ADMINISTRATION
231
Assistant Commissioners and the tahsildars help in civil judicial work.
There is an honorary Extra-Assistant Commissioner at head-quarters.
The civil work, arising mainly out of the large and growing trade of the
city, is very heavy. The Divisional judge is also Sessions Judge of
the Delhi Civil Division. There are sixteen honorary magistrates,
of whom twelve constitute a bench for the city, two sit at head-quarters,
and one in each tahsil. The predominant forms of crime are burglary
and theft.
The only peculiarity as regards tenure of land is that in a few villages
superior and inferior proprietors are found ; the settlement is (with
one exception) made with the latter, the superior proprietors merely
receiving a charge of 5 to io per cent. on the revenue. The nature of
the early revenue assessments appears to have been very summary.
They were made, as far as possible, on the basis of previous arrange-
ments, and were for short terms only. The administration, from
annexation to 1841, was harsh and unsympathetic. The Sonepat and
Delhi tahsils were regularly settled in 1842 and 1844, and Ballabgarh .
after its confiscation in 1857. The Settlement officer in 1842 reduced
the demand in Sonepat, and excused himself for so doing by pointing
out that the greatest difficulty had been invariably experienced in
realizing the Government demand ; that, notwithstanding strenuous and
well-sustained efforts, the District officers and their subordinates had
been baffled, and that large balances had frequently remained uncol-
lected. Reductions were made in all tahsils at the regular settlement.
The settlement of the whole District was revised between 1872 and
1880. The revenue rates on land irrigated from wells varied from
Rs. 4 to 8 annas, on flooded land from RS. 2-8 to Rs. 2, and, on unirri-
gated land from Rs. 1-lo to io annas. Canal lands were assessed at
`dry' rates of about Rs. 1-8, Rs. 3 being paid as occupier's rate for the
use of the water, plus an extra Rs. 1-8 as owner's rate. Villages on
the Najafgarh jhil were charged a fluctuating assessment on the area
cultivated, varying from Rs. 6 to Rs. 1-8 according to the nature of
the crop. The new assessment resulted in an increase of Rs. 45,000-
A change was made in 1895 in the method of realizing canal revenue,
and the system then adopted remains in force. The land revenue
demand in r903--4, including cesses, was 1o lakhs. The average size
of a proprietary holding is 3 acres.
The collections of land revenue alone and of total revenue are shown
below, in thousands of rupees:-
Land revenue .
Total revenue
Mo-1. 1890-1. I'1 1900-1. 1 1903-4-
8,60 8)12 77,68 S,o6
11,57 11,94 1,5,10 16,2.1
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