Financial
Commissioner’s Revenue, Punjab
Standing Order No. 20
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Preparation of a general scheme for the reduction of Lambardars |
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1st Reprint, dated 25th August, 1921.
2nd Reprint, dated 13th December, 1945.
3rd Reprint, dated 13th October, 1951.
4th Reprint, dated 12th March, 1966.
Revised on January 9,
1981.
“In addition to the Land Revenue
Rules (14-30) on the subject, paragraphs 305-333 of the Land Administration
Manual, so far as these are in consonance with the said Rules, should be
consulted”.
1. Where the office of the headman becomes vacant, it is the duty of the Tehsildar to report without delay regarding the appointment of a successor. It is convenient to use a tabular form for such reports, as information on certain points is required in every case, and any special features, of a particular case can be noted in the brief remarks explaining the recommendation of the Tehsildar. The file of the case shall be open to inspection except in respect to police reports which shall be kept strictly confidential but no copy of any document on it, except the tabular form and the Collector’s final orders, shall be granted.
A
vernacular sanad in the following form should be presented to a Lambardar on
his appointment.
Sanads –
death,
or removal,
Whereas
upon the or retirement, of
or dismissal
________________________, son of _____________________ Lambardar of
village________________________,you _______________________________,son of ___________________________, have been appointed
Lambardar of the
aforesaid village in succession to the aforesaid ___________________:
Now
this sanad of appointment is presented to you ________________________son of
___________________ in the name of Government by the Collector (or Assistant
Collector, 1st Grade) that you may keep it for future use and
reference as occasion may require.
Beneath
is given a short list of the duties and responsibilities which, as Lambardar
you are hereby required to discharge.
In
addition to the duties imposed upon village headman by law for the preservation
of the peace, the report, prevention and detection of crime, and the surrender
of offenders, and any other purpose, a village headman shall –
(Here
follows in the sanad a complete list of the duties as given in the Land Revenue
Rule 20).
2. Minor Lambardars - Deleted.
3. Temporary absence of
Lambardars - The
practice of requiring Lambardars to apply for, and obtain, the permission of
the Deputy Commissioner, or Tehsildar before absenting themselves from their
villages is wholly unwarranted and must be discontinued wherever heretofore
adopted.
4. Rules relating to village postmen - The
following rules relate to the supervision of village postmen by the headmen of
the different villages in their circles, where there are no post offices. The rules should be widely published among
village headmen with such instructions to ensure their being understood as may
be considered necessary. Letter boxes
are established in the more remote villages, and postmen are required to visit
them most punctually :--
(1)
The
letter boxes will, as a rule, be placed in the charge of village headmen, that
is to say, the boxes will be secured in front of their houses in a position
accessible to all. The village headmen
will not, however, be required to open them, or dispose of their contents. This will be done by the village postmen,
who will have the custody of the keys of the letter boxes.
(2)
Village
headmen will take care that the village postmen are punctual and regular in
their visits to villages, and that the letter boxes are cleared on the days of
the week notified thereon, and report if this is not done to the Inspector of
Post Offices, or to the Sub-Post Master of the office to which the village
postmen in fault may be attached, by letter, or by noting briefly in the visit
book the nature of the irregularity complained of. The postmen will be supplied with visit books for this purpose,
in which each village headman will sign his name and note the date and the day
of week of visit in the appropriate column so far as possible. Should any irregularities be noticed, such
as the non-attendance of village postman on the prescribed date, his failure to
present his visit book, or the like, the headman should at once bring the same
to the notice of the officers mentioned above.
Communications to postal authorities on postal matters may be sent
post-free with the words, “Postal Service” superscribed on the cover, and the
signature of the village headman appended in the lower left hand corner.
5. Preparation
of a general scheme for the reduction of Lambardars. The orders regarding the preparation
of general schemes for the reduction of headmen’s posts, where these are too
numerous are contained in paragraph 330 of the Land Administration Manual. The Settlement Officer’s proposals should be
embodied in register in the following form :--
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Name of Tehsil |
Name of village |
Name of the various pattis
or tarafs |
Name of each existing
headman, with his tribe or caste, amount of land owned and revenue paid
thereon |
Amount for the collection
of which he is responsible |
Proposals of Settlement
Officer and the Deputy Commissioner with reasons therefore |
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Revenue |
Occupier’s rate |
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6. Casual proposals for the reduction of
Lambardars - Instructions
for the making of proposals for the casual reductions of headmen’s posts will
be found in paragraph 332 of the Land Administration Manual. The form to be used is given below:-
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Name of Tehsil |
No. of village |
Name of village |
Name with caste or tribe of lambardar whose demise
or vacation of office occasions the proposal |
Name with caste or tribe of claimants of the
vacant post |
Debts of claimants |
Landed property held by claimants |
Names of the various pattis or tarafs of the
village numbered consecutively |
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Mortgaged |
Unmortgaged |
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Name of each Lambardar in the village to be shown
opposite the name of the pattis or taraf (column 9) in their charge |
Revenue of each patti or taraf, and total
revenue of the village |
Average occupier’s rate of each patti or taraf,
and total for the village |
Prevailing caste or tribe of the proprietors in
each patti or taraf |
Remarks by investigating Officer, explaining the
grounds on which reduction is proposed |
Opinion of Commissioner |
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NOTE:
- Where
the Collector is not himself the Deputy Commissioner of the district, the
opinion of the Deputy Commissioner as well as that of the Collector shall be
recorded in Column 14.
7. Embezzlement of land revenue - The following instructions in regard
to the case of a Lambardar who (a) embezzles land revenue paid to him by the
other land-owners of the estate, and (b) fails to pay the land revenue due on
his own holding have been issued:
(1)
As
regards (b) the land of the lambardar may be sold under section 75, Land
Revenue Act, if it is considered advisable to apply that section, but probably
it will usually be best to deal with the whole case under section 77.
(2)
Section
77 may be applied in relation to (a) because, under a ruling of the Financial
Commissioner, it has been held that in section 3(7) of the Act, “unpaid” means
not paid to Govt. The sums embezzled
are therefore arrears of land revenue and the guilty Lambardar is a “defaulter” [Section 3(8)] in respect of them.
(3)
Enough
of the defaulter’s land may be sold to cover the land revenue due under both
heads (a) and (b) above, and also other embezzled items (if any), such as
chaukidar’s pay, etc.
9. To enable Tehsildars to maintain a
check on the payment of the pay of the Chaukidars by the Tehsil Offices (Rule
41 under section 39, Act IV of 1872) a register of Chaukidar’s pay receipts and
disbursements shall be kept up by the Wasil Baki Nawis in
the following form :--
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Serial No |
Village |
Name of Chaukidar and pay |
Date of appointment |
Date of termination of service |
Name of the Lambardar by whom deposited |
Amount received |
Revenue deposit No. date of the money order, if
sent by post |
Signature of the Chaukidar, if paid personally or
No. and date Officer |
Initials of the attesting |
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Name |
Pay
due |
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Kharif |
Rabi |
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The
Lambardar at the time of paying in the Government revenue each harvest shall
deposit Chaukidara Collections in the Bank through the Treasury under the head
“Revenue Deposits” and the village Chaukidar(s) shall get the payment(s) of his
(their) dues from the Tehsil through Money Order(s). The Money Order fee will be paid by the Government. If such chaukidara collections are not so
deposited by the Lambardar, the Tehsildar shall, subject to the orders of the
Deputy Commissioner, take measures to collect the amount due as an arrear of
Land Revenue and pay to the Chaukidar.
In the case of villages where there are two or more Lambardars or where there are more than one village in the chaukidar’s beat, the Tehsildar shall decide as to the responsibility of depositing these dues.
10. Rule 16(i)(d) of the Land Revenue
Rules requires the Collector to dismiss a Lambardar who has mortgaged his
holding and has delivered possession to the mortgagee, but in special cases he
may, with the Commissioner’s sanction, retain him in his office under such
circumstances, if he can furnish adequate security for the payment of the
revenue he has to collect and for the due discharge of his duties. When such security has been given,
Commissioners can properly make use of the discretion given them by the rule to
permit the retention of a Lambardar who has mortgaged his land to a
co-operative bank. If it is considered
necessary to give this permission, the Collector should be instructed to give
notice to the co-operative banks concerned that in the case of default, section
76(2)(c) of the Land Revenue Act will not be applied till the arrears have been
liquidated.
12. It is important that unnecessary
delays should not be allowed to occur in filling vacancies. In this connection paragraph 323-A of the
Land Administration Manual, in so far as it is consistent with the Land Revenue
Rules, should be consulted. All cases
should reach the Collector complete and ready for decision within two months of
the date of the occurrence of the vacancy.
In
the case of succession to Lambardari in an estate or sub-division of an estate
owned chiefly or altogether by Government to which Land Revenue Rule 17(I)
applies, a period of three months should be allowed within which papers should
be placed before the Collector for his decision