CLASSES OF TENANTS 77 



will in the long-run act against their own pecuniary 

 interest ; that in the present day the competition for 

 land is so keen that the landlord can secure rents 

 which leave the tenants only a bare subsistence ; that 

 it was amply proved from specific instances that some 

 landlords did use their privileges oppressively. It 

 was clear that neither traditional custom nor natural 

 benevolence could be depended on to protect the 

 tenant, and that the only alternative was to secure 

 the tenant in the possession of his privileges by legal 

 enactment. The view of the Government prevailed, 

 and in 1901 the North-Western Provinces {i.e., Pro- 

 vince of Agra) Tenancy Act became law. It is this 

 Act which at the present day regulates the relations 

 between landlord and tenant. 



The following classes of tenants are now recognised 

 by law : 



(a) Permanent tenure-holders; 



(b) Fixed-rate tenants ; 



(c) Ex-proprietary tenants ; 



(d) Occupancy tenants ; and 



(e) Non-occupancy tenants. 



Tenants of the first two classes (a and b) are con- 

 fined to the permanently settled districts in the 

 Benares division, and enjoy the privileges which were 

 defined by the Bengal Tenant Law of 1885. They 

 really constitute a class of sub-proprietors ; the rent 

 cannot be enhanced, and the holder cannot be ejected 

 except for some express breach of the conditions of 

 tenancy. 



(c) The ex-proprietary tenant holds a position of 

 exceptional privilege ; he is a tenant with a right of 

 occupancy in his sir land (or home-farm), and in the 

 land which he has cultivated continuously for twelve 

 years at the date of the transfer, and he is entitled to 

 hold the same at a rent which shall be 4 annas in the 

 rupee (i.e., 25 per cent.), less than the rate generally 



