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MLRC 1 Revenue Officers
Llb 3 years (2045)
Karnataka State Law University
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REVENUE OFFICERS
Synopsis I. Introduction II. Salient Features of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966 III. Land Revenue Administration IV. Revenue Divisions V. Revenue Officers
- Commissioner
- Collector Appointment Powers and Duties A. Revenue Functions
B. Magisterial Functions C. Quasi Judicial functions in revenue matters 3. Sub-Divisional Officer 4. Tahsildar 5. Circle Officer/Inspector 6. Talathi VI. Survey Officers [Short Note] Powers and Duties of Survey Officers VII. Conclusion
Introduction (General Material, Common to All Answers under this Act)
Land provides basic necessities like food, clothing and shelter to human being. Land has always been an important locus for the economic activity necessary for human life. Any developmental activity is nearly impossible to conceive without taking land into consideration. The ability of land to provide space for production is limited by its physical and locational properties. Unlike goods, which can be moved around to where they are needed, land is immovable and cannot be physically passed by hand.
Before independence, land in India was owned by a few people. It was observed that social justice and development of the country could not be achieved unless land is distributed among the peasants. On the basis of this land reforms were initiated after independence. To fulfil objectives of land reform Government enacted number of land reforms legislations. In Maharashtra, land revenue administration is governed by Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966 and development control is regulated under Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, 1966. Besides these laws, provisions of some other laws are also applicable in land transactions.
Salient Features of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966 (General
Material, Common to All Answers under this Act)
The law relating to land and land revenue in the State of Maharashtra is codified and consolidated in the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966. The Code consists of around 337 sections which are
divided into 16 Chapters and also contains 10 Schedules. The Code came into force w.e. 15th August 1967 and has regularly been amended since its enactment.
The Code makes provisions for the following –
- Appointment of Revenue Officers, their powers and duties
- Grant, Use, Encroachment and Relinquishment of Land
- Assessment and Settlement of Land Revenue of Agricultural as well as Non-Agricultural Lands
- Revenue Surveys
- Fixation and Demarcation of Boundary and Boundary Marks
- Land Records
- Realisation of Land Revenue and Other Revenue Demands
- Procedure of Revenue Officers
- Appeals, Revision and Review; and
- Constitution and composition Revenue Tribunal
The Code also contains certain special provisions for Land Revenue in the City of Bombay under Chapter XIV (Sections 260 to 307).
Land Revenue Administration (General Material, Common to All Answers
under this Act)
The Bombay High Court in the case of Hari Contructions v. State of Maharashtra held that the primary object of the MLRC is revenue administration i. to assess, charge and collect revenue which includes, penalty on account of illegal extraction of minor minerals vested in State Government. For the purposes of assessing, charging and collecting revenue, the Code provides for the appointment of certain officials known as Revenue Officers who are in charge of certain revenue divisions.
Revenue Divisions
For the purpose of revenue administration the Government has divided State into ‘revenue areas’. The State is divided into 6 divisions, 35 districts and 399 talukas. Each division is divided into districts for administrative convenience. Each district may consist of one or more sub-divisions and each sub- division may consist of 4 to 5 talukas. These talukas are further subdivided into revenue circles and circles into revenue sazas. Sazas consist of a group of villages.
The 6 Administrative Divisions are – Vidarbha (Nagpur Division), Vidarbha (Amravati Division), Marathwada (Aurangabad Division), Konkan (Konkan Division), Khandesh (Nashik Division), and Western Maharashtra (Pune Division).
In Pune region, following districts are included – Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, and Kolhapur.
Appointment
According to Section 7, the State Government shall appoint a Collector in each District. The Government shall also appoint certain Additional and Assistant Collectors as may be required for any purpose.
Powers and Duties
The Collector though responsible to the Divisional Commissioner has actually to run the district administration and is not only the head of the revenue department but is expected to supervise the working of the other departments so far as the needs and exigencies of the district administration are concerned.
A. Revenue Functions
- The Collector is the custodian of Government property in land (including trees and water) wherever situated and at the same time is the guardian of the interests of public in land, so far as the interests of Government in land are alienated to them.
- The Collector is responsible for (i) assessment, (ii) collection and (iii) accounting of all land revenues.
- He is also responsible for maintenance of Record of Rights.
- As per the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, the powers of the Collector have already been vested with the Sub-Divisional Officers. However the following powers under Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966, have been reserved with the Collector –
Section Subject Matter 21 Extinction of rights of public in or over any public road, lane or path not required for use of public. 22 Assignment of land in villages 44 Grant of non-agricultural permissions in all municipal arms of the district. 45 Imposing penalty for so using land without permission. 127 Levy of survey fees. 171and 172 Revenue management of villages or share of village. 187 Attachment and management alienation of village or estate.
The Collector is also responsible for collection of fees and taxes under various other Acts, such as the Bombay Irrigation Act, the Indian Stamps Act, the Court Fee Act, the Bombay Entertainment Duty Act etc.
The Collector is in charge of the treasury and is personally responsible to Government for its general administration, for the correctness of the treasury returns and for the safe custody of the valuables which it contains.
B. Magisterial Functions
The Collector as a District Magistrate in charge of the district is required to maintain law and order in the district and as a District Magistrate he has to take action under the various Acts noted below viz.,
- Preventive Detention Act,
- Criminal Procedure Code,
- Bombay Police Act,
- Indian Explosives Act and
- Indian Arms Act.
The Collector’s duties as the District Magistrate are mostly executive. He is the head of all executive and Sub-Divisional Magistrates in the district. As a District Magistrate, he has the following powers:
- To hear revisions from orders requiring security for keeping the peace or good behaviour (Section 406 of Criminal Procedure Code);
- To call for records from any subordinate executive magistrate (Section 435 of Criminal Procedure Code);
- To issue commission for examination of witnesses (Section 503 of Criminal Procedure Code) and
- To hear appeals from or revise orders passed by subordinate executive magistrates ( under Section 514)
C. Quasi Judicial functions in revenue matters
- Among the quasi-judicial functions of the Collector on the revenue side, the Collector is empowered to hear appeals against the orders passed by the deputy Collectors under the MLRC.
- Under the Mamlatdars’ Courts Act, the Collector is empowered to revise Mamlatdars’ Procedure under Section 23 of the Act. He may call for and examine the record of any suit under this Act. He can also delegate the powers conferred on him by this Section to any Deputy Collector subordinate to him.
- As regards the execution of civil court decrees, the Civil Court forwards to the Collector the decrees pertaining to possession of land for execution. The Collector has to send such cases to the District Inspector of Land Records for measurement after which action is taken as per the decrees issued.
- The Collector is the authority who has to start land acquisition proceedings.
ii. inspect the works for which loans have been granted to the villagers under the Agriculturists Loans Act, 1883, or the Land Improvement Loans Act. iii. inquire into the collection of Government revenue. iv. examine the diary of the Talathi, make remarks in the column provided for the purpose and note them briefly in his own diary v. inquire whether a tenant actually cultivating land is the same as entered in the Record of Rights vi. check whether any tenant has sub-divided or sub-let the land.
6. Talathi
While the collector is regarded as the pivot of the district administration, the Talathi is the representative of Government at the village level. He has usually one to five villages in his charge. His local knowledge is so extensive that there is hardly any information about the village and its occupants of which he is not aware or of which he cannot make a guess. As such, he is viewed as the eyes and ears of the Collector.
The duties of the Talathi includes field inspections, recording of crops, revision reports relating to mutations, partitions, recovery of revenue or rents, and all amounts recoverable as arrears of land revenue, preparations and maintenance of the ‘Records of Rights’.
He is also required to assist in providing relief to agriculturists in distress or in census operations.
It is also the duty of a Talathi to prepare, whenever called upon by any superior revenue or police officer of the taluka or district to do so all writings connected with the concerns of a village which are required either for the use of the Central or State Government or the public, such as notices, reports of inquests, and depositions and examinations in criminal matters.
Survey Officers [Short Note]
For the purposes of carrying out revenue surveys (Chp. V), assessment and settlement of land revenue (chp. VI), fixation and demarcation of boundaries (chp. IX) and maintenance of land records (chp. X), the State Government may appoint such officers as may from time to time appear necessary.
Such officers may be designated as “Settlement Commissioner ”, “Director of Land Records ”, “Deputy Director of Land Records”, “Superintendents of Land Records”, “Settlement Officers”, “District Inspectors of Land Records”, and “ Survey Tahsildars ”, or otherwise as may deem requisite. According to S. 2(39), all such officers appointed under section 8 of the Code by the State Government are called as ‘Survey Officers’.
Powers and Duties of Survey Officers
As per section 14, , the survey officers are vested with the cognisance of all matters connected with the survey, settlement and record of rights and shall exercise all such powers and perform all such duties as may be provided by this Code or any law for the time being in force.
The primary functions of the survey officers are –
- to conduct revenue survey, assessment and settlement of land revenue
- to assist and settle land revenue of agricultural land
- to assist and settle land revenue within the sight of villages, towns and cities,
- to fix boundary and boundary marks
- to settle boundary disputes
- to give effect to the Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act
Furthermore Section 22 empowers the survey officer to assign lands for special purposes such as forest or fuel reserve, for free pasturage of village cattle or for grass or fodder reserve, for burial or cremation ground, for gaothan, for camping ground, for threshing floor, for bazaar, for skinning ground, for public purposes such as roads, lanes, parks, drains or for any other public purpose.
Conclusion
Thus it can be seen that the MLRC provides for a systematic and organised functioning of land revenue administration by providing a hierarchy in terms of revenue areas and the corresponding revenue officers.
MLRC 1 Revenue Officers
Course: Llb 3 years (2045)
University: Karnataka State Law University
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