#THE REVENUE, BOMBAY, 1842 
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##ACT NO.13 OF 1842 
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*Passed by the Hon’ble the President of the Council of India in Council, on the 28th of October, 1842, with 
the assent of the Right hon’ble the Governor General of India.*

An Act to enable the holders of Revenue which has been alienated to them by the State, to collect that 
Revenue within the Presidency of Bombay. 

I. Whereas  it  is  expedient  to  authorize  the  grant  by  the  Governor  in  Council  of  Bombay,  at  his 
discretion, of Commissions to certain Jageerdars, and others, by virtue of which such persons shall posses 
increased powers for collecting the Revenue due to them; —

It  is  hereby  enacted,  that  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  Governor  in  Council  of  Bombay,  to  grant  any 
Jageerdar, Surinjamdar, Inamdar, or other person holding Lands or Villages the Revenue of which has been 
alienated  to  him  by  the  State,  a  Commission  conferring  upon  him  authority  for  the  collection  of  such 
Revenue by the powers hereinafter mentioned, or such of  them as shall be specified in the Commission in 
addition to the powers now exercisable by law.

II. And it is hereby enacted, that such Commission, which shall be drawn  out according to the form of 
the annexed Schedule A, shall be granted or withheld, and, when granted, shall be liable to be withdrawn 
at the pleasure of Government, and that it may, if the Governor in Council of Bombay see fit, be issued to 
one or more Agents of such holder of alienated Revenue as well as to the  holder in person. 

III.  And  it  is  hereby  enacted,  that  the  holder  of  such  Commission  shall  have  authority  to  demand 
security for the payment of the Revenue, in respect of the Lands or Villages specified in the Commission, 
and  if  the  same  be  not  furnished,  to  take  such  precaution  as  the  Collector  is  authorized  to  make  under 
Section XI, Regulation XVII, of 1827, Bombay Code. 

IV. And it is hereby enacted, that the holder of such Commission shall have authority to send Mohussuls 
on Defaulters under the Provisions of Clauses 2,3, and 5, Section XII,  Regulation XVII of 1827, Bombay 
Code, provided that one foot Mohussul only be employed in each case, and  that the Mohussulee shall cease 
on the enforcement of any other  remedy for the collection of the Revenue, except the taking of such security 
as aforesaid. 

V. And it is hereby enacted, that the holder of any such Commission shall be authorized to attach the 
property of persons making default in the payment of  such Revenue as aforesaid, making an immediate 
report to the Collector or his Assistant of the his having done so, and should the demand on account of 
which the attachment may be made appear to the Collector or his Assistant to be just, he shall give orders 
for the sale of such property, and the sale shall be conducted agreeably to the Provisions of clause VII, 
Section  XII,  Regulation  XVII,  of  1827,  Bombay  Code,  except  in  cases  in  which  the    holder  of  the 
Commission by whom the attachment has been made shall be a Jageerdar, Surinjamdar or  Inamdar, vested 
by Regulation XIII, of 1830, with Civil  jurisdiction and with power to execute his own  decrees or  his 
Agents, when the sale shall be conducted by him and not by the Collector and  his subordinate Revenue 
Officers. 

VI.  And it  is  hereby  enacted, that  all  compulsory  process  under  this  Act  shall cease  on  the alleged 
defaulter furnishing security to the holder of the Commission or to the Collector or Assistant Collector of 
the District, to institute a suit within  15 days in a competent Court for the purpose of trying the demand 
and to pay the amount which may be decreed against him with costs and interest in such  Court, provided 
that such suits in which any one of the privileged classes established by Regulation XXIX, of 1827, Sections 
III, and IV, and by Regulation VII, of 1830, Bombay Code, may be the defendant, shall be tried before the 
Collector and his Assistants, any thing in Regulations I, and XVI, of 1831, notwithstanding.  And any holder 
of any such Commission as aforesaid by himself or his Agents proceeding with any compulsory process 
under this Act after the furnishing of such security as aforesaid, or after the due tender thereof, shall forfeit 
three times the amount of the Revenue sought to be recovered by such compulsory process. 

VII. And it is hereby enacted, that if the Revenue or rent payable to a Jageerdar or other holder of 
Government  alienated lands or villages shall have been fixed by a Government Officer before the grant of 
the Land in free tenure, or if the rent or Revenue tendered by any Ryut or other person be at the usual rate 
payable  according to the custom of the Village and  Purgunna as declared by the  Koolkurnee and other 
Local Officers of Revenue, the enforcement of a demand by any holder of a Commission under this Act of 
an excess of rent or Revenue beyond the amount due as above provided shall be deemed to the extortion, 
and the person against  whom such demand shall have been enforced shall obtain upon any judgement being 
passed after regular or summary trial three times the amount of any such excessive demand as damages for 
the  same.    Provided,  however,  that  nothing    herein  prescribed  or  contained    shall  prevent  a  holder  of 
alienated Lands or  Villages from instituting a suit  in any court of competent jurisdiction for the purpose 
of establishing his claim to re-assess the Lands or re-settle the Revenue of any Ryut or other who may be 
paying  less  than  the  full  Juma  to  which    he  is    justly  liable,  and  upon  such  holder  obtaining  a  decree 
adjudging to him such power the demand made by him under such decree, shall, if conformable thereto be 
deemed  a legal demand for arrears, and shall be leviable by the same process as is above arrears. 

VIII.  And  it  is  hereby  enacted,  that  the  power  conferred  by  such  Commission  shall  extend  to  the 
enforcement  of  the  payment  of  the  Revenue  of  the  current  season  and  of  the  season  next  immediately 
preceding, and not to that of former years. 



##SCHEDULE A.

 Form  of  Commission  to  be  used  to  a  holder  of  alienated  Revenue  or  his  Agent  for 
enabling him to recover such Revenue 

SEAL (Insert picture of circle)

The Governor in Council of Bombay by virtue of the powers vested in him by Act XIII, of 1842, 
is pleased to confer on you ---------------------------- (Jageerdar, & c., or Agent, & c., as the case may be) 
power to  realize all Revenue  demands due  to you (or to your principal) from the Villages and Lands 
specified in this Commission in the manner prescribed in ( or in Sections -----------------of) this Act.

The Villages and Lands over which the power thus conferred upon you extends are as follows:




(Here enter the description.) 

The within delegated power is vested in you during the pleasure and subject to the re-call of the 
said Governor  in Council.