#THE MADRAS CITY LAND REVENUE ACT, 1851 

##ACT NO. 12 OF 1851 

[Passed on the 14th November, 1851.]

1. *Assessable lands in Madras not assessed, to be assessed at customary rates.*

2. *Lakhiraj tenures of sixty years standing and none of less to be valid.*

3. *Collector to determine rate of assessment, subject to an appeal.*

4,  5,  6. *Collector  may  have  rent-paying  lands  measured  to  ascertain  the  exactness  of  assessed 
quantity : and (5) order an abatement when assessed at too much ; and (6) an increase when assessed at 
too little.*

7. *After demand in writing, rent may be recovered by distress and sale of goods and chattels. Collector 
may appoint bailiffs and appraisers to make and appraise, &c. distresses.*

8. *Rent paid to East India Company by under tenant may be deducted by him from his own rent.*

9. *Land  revenue  or  rent  of  East  India  Company  to  have  priority  over  all  other  claims  as  respects 
property liable.*

10. *Distress to proceed notwithstanding liability disputed, unless amount is deposited.*

11. *Arrears of rent removeable for six years after due or after acknowledgement in writing.*

12. *Claim to hold land rent free to be referred by Collector to Board, if disallowed by Board, land to 
be assessed, subject to Civil Suit.*

13. *Obstructing Collector, &c. to be punishable by fine and in default of payment by imprisonment.*

14. *Collector may punish contempts.*

15. *Collector to act under superior revenue authorities.*

16. *Ground rents of East India Company to be deemed revenue within 21 Geo. 3 Cap. 70.*

17. *Actions for trespass or injury committed under color of Act to be tried in East India Company’s 
Courts, &c. and no action to lie more than 6 months after cause arose.*

18. *Interprets the words “Collector” and Board of Revenue.*

An Act for securing the Land Revenue of Madras. 

Whereas it is expedient that the land revenue accruing due to the East India Company at Madras, within 
the limits of the Town of Madras as defined in Section XII., Regulation II. of 1802., of the Madras Code, 
should be ascertained and collected in as summary a manner as in other parts of the territories under the 
Government of the East India Company, It is enacted as follows: 

I.  All  assessable  lands  not  the  property  of  the  East  India  Company,  within  the  limits  of  the  Town 
Madras,  as  defined  in  Section  XII.,  Regulation  II.  of  1802,  of  the  Madras  Code,  of  which  the  rate  of 
assessment  is  not  known,  or  which  have  not  heretofore  been  assessed,  shall  be  assessed  at  the  rates 
customarily charged upon lands of a similar description in the neighbourhood according as they may be 
situated description in the neighbourhood according as they may be situated respectively within or without 
the walls of Black Town. 

II. Lakiraj tenures of land in Madras, of which uninterrupted possession has been held under alleged 
grants, exempt or partially exempt from assessment for sixty years, shall be valid : no other lakiraj tenures 
of land in Madras shall be deemed valid, unless the same are or shall be held under an unexpired grant from 
the British Government.

III. The Collector of Madras shall determine the rate of assessment to be laid on assessable land under 
Section I. of this Act, with reference to the rate assessed upon other land of a similar description in the 
neighbourhood,  subject  to  an  appeal  to  the  Board  of  Revenue,  to  be  made  within  six  months  from  the 
notification by the Collector of the assessment fixed by him. The decision of the Board of Revenue upon 
such appeal shall be final.
 
IV.  The  Collector  may  order  any  assessable  land,  or  land  already  assessed,  or  charged  with  a  rent 
payable  to  the  East  India  Company,  to  be  measured,  for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  amount  of 
assessment to be imposed, or, in the case of land already assessed or charged with a rent, for the purpose of 
ascertaining whether the actual dimensions, and the dimensions upon which the amount of assessment or 
rent, was calculated, correspond. 

V. Whenever, upon the measurement of any land under the preceding Section, it shall be found that the 
dimensions upon which the amount of assessment or rent was calculated exceed the actual dimensions, a 
proportionate abatement shall be made for the excess, on the demand of the party entitle to claim it. 

VI. On the other hand, when the actual dimensions exceed the dimensions upon which the amount of 
assessment or rent was calculated, the excess shall be charged at the same rate as the rest of the land, the 
possession being left undisturbed. Provided that, when it shall appear that the excess has been earned by 
the surreptitious usurpation of ground belonging to another tenure, the act of the Collector in assessing it 
shall not prejudice the holder of such other tenure in any effort he may make to recover the ground usurped 
from it. An appeal shall lie to the Board of Revenue against any extra assessment or additional rent charged 
by the Collector for excess by measurement under this Section, if preferred within six months from the date 
of the Collector's order. Upon each appeal the decision of the Board of Revenue shall be final. 

VII. If any owner of assessed land or any person holding land subject to a rent payable to the East India 
Company, shall upon the written demand of the Collector, refuse or neglect to pay any sum at which the 
land is assessed, or with which it is charged as rent, the Collector may levy the same by distress and sale of 
the goods and chattels, wherever found, of such owners or lessee; or, after written demand upon the tenant 
or occupier, and of his refusal or neglect to pay the sum lawfully demanded, by distress  and sale of any 
goods and chattels found Upon the land, in the manner appointed for regulating distresses for small rents 
in Calcutta by Act VII. of 1847, extended to Madras by Section 89, Act IX. of 1850, and for the purpose of 
any such distress and sale, the Collector shall have all the powers of a Judge of the Court of Small Causes 
under  Section  89,  Act  IX.  of  1850  aforesaid;  and  the  Collector  shall  have  power  to  appoint  any  of  his 
Officers  to  perform  the  duties  of  Bailiffs  and  Appraisers,  and  of  the  Chief  Clerk  of  the  said  Court,  as 
provided by the said Act VII. of 1847, and all the provisions of the said Act relating to the Commissioners 
for the recovery of small debts and their Court shall be deemed to apply to the said Collector and his Office 
in the execution of this Act. 

VIII. In the case of payment by any tenant of occupier not holding immediately under the East India 
Company, or the seizure and sale of his property, he may deduct the amount of the payment or levy from 
the next payment of rent to his landlord. 

IX. The claim of the East India Company for land revenue or rent has priority over all other claims 
upon the land, or to which property distrained upon the land may be liable. 

X. If the Collector's claim for arrears of rent is disputed, the process of distraint and sale shall not be 
stayed unless the amount claimed be lodged with the Collector. 

XI. Arrears of rent or revenue due to the East India Company and recoverable within six years next 
after the same are due, or next after an acknowledgment of the same in writing has been given by the person 
by whom the same is payable, or his Agent, and not afterwards. 

XII. When  a  claim  to  hold  land  lakiraj,  or  free  of  assessment,  shall  be  set  up  under  this  Act,  the 
Collector shall inquire into the claim; taking such evidence as the claimant may offer, or the public records 
supply; and shall report his proceedings in the case for the consideration of the Board of Revenue. If the 
Board of Revenue are satisfied of the validity of the claim, they shall make an order accordingly, and such 
order shall be final. If they are not satisfied of the validity of the claim, they shall direct the Collector to 
assess  the  land,  leaving  the  claimant  to  contest  the  Collector's  demand  in  the  Civil  Courts,  as  herein 
provided. 

XIII. Any  person  obstructing  or  molesting  the  Collector,  or  any  of  his  subordinate  officers  in  the 
execution of their duty, shall, on conviction before a Magistrate of the Town of Madras, be liable to a fine 
not exceeding five hundred rupees, and, in default of payment, to imprisonment in the common gaol for a 
term not exceeding six months, or until the fine is sooner paid.
 
XIV. The Collector may punish any contempt committed in his presence in open cutcherry or office, 
by fine not exceeding two hundred rupees, and, in default of payment, by imprisonment in the common 
gaol for a term not exceeding one month. From every such order of fine or imprisonment an appeal shall 
lie to the Board of Revenue, whose decision shall be final. 

XV. The Collector shall act in the execution of this Act, under the usual control of the superior revenue 
authorities. 

XVI. The ground rents payable to the East India Company from lands in Madras are revenue within 
the meaning of the Act of Parliament, 21 Geo. III. Cap. 70; and the Supreme Court of Judicature established 
by Royal Charter at Madras has not any civil jurisdiction concerning the said ground rents, or concerning 
any thing ordered or done in the assessment or collection thereof.

XVII. All actions concerning any trespass or injury committed by any revenue officer, acting under 
colour of this Act, or concerning any claim in respect of any goods taken by, or any monies paid to, any 
revenue officer under this Act, or concerning any claim of rent or revenue on the part of the East  India 
Company under this Act, shall be tried and determined in the Civil Courts established by the East India 
Company, in the Zillah of Chingleput, notwithstanding that the cause of action in respect of which such 
action is brought, arose, or the defendant therein reside, within the limits of the Town of Madras, and every 
such action shall be brought within six months after the cause of action arose, and not afterwards.

XVIII. The words “Collector” and “Board of Revenue” used in this Act, shall be taken to mean any 
person or persons lawfully appointed to exercise the powers vested in the Collector and Board of Revenue 
respectively under this Act.