FINANCIAL COMMISSIONER’S OFFICE, PUNJAB
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Submission of
copies of inspection notes to Commissioners and Financial Commissioners |
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4-A |
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25 – 30 |
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Revised issue, dated 6th November, 1913.
1st reprint, dated 5th January, 1927.
2nd reprint, dated 13th September, 1938.
3rd reprint, dated 22nd August, 1951.
4th reprint, dated 16th August, 1965.
Revised on January 1, 1981.
NOTE - In connection with this Standing Order, paragraph 236 of the Land Administration Manual should be consulted.)
1. The Commissioner of the Division should
himself inspect each Tehsil in his Division once in three years.
2. No tehsil office should be left without
detailed inspection for a longer period than 6 months. The Deputy Commissioner should himself
inspect each tehsil office completely at least once in two years and if he is
unable to make the remaining inspections himself he should direct the
Additional Deputy Commissioner, District Revenue Officer or some experienced
Assistant or Extra Assistant Commissioner to make these for him.
In a Sub-Division, the Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil)
should inspect each tehsil in his Sub-Division twice a year.
(Punjab
Government Memo No.V.O.DCCII-R-II-80/1416, dated March 13, 1980) is referred to
in connection with inspections by Revenue Officers.
3. Minute
books of inspections - At each district office and at each tehsil there should be a Minute Book
of Inspections, in which inspecting officers should note the results of their
inspections. It will be the duty of
controlling officers on every subsequent inspection to See that defects
previously noted have been corrected. The results of these inspections should
be borne in mind by the Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner, when they write
their yearly notice of officers. The
Minute Books should be bound in cloth or leather and be of good substantial
paper.
The Commissioner of the Division is responsible for
taking necessary steps to ensure that these inspections are carried out. He should require his office to submit to
him early in April of each year a statement showing which tehsils have been
inspected (a) by the Deputy Commissioner, and by the other Revenue Officers, in
the six months ending with March 31st. He should draw the attention of the Deputy Commissioner to the
tehsils which have not been inspected by him, and ask him to inspect them
during the following six months. With
regard to tehsils which have not been inspected by the other Revenue Officers,
proper notice should be taken of the fact that there has been a failure in this
respect, and the Deputy Commissioner should be required to See that all
tehsils are inspected during the following six months. A similar statement should be put up each
year early in October to enable the Commissioner to assure himself that his
order has been carried out.
Soon after the end of October each year the Commissioners
of Divisions should forward a report to the Financial Commissioner’s Office
giving a list of tehsils in which the required half-yearly inspections have not
been carried out and stating reasons.
4. Submission
of copies of inspection notes to Commissioners and Financial Commissioners - Copies of all minutes recorded by
the Financial Commissioners on their inspections of divisional, district or
tehsil offices should be forwarded to the Financial Commissioner’s Office for
record. When a Commissioner inspects a
district or tehsil office he should forward a copy of his notes in the Minute
Book to the Financial Commissioners for information, and similarly a Deputy
Commissioner should send a copy of his inspection note to the Commissioner of
the division.
Inspection notes should be concisely expressed and not be
voluminous. If the inspecting officer
sends a subordinate official to the tehsil in advance, it should only be with
the object of preparing material and care should be taken to See that he
does no more than this. The final note should be the work of the inspecting
officer himself, after personal verification of all important points,
superfluous material having been first eliminated. It will be convenient if these reports are submitted in two
parts, the first consisting of general conclusions, in which attention is
directed to features of particular importance, and the second of detailed
criticism. Preliminary notes by
subordinate officials are not to be submitted in original. Copies of all inspection notes should reach
their destination within a month at least of the inspection.
4-A. Destruction
of inspection notes - The original tehsil Minute Book of inspections constitute a valuable
record of local problems and should be preserved in perpetuity. Copies of inspection minutes filed in
district offices should, however, be destroyed after three years.
5. Distribution
of work in tehsil office - The Tehsildar is responsible for the distribution of work in the tehsil
office. Variations will of course be
found in every district and every tehsil, but as a rule the distribution should
be somewhat as follows:
A. - Reader to Tehsildar/ Judicial Muharrir. -
Tehsildar’s/Naib-Tehsildar’s court work
(revenue, criminal and civil), partition cases, etc., etc.
B.
- Office Kanungo. - Revenue
records, etc.
C.
- Wasil Baqi Nawis. - Revenue
accounts.
D.
- Deleted.
E. - Miscellaneous.
- Matters relating to chaukidars, peons and office routine.
6. Matters requiring
attention and inspection - A district officer will probably know either from personal acquaintance
or from previous inspection notes, what are the weak points in a particular
tehsil, while his local knowledge should tell him what are the most important
or most difficult tasks that any particular tehsil staff has to do. It is, therefore, undesirable to lay down a
programme of tehsil inspections or to limit in any way the discretion of an
inspecting officer to direct this inspection to the points he thinks require
attention.
At the same time there are registers and proceedings
which are uniform in most tehsils. In
order, therefore, to guide the inexperienced and modify the proclivities of
officers who take a special interest in particular branches of the revenue
administration, it has been desirable to summaries some of the points which
deserve attention in those departments of a tehsil which are more particularly
within the province of a revenue officer.
7. The following registers should be inspected
(Standing Order No.55):-
I. - Revenue
court cases.
II - Execution
of decrees in revenue court cases.
III - Objections
in executions.
IV - Miscellaneous
applications.
V - Witnesses.
VI - Persons
punished for contempt of court.
VII - Dates fixed for hearing of cases.
These
registers should be scrutinized to See –
(1)
that
work is punctually disposed of,
(2)
that
files are promptly consigned to the record room;
(3)
that
the suit register properly indicates the relief decreed and the amount of the
costs awarded, to avoid the necessity of referring to the file at the time of
application for execution;
(4)
that
the appellate orders are properly noted and also the relief and the cost
awarded by the appellate court;
(5)
that
the suit and the execution registers clearly show how for that decree has been
executed, and
(6)
that
the entries in the two registers, are properly linked.
Pending files should be checked to See
(1) that witnesses present for more than one day are so noted in register V, and
(2) that plaints are properly stamped.
The
names of the parties given in the plaint should be compared with the extract
from the jama-bandi to See that all the necessary persons are parties to
the case, and that no one has been included who is neither a co-sharer nor a
tenant in the holding and over whom the revenue court has no jurisdiction.
(This is often neglected by revenue courts and confusion is the result).
If
the plaintiff has gone wrong in the above matters, See whether the court
has taken action in striking out unnecessary, or in adding necessary names.
Files
of proceedings and suits between landlords and tenants should be scrutinized in
the light of Standing Order No.2.
It should be noted if
any class of suit is particularly common.
8. Lambardars - Register I. Cases relating to lambardars.
(Standing Order No.55, paragraph 3.)
Ascertain
the number of institutions, the date of the oldest case and the number pending.
Go
through the pending file to See if there are unnecessary adjournments
and if cases are taken up on the spot.
Check
a certain number of entries to See if the register of mutation of names
is regularly written up.
See
that all files are entered in Register I as soon as instituted and not when
reported to sadr.
See
whether patwaris report casualties promptly.
9. Partition (Chapter
18, Land Records Manual) - The following register should be inspected:-
Register IX. Partition
cases, (Standing Order No.55, Paragraph 3.)
(Misl band should be separate
for tehsildar and naib-tehsildar.)
The
register should be examined in order to detect delays :-
(1)
in
referring (column 7), and
(2)
in
carrying out orders (column 9)
Causes of delay should be carefully
enquired into.
The bundle of pending files should
be examined to See if all have been entered in the register.
Several of the pending files should
be gone through in order to answer the following questions, among others :-
(1)
Have
there been undue delays or adjournments ?
(2)
Has
the preliminary hearing been held on the spot ? (Chapter 18.6 of Land Records
Manual.)
(3)
Has
the partition been properly carried out ? (Chapter 18.12 of Land Records
Manual.)
(4)
Has
the mode of partition been clearly reported ? (Chapter 18.10 of Land Records
Manual.)
Compare the names of the parties
given in the application for partition with those noted in the parcha jamabandi
and See whether all the necessary persons are parties in the case and
all of them were duly served with notice.
See that ex-parte proceedings are not taken
on inadequate grounds.
See that the provisions of Order No. XXXII, Civil
Procedure Code, about minors, are duly observed.
See that the provisions of chapter 18.10 of Land
Records Manual are observed in determining the mode of partition, and that the
method is not vague.
See whether there has been any undue delay in affecting the partition, and, if so, why.
10. Coercive processes -
(Standing Order No.29). The following registers should be inspected:
V-B.
- Cases under chapter VI, Punjab Land
Revenue Act, (Standing Order no.55, paragraph 3).
VI-B.- Cases under section 98, chapter VIII,
Punjab Land Revenue Act, (Standing Order No.55, paragraph 3.)
VII-B
- Cases under section 97, chapter VII, Punjab Land Revenue Act. (Standing order No.55 paragraph 3.)
VIII-B. - Cases for which no other register is provided (Standing Order
No.55 paragraph 3.)
The receipts for Writs and Warrants (Standing
Order No.29, paragraph 17) and the monthly statement of Writs ad Warrants
((Standing Order No.29, paragraph 11) should also be Seen.
Ascertain the number of writs and
warrants of arrest and attachment and cases of actual arrest and attachment and
reasons for any remarkable figures.
See that a separate process is issued for each
defaulter. Check balances of forms with
numbers sent and issued Check talbana receipts with day-book or register
of classified items and dakhilas.
Check the talbana balance as
shown in the monthly tauzi with the above registers.
See a few pending and decided files of recovery of
revenue and note whether there has bee any unreasonable delay or irregularity
of procedure.
See that the correct amount of talbana is
being levied.
See that the ahlmad understands what cases
are to be entered in registers V, VI or VII that the entries are correct.
11. Court of Wards. Cancelled.
12. Miscellaneous
revenue work - The
following registers (Standing Order No.55) and miscellaneous revenue work
should be inspected.
III-B. - Register of cases relating
to Chapter V, Punjab Land Revenue Act, other than assessment of resumed
assignments.
XI. - Register of cases relating to execution of orders of civil and criminal courts.
XI-A - Register of cases relating to execution in revenue
courts.
XII. - Register of cases relating to division of
produce under section 144, Punjab Land Revenue Act.
XIII.
- Register of cases under the Punjab Land
Revenue Act for which there is no other register.
XVI. - Register of cases enumerated in section 76(1), Punjab
Tenancy Act.
See whether any case of division or appraisement
of produce under section 17, Punjab Tenancy Act, which ought to be entered in
register XVI, is entered in register XII above or vice versa, and
whether the Muharrir understands what cases are to be entered in each
register.
Go into the entries of the other
registers and ascertain whether the muharrir understands the proper use
of them.
14.
Points
to be noticed in inspecting the work of the tehsil office kanungo have been
detailed in chapters 2.54 to 2.57 and Appendix F of the Land Records Manual.
16. Land acquisition (Standing Order No.28) - Register XIII – B is the misl band
for these cases.
In case
the land acquisition work is entrusted at tehsil level, it should
be Seen that :-
The relevant record for assessing the market
price of land is checked;
How many land acquisition cases are
pending at the tehsil, and satisfy yourself that the proper procedure is being
followed and that there is no avoidable delay; and
How much money is with the tehsildar on account
of compensation for land acquired and what is being done to pay it to the
persons concerned.
See also whether a tehsil officer goes to the spot
or whether the persons are being called to the tehsil for petty items.
17. Suspensions and
remissions (Standing Order No.30). Register IV. – Cases relating to
suspensions or remissions. (Standing Order No.55, paragraph 3).
Inspect the orders of suspensions,
remissions and collections in the last harvest.
Ascertain amounts under suspension
on account of previous harvest and discuss prospects of collection. See that orders of suspension and
collection of arrears are entered in the Khatauni.
18. Land Revenue Accounts (Standing Orders
No.31). The following registers should be
inspected :-
Kistbandi of fixed land revenue, (Standing
Order No.31, paragraph 11.)
Kistbandi of fluctuating land revenue. (Standing Order
No.31, paragraph 16).
Running register. (Standing Order No.31,
paragraph 29).
Khatauni. (Standing Order No.31, paragraphs 32-35).
The tauzis. (Standing Order No. 31,
Paragraph 36-39)
The Tahrij kept by the Wasil Baqi Nawis.
It is the basis of the system of revenue accounts that all items of receipt are entered separately on the revenue and treasury sides, and it is important to ascertain that the two entries have been made independently and agree.
The entries may be checked for two
purposes –
(1)
to See
that all items which (from the treasury accounts) appear to have been collected
were really due, and have been credited to the payer’s account;
(2)
to See
that all items of demand appearing in the revenue accounts have been paid or
are shown as due.
The chain through which every item
of demand may be traced to See that it has been properly paid and
accounted for, is as follows :--
(1) The demand statement or order. -
This may take the form of a kistbandi (as in the case of fixed and
fluctuating land revenue and some items of other land revenue or the mutation
fee list, the register of talbana or an order on a file. In certain cases detailed below there must
be an entry in the running register.
(2) The khatauni. – This is the
ledger showing how the account of each village stands.
(3)
The arzirsals.
(4)
The
register of classified items.
(5)
The dakhila
counterfoils.
For fixed land revenue take entries
from kistbandi and check arzirsals, or register of classified
items and dakhila counterfoils as explained above.
“Day Book” (Tehsil Register)
The Inspecting Officer should check
up whether the Tehsildar/ Naib-Tehsildar is giving the weekly certificate in a
consecutive order from 1st October to 30th September,
next to the effect that entries have been checked by him from the original
Treasury Challans and that the postings in the khataunis have been
initialled by him after comparison with the “Day Book”.
19. The same. Fluctuating land revenue –
(a) Temporarily excluded from rent roll. - Orders for these items all appear on the file and should also be entered in the running register. Collect these files and See that entries of demand have been made in the running register and in the Khataunis and that entries of payment appear in the running register, Khataunis, day book, arzirsal and dakhila counterfoils.
(b) Permanently excluded from rent roll.
- In the case of collections from estates held under direct management and of
fluctuating assessments, whether of canal or other lands, the demand order is
contained in kistbandi and no entry need be made in the running
register. It should be Seen that
this is understood as tehsil officials often make much needless work by
entering these items in this register.
In the case of other items of permanently excluded land revenue, an
entry in the running register is necessary.
Such items are rare and should be enquired for.
20. The same - Other land revenue - The demand order may be on a kistbandi
or a file. Paragraph 29 of Standing
Order No.31 gives the case in which they need not be entered in the running
register, and in addition it may be stated that wherever an item of demand is
important enough to require a kistbandi, the Deputy Commissioner should
ask leave to omit it from the running register. Items under this head are also entered either in the village Khatauni
or a special Khatauni. Collect
all these kistbandis and files and check entries with the running
register and Khatauni as in the preceding paragraph, and in the case of
orders by the Tehsildar See that the files show that they have been
promptly reported to sadar ………..
Check
collections as explained above.
The
Khataunis. - Ascertain that the balances in the Khataunis have
been correctly struck and correctly carried over from the Khataunis of
last year.
See
that each entry of demand in the current Khataunis is supported by an
order of the Deputy Commissioner in a kistandi in the case of fixed and
fluctuating revenue and of most items of other revenue, and by an order of
Tehsildar on a file in other cases. If
the order is passed by the tehsildar See that the file shows that he has
at once reported it to sadar.
Also See that each entry of the demand has been entered in the
running register where this is necessary.
See
that the entries of collections in the Khataunis are initialled by the
Tehsildar after comparison with the Day Book.
Check
order of suspension and remission from the files.
21. Running register of
demand and collection (Standing Order No.31, Paragraph 29) - This register requires careful
scrutiny as it is often badly kept up.
It is most important that all appropriate items of the demand of
fluctuating and “other” land revenue should be brought on this register as soon
as orders are passed. It should at the
same time be Seen that the register is not inflated by the entry of any
but “other” items in the case of fluctuating revenue permanently excluded from
the fixed land revenue roll. A few
items of demand may be picked out and the files sent for from the district
record room. This will show whether
they bear the necessary certificate of entry in this register. See that
the demand to the end of the last month under “other” land revenue agrees with
that shown in the tauzi.
The
tauzi – Look through the balances of revenue and ascertain reasons for delay
in collection of recoverable balances. The monthly list of balances submitted
in accordance with Standing Order No. 31, paragraph 37, should be consulted.
Mutation
fees - Compare statement of demand with Khataunis and check
entries of payment in the latter with the day book.
22. Taccavi loans - The following register should be
inspected :--
Mislband register, (Punjab Land Improvement and
Agriculturists Loans Manual).
Kistbandi for loans under Act XIX of 1883
(Form T-14 of Appendix V of the Punjab Land Improvement and Agriculturists
Loans Manual).
Khatauni for loans under Act XIX of 1883 (Form T-12 of
Appendix V of the said Manual).
Kistbandi for loans under Act XII of 1884
(Form T-14 of Appendix V of the said Manual).
Khatauni for loans under Act XII of 1884. (Form T-12 of
Appendix V of the said Manual).
Ascertain the amounts granted in the
past year and how the tehsildar is spending his allotment for the current year.
See
that wells for which loans have been granted are regularly inspected.
Ascertain
if bullocks for which loans are granted are inspected.
Ascertain
the amount of arrears under each Act.
Check
some entries of repayments with the arzirsal, dakhila
counterfoils and cash book. See that separate arzirsals are made
out by the Wasil Baqi Nawis for each debtor and that the lambardar
does not credit the whole amount due from the village in a lump sum.
See
that the entries of collections in the Khataunis are initialled by the
tehsildar after comparison with the day book.
See
that simple interest on enhanced rates is charged on instalments more than one
month overdue. (The Land Improvement Loans Rules, 1910).
See
that the interest is charged with effect from the due harvest and at the rate
notified by the State Government from time to time. (The Land Improvement Loans
Rules, 1910).
Check
the pending files to see that the grant of taccavi is not being delayed.
23. State lands
reserved from cultivation (standing Order No.34). -
Cancelled.
24. State lands devoted to
the extension of cultivation (Standing Order No.35). - The following register should be
inspected :-
XV
- Register of cases
relating to sale, lease or grant of waste lands. (Standing Order NO.55).
Khataunis
of single harvest leases.
Kistbandis
of single harvest leases.
See if any files have been pending too long in the
tehsil and whether the proper procedure is followed.
Compare Khataunis with the
demand statement and with the arzirsals and dakhila counterfoils,
and see that the entries agree.
Ascertain
whether the demand for single harvest leases is brought on the running register
or not. When there are many such leases
and a regular kistbandi of demand is prepared, it is unnecessary to
bring them on this register.
D – Siah Nawis (Sub – Treasury work)
31. Chaukidars. The following registers should be inspected :-
(1)
Chaukidar’s pay. (Standing Order No.20,
paragraph 9).
(2)
Mislband.
See whether register (1) has been opened and
whether the entries are properly made.
(Standing Order No.20, paragraph 9.)
See whether any action has been taken against lambardars
who have not presented the chaukidars’ receipts for pay.
See whether all pending files are entered in
register (2) and that they were entered when instituted and not when reports
were submitted to the sadr.
32. Peons - The following registers should be inspected :-
(1)
Deleted.
(2)
Diary
of Watch and Ward and roster of duties, (Standing Order No.55, paragraph 11.)
(3)
Register
of service of processes.
(4)
Register
of service of processes from other districts.
See that the work is properly distributed among
the peons, and that they are not allowed to spent unnecessary time over their
work.
See that there is a sufficient number of peons and
that they are available for duty.
See which Peons should be superannuated.
33.
The
following registers should be inspected :-
Office routine.
(1)
Register
of parwanas from sadr – (Standing Order No.55, paragraph 9).
(2)
Dak register.
(3)
Register
of service stamps.
See if there are any old references pending.
If a monthly list of old
pending references is submitted to sadr compare the last list with the
register of parwanas.