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Only for official use

Government of Gujarat

Collector Manual

Revenue Department

Government of Gujarat.

No.Rev./D.M./R&B/CP/WCW/ /07-08

Minister, Revenue, Disaster Management,

Roads & Buildings, Capital Project, Women &

Child Welfare, Government of Gujarat,

1/6, Sardar Patel Bhavan, Gandhinagar-382010.

Ph. No.(079) 23243331/23238077

Anandiben Patel,

This is the 48th

year to-day for the existence of Gujarat since its

inception on May 1, 1960 as a separate state of Free India. We are

implementing most of the laws including amendments regarding land of

the time of Bombay State.

Revenue Department is related with human beings from his birth

to death. Whether he is the owner of the land or not, each citizen has to

come into contact with the Revenue Offices for a minor or major work.

Thus, Revenue Department is the only Department, which has wide

contacts with the common mass at large.

There is an impression in the society that the procedure of

Revenue administration is very much complicated one. A need is felt

since last sometime that there is a necessity for review of efforts being

made to make the administrative procedure more easy and speedy. A

vast backlog of long pending voluminous cases of applicants since long

is nothing but deficiency of decision machinery. It creates a favourable

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impression about administrative mechanism by satisfying speedily small

and minor grievances of ration cards, certificates and evidences of the

common people. We have to set a goal of innovative and positive

situation. Our state is committed to a welfare policy. We have to play

our role as an humble servant rather than a task master. As a public

servant, we have to be a watchdog of state resources to preserve

financial resources of the state exchequer.

Under the E-Dhara Programme, land records have been

computerized. The collector is responsible to see whether our revenue

employees working in E-Dhara Centre are sincere and devited to their

duties and responsibilities, in the way the gardener is looking after the

garden and if we are deficient in performing our duties perfectly the

government lands, revenue records and rights of land holders would not

be protected.

After implementing any scheme, it is difficult to maintain and

preserve and maintain it in the systematic use of human resources to

develop skill and to solve public grievances with human face. To

manage this task, there is a huge mechanism under the control of the

collector. Necessary guidance is of utmost importance for power

enjoyed and proper discharge of functions assigned by this wide revenue

machinery.

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For this purpose, the Revenue Department has published the Prant

Manual and Mamlatdar Manual. The publication of the collector manual

has also been materialized to day. A sincere effort has been made to

provide detailed understanding of revenue Acts and rules, magisterial

acts in coordination with other departments of the government. I hope

this manual will be useful to the collectors in dealing the cases.

1st April, 2008 Anandiben Patel

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Government of Gujarat

Revenue Department

(State Emblem)

Vilasini Ramchandra, I.A.S.

Principal Secretary.

Perhaps a very few people understand that the land is a unique

gift of nature to man. It is useful for raw materials for vegetation, food

and industries. It also provides space for residence and livelihood and it

is impossible for human beings to live without land. To day as the land

has become a limited resource of wealth, it is important to preserve and

manage this invaluable gift of nature. Under the land revenue Acts, our

far sighted ancestors have provided us inheritance to maintain as per

specimen of Manual of Revenue Accounts, the accounts of

administration of land under land revenue laws.

In the present time of speedy urbanization and industrialization, it

is natural that the people in need of land may have many expectations

from the revenue Department. Along with meeting demands of

government land, it is imperative to plan future needs with foresight and

therefore it is both indispensable to administer land and maintain its

accounts scrupulously. For protection of rights of land holders and

government lands, updation of computerized land record and its

maintenance are pre conditions of ideal record keeping. Secondly, it is

also expected that in order to make revenue administration more smooth

and speedy, guidance has been provided to the administrative staff phase

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wise. However, as it requires focused attention yet a lot is expected from

the collector as head of district for revenue administration at this

juncture.(1) disposal of public issues in a time bound manner, (2)

Updation of land record and making it more secure. (3) To make

administration more sensitive to the needs of people. (4) To develop

intimacy by instiling confidence in people for administration. (5) To

generate ideal condition conducive to promoting efficiency in

subordinate employees/ officers and to sustain trust in leadership of the

collector (6) Streamlization of methodology and its implementation.

Thus, it should be our goal to strength management and its

constant sustainability and passing on land and inheritance of its ideal

administration to the successors. In order to concretize these objectives,

uninterrupted guidance and encouragement are provided by revenue

Department as a part of administrative education. It being a first step of

continuing administration for consolidated guidance it was under

consideration to bring out Collector Manual besides the manuals

published for Prant officers and Mamlatdars. This aim has been

achieved by Revenue Inspection Commissioner, Shri C.L. Meena and

his team. It is hoped that this Manual will be useful to the collectors in

making revenue administration ideal, dynamic and people oriented.

1st Aprtil, 2008

Vilasini Ramchandran

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P R E A M B L E

The seeds of revenue administration are in the economics of

Kautilya. There is a general perception that the economics of Kautilya is

a volume based on the principles of politics only. But is not so. It also

deals with economics. Rural and agriculturalist system of that time was

based on power and prosperity of state, depending on farming, minerals,

business and commerce and collection of taxes. Moreover, principles of

rates of wages, price of Commodities and its control, use of revenue

receipts for discharging social obligations, etc were propounded.

Besides economics of Kautilya, we notice authorized base of land

revenue system in Manu Sanhita.

Shershah and able minister of Akbar, Todarmal provided the

principles of land and land revenues during the period of high 1540 to

1545 A.D. He classified land measurements and land as best, medium

and the low. He also adopted the system of recovery of land revenue in

financial form based on average of previous 19 years.

Thereafter Raiyatwari system was introduced in the Maratha

period, which was systematically implemented during British rule. As it

was found necessary to implement Raiyatwari system, survey was

undertaken for settlement and along with this, legal status was granted to

recovery of assessment of land revenue by regulation of 1927. During

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British rule many changes were effected in land administration but a

noteworthy aspect was survey and settlement.

The Bombay Land Revenue Code 1879, was enacted during the

Bombay State. Besides this acts, conferring magisterial powers and

revenue administration were in force. Provisions made in revenue code

are related to land administration. As it was imperative to record

changes made in administration of land and to maintain accounts of land

the then ICS Anderson published the manual of revenue accounts in

1931 A.D. which is being followed today. It is a beacon light for

maintaining land revenue administration and land accounts.

After merger of former princely states, the pubic servants of

different cadres were included in the Bombay Revenue Service. They

were ignorant of Bombay Revenue system to a large extent. As it being

a compulsory service and posts were created as per requirements, some

of the new government appointees though ignorant of system and in

experienced they were allotted duties and need was felt for training to

the new recruitees and with the result, work of preparation of Revenue

Manual to Shri M. K. Deshpande, I.A.S. in 1949, was handed over. It

took five long years and in 1954 this Revenue Manual saw light of the

day.

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Gujarat State was formed on May 1, 1960 as a separate state on

bifurcation of former Bombay State and land revenue code of the

erstwhile Bombay State is in force even today with amendments.

The administration today has become more people oriented and