528 On the tenures and fiscal relations of [No. 164. 



services were required only as a middleman between the state and the 

 actual cultivators of the soil. Although the zemindar's office had 

 become by use hereditary, yet it is uncertain whether he had any pro- 

 prietary right in the soil itself. It was, however, found convenient 

 to bestow this right upon him, in order that it might be available 

 as a security for the payment of the revenues of the state ; and the ze- 

 mindar is now regarded as the proprietor of his zemindarree as long as 

 he makes good the Government revenue leviable from it. Should he 

 fail to do this, his proprietary rights are liable to sale for the realiza- 

 tion of the demand. 



It was incumbent on the zemindar, in his character of collector of 

 revenue, to account to the state for his collections ; his remuneration 

 consisted in a percentage on his collections. The title to office having 

 been received as a right, the same rule held good with reference to 

 these emoluments, insomuch that the incumbents of zemindarrees were 

 held entitled to their allowances or per centage even when they de. 

 clined to perform the duties of their office by undertaking to pay the 

 amount of revenue at which it was assessed.* These allowances so set 

 aside were called Malikana, and averaged about ten per cent, on the 

 gross assessment of an estate ; expenses incurred in the management of 

 an estate are either entered in the account current, and their amount 

 deducted from the gross proceeds, or are regulated by a fixed allow- 

 ance on their account: where this latter plan is adopted, they are cal- 

 culated at from ten to twenty per cent, on the assessment. 



The original title of the zemindar then consisted in his right to 

 hold the lands under his jurisdiction, on condition of accounting to the 

 state for the net proceeds after deduction of expenses and his own 

 per centage allowances. It is evident, however, that the state had no 

 alternative between placing implicit reliance on the accounts given 

 in by the zemindar or testing them by an annual investigation or 

 assessment of the lands, and that if such took place the value of the 

 zemindarree was entirely dependent on the result. To obviate this, 

 it was determined in the year 1790, under the local Government of 

 Lord Cornwallis, that an assessment should be made of all estates, and 

 that the amount so assessed should be the sum which Government 



* Shore's Minute, 18th June 1789, para. 202nd ; 18th September 1789, para. 2nd. 



