Government Records Punjab--Records of the Delhi Residency and Agency

· 1911 · Text public domain; the scan hosted non-commercially, with credit · archive.org ↗

1Settlement of

2the Assigned

3Territory.

4Instructions

5to Mr. C. T.

6Metcalfe.

718 RECORDS OF THE DELHI RESIDENCY. [ Cuar.

8jummabundee. This record is in fact a money valuation of

9the produce of the village, after making the above deduction.

10In it are comprised the dues of Government, or land tax, and

11the share of the proprietor termed in the Lower Provinces

12maltkana (of which more hereafter) together with certain

13charges to which the landlord is liable. After deducting the

14maltkana and these charges from the gross jummabundee, a

15third record is formed, which is termed the jummabundce

16pokhteh or puckeh gummabundee, t.e., the nett jummabundee

17which specifies nothing but the dues of Government, com-

18monly termed the “nett jumma ” from its being liable to no

19further deduction whatever. The whole of this process I have

20myself carried into effect in the course of making revenue

21settlements, and I think there can hardly be a doubt that the

22forming such an account from local inspection would, generally

23speaking, be a fair, just and satisfactory basis of a settlement,

24more especially of a jirs¢ settlement in a newly acquired

25country. In applying this reasoning, however, to the case in

26question (vtz., to the settlement of the Assigned Territory

27for the present Fuslee year) it strikes me that two circum-

28stances must render its immediate adoption difficult and

29inexpedient, r#z., your not having sufficient time to attend

30to the detail of the executive part, and the scantiness of the

31present crops in consequence of the drought, a circumstance

32which may probably render the produce too inconsiderable to

33bear the expense. Of this, you will be better able to judge,

34when in the mofussil than I can at present. In the event

35of your thinking it either impracticable from want of time, or

36inexpedient from the poverty of the present produce, to have

37recourse to the mode in question, I can only recommend to you

38to endeavour to obtain the best possible information as to the

39present value of the lands, from the Tehseeldar, canoongoes

40and putwarrees, by the latter of whom, if entertained, the

41village accounts of the ryots are always attested.

426. But to whatever of these modes you may have

43recourse to ascertain the true value of the land, it forcibly

44strikes me that you will find no difficulty in ascertaining

45the condition of the ryots or cultivating husbandmen, and