Page 41 - Muzaffargarh Gazzetteer
P. 41

7.  The  land  owners  who  surrendered  their  excess  holdings  were  allowed
               compensation  @  Rs.  8/-  per  produce  index  unit  in  the  form  of  bonds
               redeemable  after  25  years  with  interest.  In  certain  cases,  in  which  the
               amount involved was not sizable, the compensation was paid in cash.

               8. Orchards and pedigree livestock farms were out of the scope of the Land
               Reforms and the owners were allowed to retain them after making necessary
               declaration.
               9. The surrendered lands, which were not held by tenants, were disposed of
               by the Land Commission primarily through auction of otherwise.
               10. All jagirs were confiscated without compensation.
               11. All occupancy tenants were declared as owners.
               12. Adna-Maliks (inferior owners) were declared full owners without making
               any payment to the Ala-Maliks (superior owners).
               13. The Ala-Malikiat rights (superior ownership rights) were abolished.
               14. Ala-Khud-Adna (superior-cum-inferior) ownership rights were converted
               into full proprietary rights like Adna-Malikiat rights.

               The effect of the Land Reforms may be summarized as under:

                 No. of landlords   Area surrendered    Area given by    Area disposed of
                 affected by land   by the landlords       tenants          otherwise
                     reforms

                        14            41,693 acres       5,693 acres       18,545 acres


               Each  village  had  by  then  become  a  conglomeration  of  different  classes  of
               men, landlords, tenants, peasant proprietors etc. belonging to different tribal
               groups.  The  land  tenure  system  could  be  grouped  into  the  following
               categories:

               Zamindari Tenure
               In all old villages some type of land landlordism existed. In other except in
               Raiyatwari  chaks  they  predominated.  These  villages  were  owned  by  one
               proprietor  or  one  family,  the  shares  in  later  case  being  undivided.  Such
               villages  were  classified  as  Zamindari  Villages.  In  other  words,  Zamindari
               tenure  was  compatible  with  large  landed  estates  owned  by  one  or  few
               landlords due to undivided ownerships or land being jointly held. Most of the
               Thal villages fell within this category. Wherever the land was owned by an
               individual or a family, the cultivation was being carried out with the help of
               the  tenants.  Thus  the  village  population  consisted  largely  of  tenants  who
               cultivated  the  land  as  tenants-at-will.  In  theory,  this  tenure  had  become



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