#THE BOMABY RENT-FREE ESTATES ACT, 1852 

##ACT NO. XI OF 1852 

[Passed on the 13th February, 1852.] 

*Recites expediency of providing means of settling claims against Government in certain districts : and 
that rules of Bombay R. 17, 1827, Chap. 9, 10, and R. 6, 1833, Cl. 1. Do not apply to districts not under 
Government Regulations: enacts.*

1. *No  order  of  Government  regarding  title  to  lands  in  any  of  the  non-regulation  districts  shall  be 
questioned in any Court of law on ground of inconsistency with this Act.*

2, 3. *Governor of Bombay may appoint in recited districts an Inam Commissioner with assistants: 
who (3) shall discharge their duties according to rules in Schedule to this Act.*

4. *Claims to exemption shall be determined according to Rules in Schedule B.*

5. *Each Inam Commissioner to have same authority for examination of witnesses and taking evidence 
and inflicting penalties as the Civil Courts.*

6. *Bribery, extortion and generally all act of abuse under the Commission shall be punishable as 
criminal offences without prejudice to civil remedy.*

7. *No decision of Inam Commissioner, & c. shall be questioned in Court of law.*
assistants. 

*Rule 1. Defines the functions of the Inam Commissioner and his assistants.

Rule 2. Gives appeal against orders of Assistant Commissioner. 

Rule 3. And subsequent rules prescribe the mode of proceeding to establish claims. 

Schedule B. Rules for adjudication of title to estates claimed as Inam. 

Rule 1. Confines all Inams already declared permanent by competent authority competency of officer 

shall be decided if questioned. 

Rule 2. Land to be hereditary if expressly made so by Sunnud, provided, (1) that Sunnud was made by 
competent authority; (2) that no illegal conditions are attached to the tenure; and (3) that is was not reoked, 
& c. 

Rule 3. An uninterrupted holding for 60 years before the introduction of heir in possession all the time. 
The right not to descend on heirs y adoption, not on female heirs. 

Rule 4. Lands held for 40 years in the male line to continue to be held for one more generation; but not 
by an adopted heir; (1) what shall be sufficient proof of authorized possession ; (2)claim to be allowed 
unless to grounds of it be disproved; and (3) what shall be deemed the time of the introduction of British 
Government. 

Rule 5. None so numbered. 

Rule 6. Exemptions not protected by above rules to be abolished on demise of incumbent: and (1) bond 
fide holder to be deemed incumbent; (2) this privilege not to extend to persons holding by fraud. 

Rule 7. Lands held for support of Mosques, & c. not to be resumed. (4) if they have been enjoyed for 
40 years; (5) What shall be deemed sufficient proof of enjoyment ; (6) but this rule not to apply in favor of 
private holdings (7) see the provision. 

Rule 8. Lands held under on official tenure intended to be permanent not to be resumed; but this rule 
is subject to several complicated provisions, not capable of abridgment. 

Rule 9. On resumption of lands a moiety may be continued to widows of last incumbent, &c. in case of 
destitution. 

Rule 10. Makes discretionary with Government to apply these rules to certain specified kinds of lands. 

Rule 11. Empowers the G. in C. to relax the rules ; who also shall interpret them.*

An Act for the Adjudication of Titles to certain Estates claimed to be wholly or partially Rent-free in 
the Presidency of Bombay. 

WHEREAS in  the  Territories  of  the  Deccan  Kandeish,  and  Southern  Mahratta  Country,  and  in  other 
Districts more recently annexed to the Bombay Presidency, claims against Government on account of Inams 
and  other  Estates  wholly  or  partially  exempt  from  payment  of  Land  Revenue  are  excepted  from  the 
cognizance of the ordinary Civil Courts, and incapable of being justly disposed of under the Rules for the 
determination of Titles, and the Rules of Procedure contained in Chapters IX. and X. of Regulation XVII. 
of 1827 of the Bombay Code and their Supplements; and whereas it is desirable that the said claims should 
be tried and determined without further delay. It is declared and enacted as follows:

*I*. The  Rules  in  Chapters  IX.  and  X.  of  Regulation  XVII.  of  1827,  and  in  Clause  1  of  Regulation            
VI. of 1833 of the Bombay Code, do not apply to any of the Districts of the Bombay Presidency which 
were not brought under the General Regulations of Government by Regulation XXVIII. of 1827 of the 
Bombay Code; and no order hitherto passed regarding the continuance or resumption of lands in any of the 
said Districts held or claimed from Government as wholly or partially free of assessment, shall be liable to 
be questioned in any Court of Law, on the grounds of any interpretation nr construction of the Law, which 
may be inconsistent with the declarations made and the rules prescribed by this enactment. 

*II*. The Governor of Bombay in Council may appoint in any Zillah or other division of the Territories 
subject  to  the  Presidency  of  Bombay,  which  were  not  brought  under  the  General  Regulations  of 
Government by the said Regulation XXVIII. of 1827, an Inam Commissioner with so many Assistants, and 
such subordinate Establishment, as may be necessary for the purposes hereinafter mentioned. 

*III*. The  duties  of each  Inam  Commissioner  and  his Assistants shah  be  discharged  according  to the 
Rules in Schedule A. annexed to this Act. 

*IV*. In the adjudication of claims to exempt lands or interests therein, the titles of claimants shall he 
determined by the Rules in Schedule B. annexed to this Act. 

*V*. Each Inam Commissioner sand his Assistants shall have the same authority to procure the attendance 
of witnesses, and to take evidence, as now is, or from time to time may be, by Law vested in the ordinary 
Civil Courts; and so far as concerns the penalties for not giving evidence, for false testimony, for resistance 
of process, contempts, and other like matters, connected with cases under cognizance by any one of the said 
Officers, his Office shall be held to be a Court of Civil Jurisdiction of the same authority as the superior 
Civil Court of the Zillah or District in which his Office from time to time shall be established. Provided 
that  all  complaints  against,  or  appeals  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Inam  Commissioner  or  any  of  his 
Assistants, in exercise of the authority conferred on them respectively by this Section, shall be made under 
the second Rule of Schedule A. annexed to this Act, and shall not be cognizable by any other authority or 
in any other manner than as therein specified. 

*VI*. Bribery,  extortion,  and  generally  all  acts  of  abuse,  or  misapplication  of  authority,  or  other 
misconduct,  committed  by  any  Officer  belonging  to  the  Establishment  of  the  Inam  Commission,  or 
temporarily  employed  therein  under  the  provisions  of  this  enactment,  shall  be  punishable  as  criminal 
offences with fine and ordinary imprisonment without labour for a period not exceeding five years, and the 
receipt of a present, directly or indirectly, by any such Officer from any person against whom or in whose 
behalf  he  may  be  officially  employed,  shall  be  considered  extortion.  And  no  penalty  or  punishment 
adjudicated  under  this  Clause  shall  preclude  any  other  Civil  prosecution  to  which  the  offender  may  be 
liable.

*VII*. No decision or order of the Inam Commissioner, or of any of his Assistants, or of the Governor in 
Council, under the provisions of this enactment, so long as the same shall be in force under such provisions, 
shall be questioned or avoided in any Court of Law; and no Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner, or 
other person acting under the provisions of this Act, shall be liable to be sued in any Civil Court for any 
act bonâ fide done or ordered to be done by him in pursuance of the said provisions.
 
 
 
SCHEDULE A 

*Rules for defining the duties of each Inam commissioner and his assistants*

1.  The  duty  of  the  Inam  Commissioner  and  his  Assistants  shall  be  to  investigate,  in  the  manner 
prescribed by this enactment, the titles of persons holding or claiming against Government the possession 
or enjoyment of Inams or Jagheers, or any interest therein, or claiming exemption from the payment of 
Land  Revenue,  and  generally  to  act  according  to  the  instructions  of  Government  in  all  matters  not 
specifically provided for in this enactment. 

2. All orders of the Assistant Commissioners shall be appealable to the Inam Commissioner, who shall 
also have the authority of revising and of modifying, reversing or annulling, if necessary, their orders and 
proceedings, and the orders and proceedings of the Inam Commissioner shall be in like manner appealable 
to, and subject to modification, reversal, or annulment by the Governor of Bombay in Council, whose orders 
shall in every case be final. 

3. The Inam Commissioner or his Assistants shall receive from the persons holding or claiming to hold 
lands or any interest therein exempt from the payment of Revenue, statements explaining the nature of the 
title by which the lands or interests are so held, and shall take and record the evidence offered in support of 
such statements. 

4. These statements may be received, either directly by the Officers of the Inam Commission, or through 
the medium of the Revenue Authority of the Talooka in which the land or interest so held or claimed as 
exempt is situated; or in which the alleged proprietor resides, without any previous procedure, except a 
general invitation to such landholders of a District who shall hold or claim to hold lands exempt as aforesaid 
to state the nature of their titles. 

5. But when such general invitation is not sufficiently attended to, a notice may be issued to any party 
holding  or  claiming  to  hold  any  lands  or  any  interest  therein  wholly  or  partially  exempt  as  aforesaid, 
requiring him personally, or by his Agent, to shew his title. The notice issued in such cases shall state the 
nature of the investigation which is intended, and shall call upon the alleged proprietor of the exempt lands 
or interest held or claimed to be held exempt as aforesaid, to attend either personally or by an authorized 
Agent, at a specified place, and within a specified period, (which shall never be less than two months from 
the date of the notice being served,) to explain the nature of his title to hold such lands or interest exempt 
as aforesaid, and to produce all the evidence forthcoming to prove it. The notice shall further explain that a 
failure to comply with its terms will render the land, or interest to which it relates, liable to attachment. 

6. The notice shall be served upon the party holding or claiming to hold the land or interest exempt as 
aforesaid, or, if his place of residence be not known, upon the person acting for him, or in default of such, 
upon the person in charge of the land or interest. 

7. If such persons cannot be found, a notice shall be posted in the Office of the Native Revenue Officer 
of the District, and in the Chouree, or most public place of the village, where the land or interest under 
inquiry is situated, calling on any person who may claim as proprietor to appear, either personally or by his 
Agent, to prove his title within six months from the date of the notice, under penalty of the attachment of 
the land or interest, and on failure of the appearance of a claimant, the land or interest shall be liable to 
attachment. 

8. The attachment provided for by Rules 5 and 7 shall be enforced by the Collector or Chief Revenue 
Authority of the District in which the land to which it relates is situated, at the written requisition of the 
Inam Commissioner or his Assistant, which shall be a sufficient warrant to the Collector for the attachment 
of the land, and for the collection of the rents accruing therefrom on account of Government during its 
attachment. 

9. As soon as possible after the receipt of the statements in each District, and of the evidence by which 
they are supported, they shall be tested by the entries in the Government accounts and State records, and 
by any other evidence procurable, whether in favor of Government or of the claimants, and decisions shall 
then be passed on them as to the continuance, resumption, or full or partial assessment of the lands. 

10. In cases where the notices provided for in Sections V. and VII. fail to procure the attendance of the 
persons to whom they are addressed, and no claimant appears to prosecute his claim, the Commissioner or 
Assistant  Commissioner  shall  proceed  to  ascertain  the  facts  of  the  case  from  such  evidence  as  may  he 
forthcoming or procurable, and shall pronounce such decision thereupon as to him shall seem just regarding 
the lands or interests to which the notices referred. 

11. An attachment enforced under Rule 8 shall be removed by the Collector or Chief Revenue Authority 
by  whom  it  was  made,  on  receipt  of  a  communication  from  the  Inam  Commissioner  or  his  Assistant, 
certifying that he considers the attachment to be no longer necessary; but the rents collected from the land 
during its  attachment shall  in  no case  be restored to the alleged  proprietor, except under the  general or 
special instructions of Government. 

12. Certified copies of decisions, made according to the provisions of Rule 9, shall be delivered as soon 
as  possible  after  each  decision  is  passed,  to  the  persons  on  whose  claims  the  decision  shall  have  been 
pronounced, or their agents; and copies of all decisions made in the absence of any claimant, according to 
the provisions of Rule 10, shall he sent to the Mamlutdar, or other Revenue manager of the talook in which 
the lands to which they relate are situated, who shall deliver them to the parties affected by them, should 
they be discoverable, or otherwise cause them to be publicly posted in the village to which the lands in 
question belong. 

13. Decisions, affecting any lands or any interests therein, passed under this enactment, shall be carried 
into execution by the Collector or Chief Revenue Authority of the District in which the lands to which they 
relate are situated, at the requisition of the Inam Commissioner or his Assistant, in any manner which may, 
from time to time, be prescribed by the Governor of Bombay in Council. 

14.  In  all  cases  where  a  person  may  be  desirous  of  appealing  against  any  decision  of  the  Inam 
Commissioner or his Assistants, he shall apply by a petition, addressed to the Authority by whom, according 
to Rule 2, his appeal is cognizable, which petition shall be presented to such Authority within one hundred 
days from the date of the decree appealed against, a copy of which must accompany the petition of appeal, 
and no appeal which is not so made shall be admitted, without proof of the existence of a just and necessary 
cause for its not having been preferred in due time; and it is hereby provided, that no decree passed by the 
Inam  Commissioner  or  any  of  his  Assistants,  shall  be  liable  to  be  set  aside  for  want  of  form  in  the 
proceedings, but only for matters affecting the justice of the decision.


##SCHEDULE B

*Rules for the adjudication of titles to estates claimed as Inam or exempt from payment of land revenue*

1. **Regarding Inams already declared permanent by competent authority since the introduction 
of  the  present  Government.**—All  lands  held  under  a  specific  and  absolute  declaration  by  the  British 
Government, or any competent officer acting under it, that they were to be continued hereditarily or in 
perpetuity exempt, wholly or partially, from the payment of Revenue, are to be so continued according to 
the purport of such declaration.

*Provision 1st.*—If any question shall arise as to the competency of the officer to make or give such 
declaration  as  aforesaid,  the  Commissioner  or  Assistant  Commissioner is to  suspend  his judgment,  and 
report the circumstances of the case to the Governor of Bombay in Council, to whom a power is hereby 
reserved of determining finally whether such officer was competent to make or give such declaration, and 
the Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner, upon receiving the determination of the said Governor in 
Council, shall decide accordingly.
 
2. **Regarding claims to per sonal Inams, not yet adjudicated under the present Government.**—
Any land held under a sunnud declaring it to be hereditary, shall be so continued according to the terms of 
the sunnud. 

*Provision 1st.*—Provided  that  the  grant  was  either  made,  or  specifically  recognized,  by  Authority 
competent  to  alienate  Government  Revenue  in  perpetuity,  the  question  of  which  recognition  and 
competency is to be referred to and determined by Government in the manner prescribed by Provision 1st, 
Rule 1. 

*Provision 2nd.*—And provided that there be nothing in the conditions of the tenure which cannot be 
observed without a breach of the laws of the land, or the rules of public decency. 

*Provision 3rd.*—And provided that the grant was not afterwards revoked or disallowed, or an alteration 
of its terms ordered or recognized by a competent authority.

3. All lands uninterruptedly held as wholly or partially exempt from assessment for a period of sixty 
years before the introduction of the British Government, and then in the authorized possession of a grandson 
in male descent, or male heir of the body of such grandson of the original grantee, shall continue to be so 
held so long as there shall be in existence any male heir of the body of the person who was incumbent at 
the introduction of the British Government, tracing his lineage from such incumbent through male heirs 
only. 

4. All lands, uninterruptedly held as wholly or partially exempt from assessment, for a period of forty 
years before the introduction of the British Government, and then in the authorized possession of a son, or 
male heir of the body of a son of the original grantee, are to be continued for one succession further than 
that of the person who was incumbent at the introduction of the British Government, that is, until the death 
of his last surviving son. 

*Provision 1st.*—The  authorized  possession  contemplated  by  Rules  8  and  4  does  not  involve  the 
necessity of proving any specific authority from, or recognition by, the Government or Paramount Power. 
The mere entry of the holding, as continued in the genuine accounts of the District Officers (even in those 
not audited and passed by the Government of the time being), will be sufficient to bring it under the heads 
of “uninterrupted” and “authorized” so far as regards the purposes of this Rule; provided only that there are 
no entries in the Collectorate accounts, which shew that the holding of such lands exempt as aforesaid must 
have been unauthorized by the Government or Paramount Power.

*Provision 2nd.*—If there be not evidence forthcoming to disprove a claimant's assertion that his holding 
has been undisputedly enjoyed for the number of years and descents requisite to fulfil the conditions of 
Rules 3 and 4 respectively, his prescriptive right shall be admitted.

*Provision 3rd.*—The introduction of the British Government is to be reckoned from the time the East 
India Company became the Government or Paramount Authority over each District as regards its Inams. In 
the Territories ceded by or conquered from the Peshwa, therefore, whether Khalsat Mahals or Serinjams, 
&c., held exclusive of Inams, &c., the introduction of the British Government will date from the close of 
that of the Peshwa. But in case of the lapse of an independent principality, or of a jagheer more ancient than 
the Peshwa's Government, and over the Inams of which he did not claim any authority, the introduction of 
the British Government should be reckoned only from the date at which the general management of the 
Districts may have come into the hands of the Company, and in case any question shall arise as to the 
precise date when the East India Company became the Government over any district, or when the general 
management of any District came into their hands, such question shall be referred to and determined by 
Government in the manner prescribed by Provision 1st, Rule 1.

6. Land held as wholly exempt from payment of Revenue, or on partial assessment, the possession of 
which is not continuable under the preceding Rules, is to be resumed on the demise of the incumbent. 

*Provision 1st.*—In case the incumbent at the time of the introduction of the British Government may 
have died, the permission to hold for life is to be extended to the person in whose name the land may be 
continued,  when  the  investigation  is  commenced,  if  there  be  no  fraud  apparent,  nor  other  reason  for 
withholding this indulgence.

*Provision 2nd.*—When land is evidently held by fraud recently committed, (as when an Inam which 
was  resumed  under  the  late  Government  has  been  re-occupied  under  the  present  Government  without 
authority,  of  as  when  a  pretended  Inam  is  found  to  have  originated.  Since  the  introduction  of  this 
Government with the connivance of District or Village Officers), it shall be at once resumed, not being 
continuable under this or any of the preceding Rules.

7. *Regarding claims to Inams apparently permanent by the nature of the objects for which they 
are held, and not merely personal.*—All  lands  held  for  the  support  of  Mosques,  Temples,  or  similar 
Institutions, of the permanent character of which there can be no doubt, are to be continued permanently, 
even  though  their  permanent  continuance  may  not  have  been  expressly  provided  for  when  they  were 
granted. 

*Provisions 1st, 2nd* and *3rd*.—The same as the corresponding Provisions of Rule 2 of this Schedule in 
those cases in which Title Deeds or other Records proving the circumstances of the original grant, or its 
specific recognition by competent authority, are forthcoming. 

*Provision 4th*.—When there is no proof forthcoming to shew whether or not an Inam, coming under 
the Provisions of this Rule, was granted, or even specifically recognized by a competent authority, still, if 
it  has  been  undisputedly  enjoyed  for  a  period  of  forty  years  before  the  introduction  of  the  present 
Government, it shall be permanently continued, and enjoyment proved by the mere entry of the Inam, as 
continued in genuine accounts of the District Officers, (even in those not passed by the Government of the 
time being,) is to be considered sufficiently “uninterrupted” to give an Inam the benefit of this provision, if 
there be no entries in the Government accounts which shew that it must have been unauthorized by them.

*Provision 5th*.—If the forthcoming records do not go far enough back to test the existence of enjoyment 
of the duration contemplated in Provision 4th as establishing full prescriptive title in such Inams, still, if so 
far as they do go, they are not opposed to the claimant's assertion that sufficient enjoyment has taken place, 
the prescriptive title of the Inam shall be admitted according to his assertions, unless there be other evidence 
forthcoming to disprove them. 

*Provision 6th*.—The peculiar advantages of this Rule shall not apply to the holdings of individuals in 
their own names for the performance of ceremonial worship, claims to which must be decided under the 
Rules for personal claims. 

*Provision 7th*.—When claims of the denomination coming under this Rule are found to be unsupported 
by proof of original valid title, and are proved void of sufficient prescriptive enjoyment, they are to be 
adjudicated according to Rule 6. 

**8**. All lands authorizedly held by an official tenure which it is evident from local usage was meant to 
be hereditary, and has been so considered heretofore, even though there be no sunnuds declaring it to be 
so,—for instance, Inams which form the authorized emoluments of any hereditary office, as of Kazees, 
Tillage Joshees, &c., and are not merely personal,—are to be continued permanently. 

*Provisions 1st, 2nd and 3rd*.—The same as the corresponding Provisions of Rule 2 of this Schedule in 
those cases in which Title Deeds or other Records, proving the circumstances of the original grant, or its 
specific recognition by competent authority, are forthcoming, 

*Provision 4th*.—When there is no proof forthcoming to shew whether or not an Inam, coming under 
the provisions of this Rule, was granted or even specifically recognized by competent authority, still if it 
has been undisputedly enjoyed as an official and not merely personal holding from the earliest period to  
which the forthcoming evidence does relate, it shall be continued permanently as official emolument, unless 
the claimant's own statement renders this course improper. 

*Provision 5th.*—The provisions of this Rule are not in any way to apply to emoluments continued for 
service performed to the State, as the Service Wuttuns of Desaees, Surdesaees, Nargowdas, Deshpandes, 
Patells, Coolkurnees, Mhars, Tulwars, whose claims are to be disposed of according to the Rules which are 
or may be established for the regulation of such holdings. 

*Provision 6th.*—It is to be understood that mere length of enjoyment of land as Inam by an official 
person is not of itself sufficient to entitle a claim to be brought under this Rule. 

*Provision 7th.*—If a holding, claimed under this Rule, be found incapable of permanent continuance 
under it, the claimant shall be allowed the advantages of any of the preceding Rules of this Schedule which 
may be applicable to his case.

**9. Regarding  Provision  for  the  Widows  of  the  last  incumbents  of  resumed  holdings.**—On  the 
resumption of any lands under the Rules of this Schedule a moiety, or other portion may be continued to 
the Widows of the last incumbents during their lives, in cases of proved poverty and destitution. 

*Provision*  1st.—In  the  case  of  a  holding,  which  is  recognizable  as  an  hereditary  personal  Inam,  the 
widow  of a  proprietor  who  dies  without surviving  male  issue,  or other  heirs  to whom  his  Inam  will  of 
necessity descend, is by right his sole heir, and during her life, the Inam cannot be regarded as having lapsed 
to Government: it should therefore, in such a case, he continued undiminished during the widow's life. 

**10. Regarding the exception of certain tenures from the application of these Rules.**—These Rules 
shall not be necessarily applicable to Jageers, Serinjams, or other tenures for service to Government, or 
tenures of a Political nature, the titles and continuance of which shall be determined as heretofore under 
such Rules as Government may find it necessary to issue from time to time. 

**11. Regarding the modification and interpretation of these Rules.**—Any  of these  Rules  may  be 
relaxed in favor of claimants under instructions from the Governor of Bombay in Council, in whom shall 
also be vested the power of interpreting the precise meaning of any of the Rules respecting which a question 
may arise.