GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

PATIL (VILLAGE HEADMAN)

The Patil is the principal official in a village. The duties of patil fall under the following heads: —

(i) Revenue, (ii) Quasi-judicial, and (iii) Administrative.

His Revenue duties are as under:—

1. to assist the talathi, now called the assistant gram sevak in collecting the dues, due to government from the defaulters;

2. to safeguard the government property (which includes lands, trees, etc.) and prevent encroachments upon it;

3. to execute the orders received from the higher officers in connection with the recovery of land revenue and other matters;

4. to assist the assistant gram sevak in maintaining the village record and village accounts. He is also expected to submit the prescribed periodical returns promptly to the tahsil officials; and

5. to supply the required information called for by the higher authorities urgently.

The watans of revenue (mali) patils have been abolished from January 1, 1963. The assistant gram sevak (talathi), now under Zilla Parishad, functions in the place of revenue patils. Though the watans of police patils stand abolished, stipendiary police patils have been appointed. The police patil was formerly responsible for the maintenance of the birth and death register. Now this work is entrusted to the secretary of the respective village panchayat. The police patil is responsible for the maintenance of peace and order in the village. He has to perform various duties which have been imposed upon him by the Bombay Village Police Act. He is also expected to assist the police in investigating the crimes. He is subordinate to the police sub-inspector of the area concerned, inferior village servants (kotwals) are supposed to assist the police patils. He has to take utmost care and caution against robbery, breach of peace and acts injurious to the public and village community.

It is his duty to furnish the tahsil executive magistrate any return or information called for by him and to keep him constantly informed of the happenings in villages in his charge. He obeys and executes all orders and warrants issued to him and prevents criminal offences within the limits of his village and detects and brings offenders to court for trial with the help of police. It the crime is committed within the limits of the village and the criminal escapes or absconds, he has to report to the police officer in charge immediately. He has to proceed to investigate the matter and obtain all procurable evidence and forward it to the police officer concerned.

As regards the administrative duties of the patils, he is expected to look after the sanitation and public health of the village. He has to report promptly the outbreak of any epidemic diseases in the village to the concerned tahsil officers. He is also to render every possible assistance to travellers.

All the patils were hereditary officers holding watan lands and having hereditary rights of service. The watans ot revenue patils have been abolished by government from January 1, 1963, and they have been replaced by the stipendiary police patils.