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niary limit of jurisdiction of village munsifs lias been raised 

 from Rs. 10 to Rs. 20, and power has been taken to constitute 

 benches of village courts with the village munsifs as presidents. 

 Rules have recently been framed for the preparation of lists 

 of persons who are liable at the election of the suitors to 

 serve on the benches, the qualifications prescribed for such 

 persons being that they should pay land revenue or income- 

 tax of not less than Rs. 10 to Government, or hold revenue 

 free lands capable of being assessed at not less than Rs. 10 per 

 annum ; and benches have been directed to be constituted, 

 wherever possible. It remains to be seen to what extent the 

 orders issued will have the effect of substituting the inexpen- 

 sive machinery of popular tribunals for the regular courts 

 for the settlement of petty litigation. The greatest obstacle 

 to the rapid extension of the scheme is the ignorance of 

 village munsifs in the backward districts and the low estima- 

 tion in which they are held in the more advanced districts, on 

 account of their liability to be called upon to do somewhat 

 degrading duties in connection with revenue administration — 

 a state of things handed down from a period when village 

 servants were subjected to personal chastisement for remiss- 

 ness — real or supposed — in the collection of revenue. In 

 many zemindaries the office of village munsif has not been 

 maintained. The whole subject of placing the village 

 officers in zemindaries on an efficient footing is now under the 

 consideration of Government, and legislation is contemplated 

 for the purpose. Recently the Government has also issued 

 rules making it obligatory on village officers to pass certain 

 educational tests. These measures will, doubtless, improve 

 the efficiency of village munsifs as a class. Meanwhile, 

 village court benches may be organised in all large villages or 

 groups of villages where official or non-official persons of suffi- 

 cient education and intelligence may be available for presiding 

 over the benches. The sub-registrars in most of the stations 

 in the Ceded Districts and Kurnool and in the zemindaries of 

 the Northern Circars have very light work to do, and they 

 might be entrusted with judicial duties under the Village 

 Courts' Act without prejudice to their duties as registra- 

 tion officers. The law should be amended so as to make it 

 compulsory on suitors to institute their suits in the village 

 courts in all villages or groups of villages where a village 

 court bench has been established, when the value of the claim 

 does not exceed Rs. 20. It ought not to be in the power 

 of a plaintiff who wishes to annoy a defendant to compel him 

 to appear before a district munsif to answer a' claim and 



