

Since the original settlement several changes have been made in the taluk boundaries. Chikhli transferred between the first and second settlement 48 Government villages and one jagir village to the Malkapur taluk, six villages to the Mehkar taluk, five villages to His Highness the Nizam's territory and received in return eight villages from the Mehkar taluk. One jagir village (Pimpalgaon) was resumed in 1889; and three Government villages were made jagir; so that at the close of the revision settlement (in 1896) Chikhli had 305 Government and 8 jagir villages. Mehkar simi-larly transferred eight of its villages to Chikhli and six to Hi3 Highness the Nizam's dominions and received from them respec-tively six and six villages; amongst the latter, however, there were four jagir villages. Two jagir villages-one Pahur and the other Bhisa were resumed in 1881 and 1889, respectively. Thus the Mehkar taluk contained 344 Government and 14 jagir villages at the revision settlement. Malkapur gave seven of its villages as jagir to Raja Hari Har Rao Bahadur Nemiwant of Hyderabad in 1877 and resumed two of its jagir villages, one in 1881, and the other in 1884. Thus the Malkapur taluq consisted of 330 Government and nine jagir villages at the revision settlement. Jalgaon transferred eighteen villages, eight to Akot and ten to Malkapur and received in exchange from Akot one village. The khels of the three large villages of Jalgaon, Jamod and Pathurda which numbered twelve, five and four, respectively, were each counted as a separate village. It received two Government villages and five jagir villages from rhe Melghat in 1891, and thus at the close of revision settlement it contained 217 Government and eight jagir villages.

Khamgaon shows no change. In August 1905 further altera-tions in the boundaries of the taluks of Mehkar, Jalgaon and Khamgaon were made with a view to making the boundaries of forest charges conterminous with those of the revenue District. Thirteen villages forming the Ambabarwa State forest in the Mel-ghat taluk were transferred to the Jalgaon taluk. Similarly, the village of Dhadham, forming part of the Ghatbori forest, was transferred from Khamgaon taluk to the Mehkar taluk. The latter again received the four villages of Mohona Buzruk, Mandwa Sawat Dongar, Lakhanwara Buzruk and Pimpri Dhangar from the Balapur taluk. Thus the total number of villages that each taluk now contains is as follows:-

Early Revenue Administration-Pre-Muhammadan Period.-The aboriginal unit was in Berar, as all over India, the village, into the vexed question of the nature of the early village commu-nity it is not necessary to enter here, complicated as that question is by the difficulty of describing in terms of civilized thought the half-conscious reasonings or instincts of savages, and in India by the unreliable nature of the evidence. Of the differences between the primitive Dravidian and the primitive Aryan village, of the early growth of law and the subsequent growth of a quasi-feudal society in India, we really know absolutely nothing. The latter process seems to have been and least accelerated in Berar by the successive invasions, and their resulting overlordships. The Indian village has in a crystallized form survived them all, and into the successive types of rule its headman or patel has always been adopted as an integral part. As a leader of the party of settlers the headman had a special holding set apart for him, and the territorial chief was also supported by another lot of land in each village, the entire produce of which went to him. This latter plan, however, was gradually superseded by the chief taking a share in the grain produce of all lands, except the village headman's and certain other privileged settlers. This share in the grain became the principal source of State revenue, and is the parent of our modern land revenue. The traditional share in the produce so taken was one-sixth, but there is evidence to show that this limit was freely raised when the necessity arose. With the introduction of the grain share came the appointment of a second official, the prototype of the patwari, and he also was remunerated by a hereditary holding of land. It is these ancient holdings that were afterwards called by the Muhammadan rulers watan. All the watan lands and the various privileges and dignities associated with them constituted a family property which was capable of descending to a number of heirs jointly. Further, in each village there grew up a staff of artizans, menials and servants, who became hereditary and served the village, not for payment by the job (such a thing was of course unknown) but for a regular remuneration, paid in kind, chiefly by a fixed share in the harvest. This ancient village community is the prototype of the modern Berar ryotwari village.

Early Muhammadan Period 1294 A.D. to 1596 A.D.-We possess no detailed information about the earliest method of Moslem revenue management but the policy seems to have been to preserve the older village institutions. The hereditary offices of Deshmukh and Deshpandia are supposed by some writers to owe their origin to this period, but it is a very doubtful supposition. The Deshmukh was a head patel of a circle of villages, and was responsible for apportioning and collecting the land revenue, while the Deshpandia was a head patwari or kanungo and kept the accounts. They were always Hindu, the Deshmukh generally a Kunbi and the Deshpandia a Brahmin, and they may have been instituted by the Muhammadans to conciliate a conquered people. An interesting description of this period may be quoted from Sir A. Lyall:-'If we take the centuries between 1300 and 1600 A.D. as the peroid (roughly stated) of independent Muhammadan dominion in the Dakhan, and compare it with the same breadth of time in Western Europe, the Dakhani government will not lose much by comparison. We shall be struck by resemblances more than by contrasts in all that concerns civil policy and the use made of their arbitrary power by princes and lords of the land. Long wasting wars, bloody feuds, revolts, massacres, assassinations, cruel and barbarous punishments, " sad stories of the death of kings " all these things fill the chronicles of Plantagenets and Valois as plentifully as the annals of the Bahmanis. Yet, as has often been said, although these descriptions now startle us into horror and astonishment, it may be guessed that life in those times was more tolerable than it appears to modern readers. A majority of the people took no share at all in the constant fighting or in the perilous intrigues which were continually exploding in violent catastrophes that shook or overturned the throne; while another section of the people enjoyed the stirring life and the chances of rebellion and staked their lives on the sport quite as readily as men now risk their limbs against a tiger. For Berar, it seems to have been always an agricultural country, situated off the high road of foreign armies, and distant from the capitals of royalty. It suffered like other districts from inroads and internal disorders, but its battlefields are comparatively not numerous. Then the settled Muhammadan government always attempted, in the interests of revenue, to protect the tillers of the land, keeping the collections as much as possible in their own hands, except when jagirs were granted, and never formally abandoning the cultivator to the mercy of a feudal lord. We may conjecture that the peasantry as a class were much above the mediaeval serfs and villeins of Europe; and altogether that they were at least as well off under the Bahmani and Imad Shahi rulers as the commons of any outlying countries of England during the great wars of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Probably the peasants of France were worse off up to the end of the seventeenth century. Certainly the subah of Berar was in a high state of cultivation, and yielded an ample revenue when Akbar annexed it; and the land must have prospered still more under the wise administration of Malik Ambar, of whom more hereafter.

In those ages the whole Dakhan swarmed with adventurers from every nation in Asia, and from the African coast of the Indian Ocean. These men and their descendants settled in the towns, their chiefs occupied most of the high military and civil offices; but in Berar at least, the Muhammadans appear to have left the Hindus in undisturbed possession of the soil. And although the hereditary revenue authorities, the Deshmukhs and Deshpandias who were chief officers of districts with much influence and profit, are said to have been instituted by the early Muhammadan kings, yet in Berar these places and perquisites have from time immemorial been in the hands of Hindus.'

Mughal Period 1596 A.D. to 1720 A.D.-Berar was ceded to the Emperor Akbar in 1596 A.D. and was one of the subahs which came under the famous land revenue settlement made by him and his Hindu minister Todar Mal. The early Hindu system had been one without any survey or measurement and without any records to speak of. The Mugal rulers crystallized it into more business like permanence by measuring and recording villages, parganas and sarkars with their revenue assessment. The first beginning of a change from the mere levy of a share of grain to a regularly assessed cash revenue may be traced to Akbar's settlement and the cash rates were when possible, fixed for a period of years instead of being liable to annual alteration. A more or less uniform system of revenue accounts was also established. The settlement was fixed by measuring the arable lands and making a careful estimate of their produce. The unit of land for purposes of assessment was taken to be a bigha, a term used to denote a piece of land measuring a little more than two-thirds of an acre. Each bigha was rated at the value of one-fourth the estimated produce, and the sum total of the demand on a village or group of villages thus calculated was termed its tankhwa or standard rent-roll; from this rating were omitted lands which were barren or never brought under cultivation. The average rate of assessment per bigha of land was Rs. 1-4. Mr. Bullock, in hi.s Report on North Berar for 1854-55, gives the following account of the land assessment of this province under the Mughals. It is probably taken from some old papers preserved among the Kanungo records, but these are usually copies, several times repeated, of original documents.

'I may as well mention that under the kings of Delhi when the mode of assessment was under strict regulation, the valley of Berar was divided into three main descriptions of land, viz., ainkali, miankalas, and kalaspali. The ainkali was the deep black soil. The miankalas was the soil where the black began to mingle with a lighter description. The kalaspati was the light soil lying towards the hills. The black soil is towards the centre of the valley. Each of these divisions had its general rate fixed upon each bigha but divided into various sorts with a rate on each, and these rates were only slightly modified by local circumstances.'

'The bigha of arable land was less than the bigha now in use in Khandesh or elsewhere, which is 3,600 square yards, and the garden and inam bigha was larger, viz., the inam land was measured by the IIahi gaz, equal to 7,225 square yards per bigha. The garden land was measured by the gaz, Bara Sikandari, which gave 5,500 ⁶⁹/100 square yards per bigha, and the arable land by the Chhota Sikandari gaz, which gave 2,256 ²⁵/100 square yards per bigha. The average rates on land were as follows: first sort, divided into two sorts-first sort Rs. 1-3-9, second sort As. 13-3 per bigha; second sort, sub-divided into two sorts - first sort Rs. 1-1-3, second sort As. 12-3 per bigha; third sort, sub-divided into two sorts-first sort As. 11-6, and second sort As. 11-3 per bigha. Garden land in two kinds-first sort Rs. 3-11-0, second sort Rs. 2-4-0. The whole was under khamwasul, and the Annual Settlement paper was as nearly as possible that which I have now introduced, but with even more exact detail. We can form some idea of the prosperity of the valley at that time, as the total revenue in the year quoted during the reign of Alamgir was Rs. 27,44,750-11-0, because the land was fully cultivated and the population abundant and vigorous instead of being scanty, ill-fed, and weakly, as they are now.'

The present Buldana District comprised a large part of Akbar's sarkars of Narnala and Baitalwadi, and the greater part of the sarkar of Mehkar. The demand on account of land revenue amounted to more than sixteen lakhs of rupees. Another important settlement in Berar was made by Malik Ambar, a minister of the Nizam Shahi dynasty, which established an independent rule in the Deccan from 1605 A.D. to 1628 A.D.; although this settlement left a great mark on the province, if the traditions of the people are to be believed, the information about it is very meagre. It is probable that his assessments varied with the crop and were not fixed like the Mughal settlements; they were also lump assessments on the village in some cases. Grant Duff states that when the assessment was in kind it was two-thirds of the produce, and that where there was a cash assessment, it equalled in value one-third of the produce. Malik Ambar is also credited with having settled the land revenue upon a recognition of private property in the land, whereas Akbar had held that all land belonged to the State. Writing in 1870, Sir A. Lyall estimates that the revenue raised in Berar in the seventeenth century was much larger than that paid under the original settlements made after the cession, and that the cultivated area was not less. His conclusion as to the view we ought to take of the history of this period is as follows: 'It is common mistake to suppose that the normal state of India was that in which we English found the country when we conquered most of it; whereas each province usually fell into our hands, like a rotten pear, when it was at its worst, and because it was at its worst. The century that preceded our rule may be regarded as a catastrophe in the history of India's government a dark age of misrule interposed between two periods of comparative, though unequal, light. We who are now clearing away ruins, repairing an utterly dilapidated revenue, may sometimes fancy that we are raising a new and quite original edifice, when we are only reconstructing upon the old foundation up to the level of earlier architects.'

Period of Double Government (Do Amli), Maratha and Nizam 1720 A.D. to 1803 A.D.-The Maratha connection with Berar originated with the grant of chauth and sardeshmukhi by the Delhi Emperor in 1717 A.D. The Marathas pretended to keep regular account with the Nizam's officers who were never openly ejected from their posts, as from a conquered country, though they were often entirely set aside for a time. The districts were called Do Amli, that is jointly administered: and in all the revenue papers the collections are divided, the Maratha share being usually sixty per cent. Of this percentage ten per cent, was called sardeshmukhi and the rest mokasa, which seems in Berar to have been the technical term that included in a lump sum all the Maratha dues except the ten per cent above-mentioned. The mokasa was thus made up; chauth, twenty-five per cent; faujdar's allowance for district administration, twenty-five per cent. This period has been described as one of barefaced plunder and fleecing without attempt at principle or stability. Whenever the Nizam appointed a collector, the Marathas apppointed another, and both claimed the revenue, while foragers from each side exacted forced contributions, so that the harassed cultivator often threw up his land and helped to plunder his neighbour's.

Period of Nizam's Sovereignty 1803-1853 A.D-This period was one of even worse mal-administration than the former. The system was introduced of farming out the land revenue to contractors, who adhered to no rates, but squeezed what they could out of the ryot's crop and his goods and chattels. Whole talukas and parganas were let and sub-let to speculators for sums far above the ancient standard assessment. During the ministry of Raja Chandu Lal (1820-1840) the land revenue of certain tracts was regularly put to auction at Hyderabad for the highest bid. It is related of that famous minister that he did not even respect these auction sales, as it was usual to do but disposed of the same contracts simultaneously to several different buyers. Then came the opportunity of the pargana officers; he who secured them on his side kept the farm; or sometimes these officers solved the complication equitably by putting all purchasers on a kind of roster, whereby each got his turn at the collections. While this roster was known to be full, even Raja Chandu Lal could not persuade a fresh set of contractors to deal with him. There is a story told of one of these contractors that he rode out of Hyderabad after the auction with his face to the horse's tail. His followers approached him and asked, 'Why this undignified position? ' ' I am on the look-out,' said he, 'for my successor to overtake me'. Some of the great farmers-general deserve mention. One Raja Bisan Chand who held the greater part of the Berar valley in farm about 1831 left a name at which the Kunbi still grows pale; to pronounce it of a morning early is unlucky. Another by name Puran Mal, a mighty money-lender of Hyderabad, at one time got most of Berar in farm. In 1839 he was turned out of his districts by the Nizam's minister, under pressure from the British resident. Puran Mal refused to quit hold of his security for advances made, and showed fight when his successors sent agents to take his place; however, in the end he had to give way; but he present-ed to the Hyderabad Government an account showing a balance due to him of two millions sterling, which the ministry altogether refused to pay, proving by a different system of book-keeping that Puran Mal was deeply in debt to the treasury. Puran Mal's successors were Messrs. Pestanji and Company, enterprising Parsi merchants, who in 1841 received large assignment of revenue in Berar for reimbursement of advances to the State. But in 1845 they were ordered to give up their Berar districts, and on their refusal their collecting agency was attacked and sixteen men killed. They were then forced to evacuate the assignments with a claim of forty lakhs of rupees against the Nizam. Messrs. Pestanji and Company, had made large and liberal advances to tenants in Berar; they had thus restored cultivation over wide tracts, and rekindled the lamp in many deserted villages. Among Berar agriculturists they left a very good repu-tation. One result of the farming system and the disorder into which the country fell, was a great decrease in the revenue. The revenue collected about 1815-20 was not more than half the sum which the province was estimated to yield in 1803, and the land revenue of the present Buldana District mentioned in the treaty of 1853 was only a little more than three lakhs, a great fall from the 16 lakhs of Akbar's settlement. Under the farming system the Government had no means of checking false revenue returns, and the rough enquiries made by the British officials after the cession shewed cultivation to be concealed to an incredible extent. Thus in 1854 the Resident reported that whereas the cultivated area in North Berar was recorded at 425,000 bighas, the naked eye detected by rapid survey of each village more than 1,700,000 bighas. The Government simply looked to the revenue for which the contractor was answerable, and did not trouble about the extension or otherwise of cultivation. In spite of this concealment of cultivation the ryots in 1853 were found to be in a: very depressed and impoverished state. This was due, not' so much to the severity of the assessment for that was not found to be too heavy but to its shameful inequality. Deshmukhs, Brahmans, Rajputs and Musalmans were paying an average of 7½ annas a bigha, while the Maratha Kunbi was paying as much as Rs. 1-14-0 a bigha. The mode of assessment was very arbitrary and seldom had any reference to the capabilities of the soil. Thus it was found that one man was paying Rs. 10 for land of the same extent and description as that for which another man was paying Rs. 100. When waste land was required by a cultivator it was apportioned out by the patwari by guess work so that the amount allotted to any individual depended partly on the ability of the patwari to judge area, and partly on his goodwill towards the cultivator.

Land Tenure and the position of revenue officials prior to 1853.- The ordinary tenure from time immemorial had been that which permitted a man to keep possession of his fields so long as he paid to Government the customary rent. Some such general principle of reciprocal convenience must have always prevailed, so long as land was more plentiful than cultivators. Malik Ambar (1612 A. D.) is stated to have recognised the ryot's private pro-perty in his land, but such rights, if ever they were conferred, cannot long have out-lasted the wear and tear of the disorders which followed his death. We may suppose that where the tenants managed to keep land for any long time in one family they acquired a sort of property adverse to all except the Government; that where the land changed often by the diverse accidents of an unsettled age. in such cases occupancy never hardened into proprietary right. Good land would have been carefully preserv-ed, bad land would be often thrown up: failure of crops or the exactions of farmers would sever many holdings; and all rights ceased with continuity of possession. When mis-Government became chronic, and the country was incessantly exposed to be wasted by famine, war or fiscal extortion, the tenant's hold on any one piece of land would be more precarious and ephemeral. But perhaps it may be said that in theory the general basis and limit of property in the land was cultivating occupancy undisturbed, except by violence or injustice, so long as the traditional standing rates of assessment were paid upon the fields taken up. It is easy to see that various rights and prescriptions might, under favour-ing circumstances, arose out of this sort of holding. Several terms as mirasi, mundkari, etc., were formerly known to distinguish the class of occupants in Berar whose possession of their land was long established and by descent, but their precise privileges were never closely defined. The essence of these holdings seems to have been the privilege of paying a fixed sum without regard to cultivated area, and the right to trees. The property was also admitted usually to be heritable and transferable. Then certain advantageous tenures were created by expedients used to revive cultivation in deserted tracts; long leases were given at a rent mounting upwards very gradually year by year, or a whole ruined village was made over by what is called palampat, which fixes the rental of the entire estate without taking account of the spread of cultivation. Whatever rights in the land may have grown up previously, they all disappeared under the Maratha and Nizam's Government. Under this regime the mass of cultivators held their fields on a yearly lease which was made out for them hy the Patel at the beginning of each season: the land was acknowledged to belong to the State and as general rule no absolute right to hold any particular field, except by yearly permission of the officials, was urged or allowed. A man could not always give up or transfer his holding without official authorization. Cultivators were ejected from their holdings and others put in their places, as it suited the caprice or interest of the farmer of the revenue. Under such a system all value was wrung out of property in land.

The patels, Deshmukhs and Deshpandias who were employed to manage the collection of land revenue in villages and parganas never got beyond hereditary office nor transmuted themselves into proprietors of the land. The patel always remained the agent between the State and the village tenants for cultivation and collections. He was paid by rent-free land, money dues and dignities, the whole being grouped under the term watan. The Deshmukhs and Deshpandias had risen to great local importance under the Muhammadan dynasties. They held by virtue of office the right to take certain dues from the revenue collected in their sub-divisions, but some of the more powerful families received large grants of land in jagir and patents for the collection of additional subsidies, on condition of military or police service and the maintenance of order. Towards the decline of the Mughal power in Berar they sometimes obtained their sub-divisions in farm, and some of them were probably fast developing into the status of talukdars and zamindars of Upper India. But the Nizam and Marathas were too powerful to let any subjects stand between them and the full demand, and in 1853 it was decided that though these officials had frequently, beside their money dues, large quantities of inam or revenue-free land, and they themselves advanced the most extravagant pretensions, their real position was that of hereditary officers and not that of landed proprietors.

Early British Administration.- The period from 1853 to 1861, the first year of the survey settlement in Buldana district, was spent by the British officials in clearing up the confusion into which the land-revenue administration had fallen, and in feeling their way towards some better system. The services of the Deshmukhs and Deshpandias were dispensed with but the patel and patwari were retained. The native system was carried on temporarily with the difference that security and fixity of definite demand were given. The Government of India ordered measures to be taken for organizing a survey and suggested a settlement for five years with an annually increasing jama, where circumstances warranted it. Further instructions were issued in 1856 to the effect that a revenue survey should be instituted and a settlement formed which 'while it shall put an end to all unlicensed exemptions and privileges and shall secure a fair revenue to the State, shall hy the recognition of proprietary right in those who can establish a hereditary or prescrietary title and by the protection of the interest of other cultivators of the soil, invest tenures of land with security and permanency under certain declared conditions and shall restrict the demand of the State within reasonable limits, which shall not be subject to variation for a fixed term of years'. The system of measurement by the local patwaris was approved: the ryotwari system of settlement was condemned, and the introduction of a village system of settlement with joint responsibility was recommended. Pending the introduction of some regular system of survey and settlement the land-revenue administration appears to have been carried on according to the discretion of each Deputy Commissioner tempered by occasional instructions from superior authority: an annual jamabandi was made by the Deputy Commissioner through the medium of the patel. and the account of each man's holding was taken from the patwari's papers. This system was fraught with the greatest inconvenience both to the Government and to the people, and was made a fruitful source of speculation and corrupt practices. Each officer charged with the carrying out of the jamabandi arrangements was necessarily virtually charged with discretionary powers to remit revenue to any extent, and was from the extensive tract of country over whicb his supervision extended, entirely dependent upon his native revenue subordinates for the data on which the jamabandi was formed, and could not exercise any real and salutary control over the correctness of the return showing the fluctuations of cultivation and revenue derivable therefrom. In some cases a rough measurement of land under cultivation was made with a rod six cubits in length. The agency available was a very imperfect one, and the magnitude of the work prevented it being carried out with any great accuracy. There was an intention-at the outset to rate the land according to its productive powers, as from three to five different rates were found at settlement to exist in some of the villages, but it proved a failure, as at settlement inferior soils were found assessed highly, and rich soils assessed lowly as if there had been no method whatever in the distribution of rates. In some cases of the Mehkar taluk for the first three years the land was assessed by a lump sum being fixed for each village according to its size; the standard adopted at first being the same as that found under native rule. Subsequently the area of the holdings was arrived at by the native system of nazar andaz or simple guess work, the eye and imagination being the only 'instruments' used and finally a rough measurement was carried out as in the other taluks. Although these measurements were anything but reliable, neither the means at command nor the mode adopted being calculated to produce very accurate returns, they were nevertheless sufficient to form the basis for a more satisfactory and more equitable system of assessment than the existing one. In order to encourage cultivation and the taking up of waste land, the system of giving out land on kauls (leases at a low but gradually increasing assessment) was also adopted. In 1857 the Commissioner submitted a report on the progress made in the revenue survey. He reported that the khasra survey by patwaris had been a complete failure and practically no progress had been made. The Government of India then decided to send professional survey parties to carry out the survey on the system followed in the Punjab and Central Provinces, but for various reasons the operations were postponed. In the meantime in 1859 an experimental survey on the Bombay system of parts of two districts (since handed back to Hyderabad) was started by Captain W. C. Anderson. In 1860 it was proposed that Captain Anderson's operations should be extended to the rest of Berar, and after much demur the Government of India in 1861 consented to the introduction of the Bombay system which will be described later. In spite of the absence of a proper system of settlement this early period of British rule was one of great prosperity. Remissions of revenue were almost unknown. Writing of this period in 1870 Sir A. Lyall remarks that, 'the land revenue increased and multiplied with marvellous rapidity, under the combined stimuli of good Government, railways and the Manchester cotton famine. Cultivation spread over the land like a flood tide'; and Sir R. Temple's remarks in 1867 are also deserving of quotation. "The condition of Berar when the province was assigned to British management, though weakly and needing restorative measures, was not beyond the hope of speedy recovery. And fortunately the means of restoration were at hand; for the soil was famed far and wide among the peasantry for its fertility; and its repute, always high, was further enhanced by the fact of so much of it having remained fallow of late years a circumstance which was supposed to ensure a rich return to those who reclaimed the waste and raised the first crops on virgin culture. The neighbouring districts were full of families who had emigrated thither from Berar, and who with the usual attachment of the people to their original patrimony, were anxious to return on any suitable opportunity. Thus hundreds of families and thousands of individuals immigrated back into Berar. Many villages in the Nagpur country lost many of their hands in this way, and were sometimes put to serious straits. Some apprehension was even caused to the Nagpur officials. But of course the natural course of things had its way, and Eastern Berar became replenished. This was only one mode out of several, which it would be tedious to detail, whereby the cultivation of Berar was restored and augmented.

Up to 1856 there was no regular system of collecting the Government revenue or keeping the accounts. Sometimes money was carried to the credit of Government as revenue, which was in fact borrowed by the Sar Naib (or Tahsildar) from a sahukar, the Sar Naib realizing it subsequently as best he could. In some cases the taluk accounts dealt not with villages but with the subordinate charges under the kamdars, whose duty it was to make the collections from the villages and remit them to the taluk kacheris. The kamdars received receipts from the Sar Naib 0f Tahsildars, and the village authorities from the kamdars. Else where village collections were made very much in akras or orders on the moneylender of the village. In 1856 instructions were issued ordering all payments to Government to be made in cash; the patel, as the village representative of Government, was to collect dues, dealing directly with the landowner, to give receipts and to transmit the money direct to the Tahsildar. The kamdars interposted between the patels and the Tahsildar were abolished, and the Tahsildars were to give receipts to patels.

Berar survey and settlement system.-The basis or unit of assessment is the survey number or plot of land of a size adapted for cultivation by a peasant with a pair of bullocks. The arable land, whether cultivated or waste but available for cultivation, is split up into these numbers, the area of which is accurately ascertained by survey measurement. Each field is separately measured by means of the chain and cross staff, and in the field register there is a separate map of each field complete in itself. The area of the holding is obtained by simple arithmetic, and the calculations are recorded. This detailed field register obviates the necessity of having the village map on a larger scale than 8 inches to the mile. The area of each survey number does not exceed from 20 to 30 acres, and the minimum below which survey numbers cannot be divided is 5 acres in the case of dry crop land, 1 acre in the case of rice land, and ½ acre in the case of garden land. The fields are marked off from each other by a dhura or a narrow strip of land, 4½ feet in breadth being left uncultivated between them; by mounds of earth (warli) 10 feet in lenght by 5 feet in breadth, and 3 feet in hight, and by stones (gota, patthar) between 2½ and 3 feet in length sunk in the ground at certain angle's. Besides the cul-turable land the gaothan or village site is also surveyed and allotted, and land is reserved for free grazing and other purposes The term parampok is used for numbers that are unculturable by reason of having tombs, sites of wells etc., on them and the Bombay plan of allowing parts of numbers to be deducted from the culturable area as bad bits (potkharab) is followed. The survey being done, the classification of the soil begins. There are three classes of land, unirrigated or dry crop (jirayat) land, rice land and garden land which is called motasthal if irrigated by means of a well, and patasthal if irrigated by a channel. For classification purposes each field is divided temporarily into about twelve parts of some two acres each. Three tests to discover kind of soil, depth of soil, and freedom from defects are made in each part. For the first test soils are divided into three classes or orders, which are described briefly as black, red, and white. The full description is, 'First order, of a fine uniform texture, varying in colour from deep black to deep brown. Second order, of uniform but coarser texture than the preceding and lighter in colour which is generally red. Third order, of coarse, gravelly or loose friable texture, and colour varying from light brown to grey'. For the second test, that of depth, the soil is dug up and a crowbar driven in until it is obstructed by rock or some hard substratum or until it has gone in 1¾ cubits, that is 31½ inches. For the third test a list of eight defects has been drawn up, the chief being the presence of fragments of limestone or of excessive sand, slope, liability to flooding, excess of moisture, and clayey soil. When a classification is being made, the classer draws an outline of each field, marks the parts into which it is temporarily divided and enters in each part figures and symbols to show the results of each test. A soil to be of standard quality, a sixteen-anna soil, must be black, of full depth, and free from all defects Indeed it may have some special advantage, such as a beneficial flooding in the rains which raises it two or four annas more. For every detail or combination of details in which a plot falls short of standard quality so many annas are deducted according to a table which has been drawn up. Each field is finally valued as a field of so many annas according to the average value of the plots contained in it. In the case of garden land it is necessary in addition to examine the effect of the well or other means of irrigation on the soil. Rice land is classified on a scale of its own. The full details thus obtained about each field are entered in a prate or field book which is kept at the headquarters of the District.

These operations of measurement and classification have nothing whatever to do with the pitch or amount of the assessment. They are only the methods by which assessment is distributed over the numerous individual holdings of a ryotwari system. The basis of the distribution of the assessment having been fixed, the next step is for the Settlement Officer to work out the rates of assessment. These rates are determined in the following manner. The area dealt with which is the sub-division of a District known as the taluk, is divided into groups homogeneous as to physical characteristics and economic advantages, such as climate, rainfall, general fertility of soil, communications and the like. For each of these groups uniform maximum rates are fixed. These maximum rates are the sums which would be leviable upon a field, the soil valuation of which is sixteen annas. Thus if the maximum rate be Rs. 3 per acre of a sixteen-anna field, the assessment per acre upon a field the valuation of which was eight annas would be Rs. 1-8-0, and so on. By applying the maximum assessment rates to the soil valuation the rate per acre on each field is arrived at. In an original settlement the difficulty is to arrive at suitable maximum rates. This difficulty was solved for Berar by taking the rates found in the neighbouring District of Khandesh as a basis for the early settlements. Special rates are imposed on rice and irrigated land. The settlement is made for 30 years and at the end of that period is liable to revision. In a revision settlement the Settlement Officer before fixing the maximum rates considers what direction the revision should take. For this purpose he reviews fully every circumstance shown in the past revenue history, prices, markets, communications, rents, selling, letting and mortgage value of land, vicissitudes of seasons, and every other relevant fact indicating the incidence of the previous assessment and the economic condition of the tract, and upon this indication he bases his proposals for enhancement or reduction of assessment as the case may he. When he finds from the records of the previous settlement, that the assessment was designedly pitched low with the object of encouraging cultivation, or for other reasons deemed sufficient at the time, and if he further finds from the land records of the period of the lease under revision that cultivation has in consequence largely expanded, that prices have risen, that the assessment bears a low proportion to the sale, letting and mortgage value of the land, and that notwithstanding vicissitudes of season the assessment has been paid with conspicuous ease, he will probably propose an increase of assessment. If, however, he should find that the condition of the country has been stationary, that prices have not risen, and that the country has not been developed or any rise occurred in the value of land, he will not propose any enhancement. Again if the assessment at the original settlement was pitched high, and the cultivation has been contracted, or the revenue has proved difficult to collect, and the relation of the assessment to the value and rental of land is found to be high, the Settlement Officer will propose a reduction. The general result to be attained by the revision of assessment being decided on, the maximum rates are proposed which when applied to each field by means of the classification, would bring about that result, higher rates being imposed on those groups which enjoy the greater advantages, and lower on the less favourably situated groups. In this way the total assessment which it is reckoned that the subdivision will bear, is equitably distributed throughout each group, village and field. [Central Provinces DistrictGazetteers,Buldana District, Vol. A, 1210,pp.325-350.]

Survey.-The Survey and Settlement department was organised in 1875 A.D. and then the settlement operations were started immediately and concluded in 1880 A.D. The original survey and settlement had taken place during the years 1862 to 1870. The first Division Settlements were made between 1891 and 1898 and second between 1926 and 1928, except that of Mehkar tahsil. The period of current settlements in all the tahsils of this dis-trict have expired and have become overdue for revision. The survey was conducted from field as per actual possession of the holders.

The survey work in this district was done with a chain of 33 feet and cross staff in all the tahsils. The unit of area was the English Anna. Since the adoption of metric system, the unit of area is changed to hectare. The area of each parcel of land is now converted into metric unit. The area of each survey number is separately entered in the Land Records (akarband) under the indicative number and the area of sub-division of a survey number is shown in a separate book known as Pot Hissa Misals.

Accurate village maps have been prepared on the scale of 1" = 20 chains for all surveyed villages showing the survey number and their boundary marks and other topographical details such as roads, nallahs, etc. From the village maps, tahsil and district maps were constructed to a scale of 1" = 2 miles.

Classification.-The classification of land was done in all the tahsils in this district on the pattern of old Bombay State. The main classes of land recognized in 5 tahsils of this district were jirayat, bagayat and tari and each field was classified with reference to the texture of the soil, its depth and advantage of water.

Settlement and Assessment.- The rates are proposed for the whole tahsil. Due consideration is given to factors like climate, rainfall, market, agricultural skill, the actual condition of the cultivator, water resources and general prosperity of the farmers. In addition to this, the capacity of the soil and income of the majority of the persons dependent upon agricultural profession is also taken into consideration. Thus the whole tahsil is divided into groups and maximum rates of assessment are proposed for dry crop as well as rice and bagayat lands.

A uniform rate of assessment is proposed after taking into account the sources of water facilities.

All the settlement details are preserved in a book called Jamabandi report for the whole tahsil.

Generally 30 years is the guarantee period fixed for the settlement.

Prior to 1954 the settlement procedure prescribed under sections 78 to 105 of Berar Land Revenue Code was applicable to this district. Consequent upon the introduction of Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code, 1954, the procedure laid down in sections 54 to 87 of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code was made applicable to the district, so far as lands in non-urban areas were concerned. The procedure is briefly described below.

Settlement is defined as the result of operations conducted in a local area in order to determine the land revenue assessment (section 55 of Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code). The Settlement Officer (appointed by the State Government) under section 59 (of Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code) fully examines the past revenue history of the area with a view to assessing the general effect of the existing incidence of assessment on the economic condition of the area and with reference to the various statistical data, and by careful enquiry in villages, he collects information required for the revision of assessment.

If the settlement of any local area is to be made a forecast of the probable results of the settlement is to be prepared under the order of State Government under section 63 of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code.

A notice of the intention of the State Government to make settlement together with the proposals based on the forecast is to be published for inviting objections. Such forecast proposals are to be sent to every member of the State Legislative Assembly 21 days before the commencement of the session of the Legislative Assembly. After considering the objections if any and the resolution of the proposals that may be passed by Legislative Assembly, notification of proposed revenue survey under section 64 is to be issued. The local area notified is held under such survey from the date of notification till another notification for closing the operations is issued.

For the purpose of assessment, the settlement officer divides the area to be settled into groups and in farming such groups he takes into consideration the physical features, agricultural and economic conditions and trade facilities under section 70 of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code. The Settlement Officer prepares the proposals of assessment, rates of each group and submits them for the approval of State Government, vide section 73 of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code. The assessments are so fixed that the increase in fair assessment of an agricultural holding does not ordinarily exceed 50 per cent of the original. The principles laid down in section 76 of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code are followed while fixing the fair assessment. Improvements made at the cost of the holders are exempted for the purposes of enhancement of assessment, vide section 76 (5) of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code. The announcement of settlement is done by giving a notice under section 77 of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code. The assessment finally announced under this section is the Land Revenue payable annually on such land during the term of settlement unless it is annually modified in accordance with the provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code or any other law. There is no provision for hearing objections regarding assessment rates or fair assessment in the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code. Once the assessment rates are approved by the State Government the Settlement Officer calculates the fair assessment on each holding in accordance with those assessment rates. The term of settlement is to be fixed by the State Government and it is not to be less than 30 years (section 80 of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code). The State Government can reduce during the currency of settlement the assessment, if it finds necessary, after considering the general conditions, for such period as it may deem fit. The term of settlement can be reduced to 20 years by the State for special reasons.

For the assessment or reassessment of lands in urban areas, no forecast report is required to be prepared nor is the notification required to be published.

The table No. 1 gives the statistics of demand and collection of Land Revenue, tahsilwise in the district.

TABLE No. 1

DEMAND AND COLLECTION OF LAND REVENUE IN THE DISTRICT

Source-District Census Handbook, Buldhana,1961,p.198.

Record-of-rights.-The intention of the Government in introducing this Act, was to give relief to co-partners of the registered holders who were at the mercy of the pattedars as they could neither sell nor mortgage their holdings without the consent of the pattedars. It was also intended to protect the rights of the protected tenants and to stop the mal-practices of their eviction at the will and pleasure of the owners of the fields. In the revenue accounts only the names of the pattedars were to he found further, when a survey number was sold or partitioned among the heirs, the recorded area and the spot possession differed thus giving rise to confusion. These drawbacks were removed by the introduction of the record-of-rights by the Government.

The register contains survey number, total area, total assessment, the name of the occupant, the number of bits, their area, assessment worked out by the patwari dividing the area and assessment in equal parts as per the bits order, the nature of the right of holdings, details of incumbents if any, the number of trees and the share in the well, if any. After the completion of the register, the surveyors are sent for measurement as per the possession of the spot of bit holders.

During the pot-hissa measurement, gat plot for each survey number is drawn showing the bits in red ink and their area is worked out with telesquare and not by actual multiplication. At present the assessment of each bit or hissa is calculated by working out separate bhag annas for each hissa and separately finding out its rate as per the individual bhag annas.

After the completion of the recess work, i.e., calculation of areas, preparation of gats, etc., the announcement slips are prepared for each bit containing the name of the bit holder alongwith the area and assessment. The measurement fees are collected as per the rates stipulated.

If the assessment of the bit is less than Rs. 5, the fee of Rs. 2 is charged per hissa and if the assessment of the hissa is Rs. 5 or more, the fee of Rs. 4 is charged per hissa. In addition to the above amount, an extra fee of Re. 0.50 is collected towards the announcement slip. The recovery is made by the tahsildars on supply of information to them in village form number 12.

Administrative set-up.- This district formed part of the Madhva Pradesh till 1st November, 1956. There was a separate Survey and Settlement Department for Madhya Pradesh. Now the head of the Land Records Department is the Settlement Commissioner and Director of Land Records, Maharashtra State, Poona.

Settlement Commissioner.- The Settlement Commissioner and Director of Land Records is the head of the department. He is assisted in his work by the Regional Deputy Directors. The Superintendent of Land Records is the officer next to the Regional Deputy Director. The jurisdiction of the Superintendent of Land Records, Nagpur. who is responsible to the Regional Deputy Director at Nagpur, extends over all the eight districts of the Vidarbha region. Under him are the District Superintendents of Land Records (District Inspectors of Land Records) assisted by the District Assistant Superintendents of Land Records. The District Superintendent and the Assistant District Superintendent are assisted in their work by Measurers, Nazul Maintenance Surveyors (for the district survey record room). Assistant Nazul Maintenance Surveyors, Revenue Inspectors, Patwaris and Survey Clerks.

District Superintendent of Land Records.-The District Superintendent of Lasd Records has to supervise and inspect the works of Revenue Inspectors, Patwaris, Measurers, Survey Clerks, Nazul Maintenance Surveyors and Assistant Nazul Maintenance Surveyors.

He has to arrange for the training of Patwaris and holding of their examination. He is to see that all Revenue Inspectors under him perform their duties. He has also to satisfy himself that the District Survey Records are properly maintained.

The District Superintendent of Land Records is under the immediate control of the Collector, while his immediate superior in all matters of leave, allowances and discipline is Settlement Commissioner and Director of Land Records. The Assistant Superintendent of Land Records is likewise controlled by the Collector and the Settlement Commissioner and Director of Land Records in the same way and manner as the District Superintendent of Land Records. He is to assist the District Superintendent of Land Records in all the inspections and office work.

The main duties of the other Land Records officials are as follows: -

Revenue Inspector.-He is to supervise the work of Patwaris in his circle and to check the village accounts of all the villages under his charge. He is to detail the defaulters of Government dues and to see that every Patwari has maintained the register of records up-to-date and all mutations have been recorded. He has to check the following records prepared by the Pat-waris: -

(1) crop statements, (2) jamabandi statements, (3) boundary marks statements, (4) statement of live-stock and agricultural implements, and (5) village accounts. The circle of Revenue Inspector consists of 70 to 80 villages with an area of 70,000 to 80,000 occupied acres. About 20 Patwaris work under him. He keeps close watch over the recovery of Government money by village officials and has to see that all the Government money recovered by them is credited to the Government without delay. He is held responsible if there is any defalcation of Government money by the village officers.

He has to get prepared the annewari statements of crops in case of crop failure. He has to do all the measurement work except pot hissa measurement in all the villages in his circle and has to prepare sketches, etc.

Measurer: There is a permanent staff of 5 measurers in the district. They are to measure the sub-divisions in their talukas and to work out the areas of the measured sub-divisions. They have to prepare gat maps for the Patwaris also.

Survey Clerk: He is to maintain the district survey records, make corrections in the survey records and issue kami jasti patraks regarding the changes in area and assessment according to orders in revenue cases. He has to issue village and tahsil maps to Government officials and public after due corrections and has to keep account of them. He has to supply tipan, utaras to all Revenue Inspectors or Tahsildars in the district. He is directly subordinate to the District Superintendent of Land Records.

Nazul Maintenance Surveyor and Assistant Nazul Maintenance Surveyor: Nazul Maintenance Surveyor is responsible for the proper maintenance of the register of records of the towns maintained by the Assistant Nazul Maintenance Surveyor. He has to certify the mutations recorded by the Assistant Nazul Maintenance Surveyor and has to check the base lines and traverse stones in the towns. He has to correct the maps and has to prepare the field books for new changes. He has to write the figures of demand of Nazul revenue in the demand register. He is directly subordinate to the Nazul Officer.

The main duty of the Assistant Nazul Maintenance Surveyor is to record mutations, after due enquiry and to maintain the register of records up-to-date. Although they are directly subordinate to the Nazul Officers, they are urrder the technical and administrative control of the District Superintendent of Land Records and the Superintendent of Land Records, Nagpur Circle, Nagpur.

Patwari and Cadastral Surveyor: The Patwari is the land record official at village level. He prepares the original annual records and maintains record-of righs and other records concerning land. He is also subordinate to the revenue officer. The charge of the Patwari consists of 3,740 acres of occupied area, on an average. He maintains the village accounts and helps the patel for recovery of Government money.

All the measurement work except that of a pot-hissa measurement in the district is carried out by the Revenue Inspectors as mentioned above. A temporary staff of cadastral surveyors is created now-a-days, when the volume of measurement work increases and where it is beyond the scope of the normal staff to take up the work of measurement connected with the land acquisition cases.

District Survey Record Room: The survey records prepared at the time of settlements are kept in the district survey records room and one official designated as Survey Clerk is placed in-charge of the same. He belongs to Revenue department and must possess perfect knowledge of the survey system. The duties of the Survey Clerk have been described above.

Nazul Work: There are six Nazul towns in Buldhana district. They were surveyed in the year 1929 when enquiry into their rights and titles was completed. There are four Nazul Maintenance Surveyors and four Assistant Nazul Maintenance Surveyors who maintain the record-of-rights. They are working under the supervision of Nazul Officers, i.e., Sub-divisional Officers The District Inspector of Land Records is the technical supervisor of their work.

Important laws enacted since Independence and applied to this district are: -

The Maharashtra Land Revenue Code (Act No. XLI of 1966) has come into force with effect from August 15, 1967. It has repealed the former Madhya Pradesh Land Records Code which was applicable to this district. This has been done with a view to amend the law relating to tenancy of agricultural lands and sites used for allied pursuits, in the Vidarbha region of the State of Maharashtra and to make certain provisions in regard to these lands and with a view to bringing the status and rights of tenants as far as possible in line with those prevailing in certain other parts of the State.

Special Schemes: The Bombay Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act (Extension and Amendment) has been brought into force with effect from April 1, 1959 and the work has been started in this district from January 1960. In Malkapur tahsil, up to 1968-69 the consolidation work in 110 villages was completed and 18 new villages were taken up for consolidation work during the year 196970 by the Assistant Consolidation Officer, Malkapur.

The Office of the Consolidation Officer, Nagpur, has been transferred to Malkapur and two more Assistant Consolidation Officers, are working at Nandura since June 1, 1967. They have so far completed the work of 23 villages.

City Survey of Urban Towns: The special District Inspector of Land Records (Urban), Akola, has completed the city survey work of Chikhli town. The enquiry work is yet to be started.

Survey of village gaothan: Government have sanctioned the scheme¹ of survey of village gaothan. Accordingly the work of survey of 25 villages was completed by the end of May 1969. Out of these 25 villages, the enquiry work of 14 villages was also completed.

Model Colonisation Scheme: During the last three years the survey and demarcation of model colonisation scheme in respect of two villages consisting of 130 plots has been completed by the Cadastral Surveyor and the lands have been allotted by the Collector. Single boundary marks have been fixed at village Marni in Chikhli tahsil. The work of single boundary marks in Nalkunda village in Malkapur tahsil is to be taken up.

Adoption of Metric System in Survey Records: The scheme of adoption of metric system in the survey records was sanctioned by the Government in September 1964 and the post of Special District Inspector of Land Records (Metric System), Akola, with his ancillary staff was created in July 1966, for Akola and Buldhana districts. The work of conversion of survey records from foot pound system to metric system has been completed in respect of all the villages and six Nazul towns. So also the work of converting survey records into record-of-rights in respect of 338 villages was completed up to the end of Mav 1969.

Forest Survey: Thirteen villages have been proposed by the Forest Department for grant of tenure rights to the forest villagers² The survey work in respect of 11 villages has so far been completed and record-of-rights prepared. The work in respect of two villages is in progress.

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