The Bombay Rent-free Estates Act, 1851

THE BOMABY RENT-FREE ESTATES ACT, 1852

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THE BOMABY RENT-FREE ESTATES ACT, 1852 ACT NO. XI OF 1852 [Passed on the 13th February, 1852.] Recites expediency of providing means of settling claims against Government in certain districts : and that rules of Bombay R. Do not apply to districts not under Government Regulations: enacts. No order of Government regarding title to lands in any of the non-regulation districts shall be questioned in any Court of law on ground of inconsistency with this Act. Governor of Bombay may appoint in recited districts an Inam Commissioner with assistants : who (3) shall discharge their duties according to rules in Schedule to this Act. Rules for adjudication of title to estates claimed as Inam.

An Act for the Adjudication of Titles to certain Estates claimed to be wholly or partially Rent-free in

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An Act for the Adjudication of Titles to certain Estates claimed to be wholly or partially Rent-free in the Presidency of Bombay. WHEREAS in the Territories of the Deccan Kandeish, and Southern Mahratta Country, and in other Districts more recently annexed to the Bombay Presidency, claims against Government on account of Inams and other Estates wholly or partially exempt from payment of Land Revenue are excepted from the cognizance of the ordinary Civil Courts, and incapable of being justly disposed of under the Rules for the determination of Titles, and the Rules of Procedure contained in Chapters IX. and X. of Regulation XVII. of 1827 of the Bombay Code and their Supplements; and whereas it is desirable that the said claims should be tried and determined without further delay. It is declared and enacted as follows: I. The Rules in Chapters IX. and X. of Regulation XVII. of 1827, and in Clause 1 of Regulation VI. of 1833 of the Bombay Code, do not apply to any of the Districts of the Bombay Presidency which were not brought under the General Regulations of Government by Regulation XXVIII. of 1827 of the Bombay Code; and no order hitherto passed regarding the continuance or resumption of lands in any of the said Districts held or claimed from Government as wholly or partially free of assessment, shall be liable to be questioned in any Court of Law, on the grounds of any interpretation nr construction of the Law, which may be inconsistent with the declarations made and the rules prescribed by this enactment. The Governor of Bombay in Council may appoint in any Zillah or other division of the Territories subject to the Presidency of Bombay, which were not brought under the General Regulations of Government by the said Regulation XXVIII. of 1827, an Inam Commissioner with so many Assistants, and such subordinate Establishment, as may be necessary for the purposes hereinafter mentioned. In the adjudication of claims to exempt lands or interests therein, the titles of claimants shall he determined by the Rules in Schedule B. annexed to this Act.

other person acting under the provisions of this Act, shall be liable to be sued in any Civil Court for any

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other person acting under the provisions of this Act, shall be liable to be sued in any Civil Court for any act bonâ fide done or ordered to be done by him in pursuance of the said provisions. _________

SCHEDULE A

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SCHEDULE A Rules for defining the duties of each Inam commissioner and his assistants 1. The duty of the Inam Commissioner and his Assistants shall be to investigate, in the manner prescribed by this enactment, the titles of persons holding or claiming against Government the possession or enjoyment of Inams or Jagheers, or any interest therein, or claiming exemption from the payment of Land Revenue, and generally to act according to the instructions of Government in all matters not specifically provided for in this enactment. All orders of the Assistant Commissioners shall be appealable to the Inam Commissioner, who shall also have the authority of revising and of modifying, reversing or annulling, if necessary, their orders and proceedings, and the orders and proceedings of the Inam Commissioner shall be in like manner appealable to, and subject to modification, reversal, or annulment by the Governor of Bombay in Council, whose orders shall in every case be final. The Inam Commissioner or his Assistants shall receive from the persons holding or claiming to hold lands or any interest therein exempt from the payment of Revenue, statements explaining the nature of the title by which the lands or interests are so held, and shall take and record the evidence offered in support of such statements. These statements may be received, either directly by the Officers of the Inam Commission, or through the medium of the Revenue Authority of the Talooka in which the land or interest so held or claimed as exempt is situated; or in which the alleged proprietor resides, without any previous procedure, except a general invitation to such landholders of a District who shall hold or claim to hold lands exempt as aforesaid to state the nature of their titles. But when such general invitation is not sufficiently attended to, a notice may be issued to any party holding or claiming to hold any lands or any interest therein wholly or partially exempt as aforesaid, requiring him personally, or by his Agent, to shew his title.

by any other evidence procurable, whether in favor of Government or of the claimants, and decisions shall

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Section 1 — Regarding Inams already declared permanent by competent authority since the introduction of the present Government

by any other evidence procurable, whether in favor of Government or of the claimants, and decisions shall then be passed on them as to the continuance, resumption, or full or partial assessment of the lands. In cases where the notices provided for in Sections V. and VII. fail to procure the attendance of the persons to whom they are addressed, and no claimant appears to prosecute his claim, the Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner shall proceed to ascertain the facts of the case from such evidence as may he forthcoming or procurable, and shall pronounce such decision thereupon as to him shall seem just regarding the lands or interests to which the notices referred. An attachment enforced under Rule 8 shall be removed by the Collector or Chief Revenue Authority by whom it was made, on receipt of a communication from the Inam Commissioner or his Assistant, certifying that he considers the attachment to be no longer necessary; but the rents collected from the land during its attachment shall in no case be restored to the alleged proprietor, except under the general or special instructions of Government. Certified copies of decisions, made according to the provisions of Rule 9, shall be delivered as soon as possible after each decision is passed, to the persons on whose claims the decision shall have been pronounced, or their agents; and copies of all decisions made in the absence of any claimant, according to the provisions of Rule 10, shall he sent to the Mamlutdar, or other Revenue manager of the talook in which the lands to which they relate are situated, who shall deliver them to the parties affected by them, should they be discoverable, or otherwise cause them to be publicly posted in the village to which the lands in question belong. Decisions, affecting any lands or any interests therein, passed under this enactment, shall be carried into execution by the Collector or Chief Revenue Authority of the District in which the lands to which they relate are situated, at the requisition of the Inam Commissioner or his Assistant, in any manner which may, from time to time, be prescribed by the Governor of Bombay in Council. Regarding Inams already declared permanent by competent authority since the introduction of the present Government.—All lands held under a specific and absolute declaration by the British Government, or any competent officer acting under it, that they were to be continued hereditarily or in perpetuity exempt, wholly or partially, from the payment of Revenue, are to be so continued according to the purport of such declaration.

2. Regarding claims to per sonal Inams, not yet adjudicated under the present Government.—

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Section 2 — Regarding claims to per sonal Inams, not yet adjudicated under the present Government

Regarding claims to per sonal Inams, not yet adjudicated under the present Government.— Any land held under a sunnud declaring it to be hereditary, shall be so continued according to the terms of the sunnud. Provision 1st.—Provided that the grant was either made, or specifically recognized, by Authority competent to alienate Government Revenue in perpetuity, the question of which recognition and st competency is to be referred to and determined by Government in the manner prescribed by Provision 1 , Rule 1. All lands uninterruptedly held as wholly or partially exempt from assessment for a period of sixty years before the introduction of the British Government, and then in the authorized possession of a grandson in male descent, or male heir of the body of such grandson of the original grantee, shall continue to be so held so long as there shall be in existence any male heir of the body of the person who was incumbent at the introduction of the British Government, tracing his lineage from such incumbent through male heirs only. Provision 3rd.—The introduction of the British Government is to be reckoned from the time the East India Company became the Government or Paramount Authority over each District as regards its Inams. In the Territories ceded by or conquered from the Peshwa, therefore, whether Khalsat Mahals or Serinjams, &c., held exclusive of Inams, &c., the introduction of the British Government will date from the close of that of the Peshwa. But in case of the lapse of an independent principality, or of a jagheer more ancient than the Peshwa's Government, and over the Inams of which he did not claim any authority, the introduction of the British Government should be reckoned only from the date at which the general management of the Districts may have come into the hands of the Company, and in case any question shall arise as to the precise date when the East India Company became the Government over any district, or when the general management of any District came into their hands, such question shall be referred to and determined by Government in the manner prescribed by Provision 1st, Rule 1.

Provision 1st.—In case the incumbent at the time of the introduction of the British Government may

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Section 7 — Regarding claims to Inams apparently permanent by the nature of the objects for which they are held, and not merely personal

Provision 1st.—In case the incumbent at the time of the introduction of the British Government may have died, the permission to hold for life is to be extended to the person in whose name the land may be continued, when the investigation is commenced, if there be no fraud apparent, nor other reason for withholding this indulgence. Provision 2nd.—When land is evidently held by fraud recently committed, (as when an Inam which was resumed under the late Government has been re-occupied under the present Government without authority, of as when a pretended Inam is found to have originated. Since the introduction of this Government with the connivance of District or Village Officers), it shall be at once resumed, not being continuable under this or any of the preceding Rules. Provisions 1st, 2nd and 3rd.—The same as the corresponding Provisions of Rule 2 of this Schedule in those cases in which Title Deeds or other Records proving the circumstances of the original grant, or its specific recognition by competent authority, are forthcoming. Provision 4th.—When there is no proof forthcoming to shew whether or not an Inam, coming under the Provisions of this Rule, was granted, or even specifically recognized by a competent authority, still, if it has been undisputedly enjoyed for a period of forty years before the introduction of the present Government, it shall be permanently continued, and enjoyment proved by the mere entry of the Inam, as continued in genuine accounts of the District Officers, (even in those not passed by the Government of the time being,) is to be considered sufficiently “uninterrupted” to give an Inam the benefit of this provision, if there be no entries in the Government accounts which shew that it must have been unauthorized by them. Provisions 1st, 2nd and 3rd.—The same as the corresponding Provisions of Rule 2 of this Schedule in those cases in which Title Deeds or other Records, proving the circumstances of the original grant, or its specific recognition by competent authority, are forthcoming, Provision 4th.—When there is no proof forthcoming to shew whether or not an Inam, coming under the provisions of this Rule, was granted or even specifically recognized by competent authority, still if it has been undisputedly enjoyed as an official and not merely personal holding from the earliest period to

which the forthcoming evidence does relate, it shall be continued permanently as official emolument, unless

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Section 9 — Regarding Provision for the Widows of the last incumbents of resumed holdings

Section 10 — Regarding the exception of certain tenures from the application of these Rules

Section 11 — Regarding the modification and interpretation of these Rules

which the forthcoming evidence does relate, it shall be continued permanently as official emolument, unless the claimant's own statement renders this course improper. Provision 5th.—The provisions of this Rule are not in any way to apply to emoluments continued for service performed to the State, as the Service Wuttuns of Desaees, Surdesaees, Nargowdas, Deshpandes, Patells, Coolkurnees, Mhars, Tulwars, whose claims are to be disposed of according to the Rules which are or may be established for the regulation of such holdings. Provision 6th.—It is to be understood that mere length of enjoyment of land as Inam by an official person is not of itself sufficient to entitle a claim to be brought under this Rule. Provision 7th.—If a holding, claimed under this Rule, be found incapable of permanent continuance under it, the claimant shall be allowed the advantages of any of the preceding Rules of this Schedule which may be applicable to his case. Regarding Provision for the Widows of the last incumbents of resumed holdings.—On the resumption of any lands under the Rules of this Schedule a moiety, or other portion may be continued to the Widows of the last incumbents during their lives, in cases of proved poverty and destitution. st Provision 1 .—In the case of a holding, which is recognizable as an hereditary personal Inam, the widow of a proprietor who dies without surviving male issue, or other heirs to whom his Inam will of necessity descend, is by right his sole heir, and during her life, the Inam cannot be regarded as having lapsed to Government: it should therefore, in such a case, he continued undiminished during the widow's life. Regarding the exception of certain tenures from the application of these Rules.—These Rules shall not be necessarily applicable to Jageers, Serinjams, or other tenures for service to Government, or tenures of a Political nature, the titles and continuance of which shall be determined as heretofore under such Rules as Government may find it necessary to issue from time to time.