Page 45 - Muzaffargarh Gazzetteer

Mustajir
A person who holds the lease of a property is termed as Mustajir, or lessee.
The terms and conditions are more or less clearly defined; and are generally
reduced to writing.

VILLAGE COMMUNITIES AND TENURE
There were no village communities in Muzaffargarh in the real sense of the
word. The bulk of the rural land owning population of the district belonged
to the original inhabitants who were the descendants of the native settlers,
religious leaders, chieftains or other influential persons who received grants
or jagirs from the various rulers of the kingdoms of Delhi, Kabul or Sindh.
Those land owning tribes obtained proprietary titles in the land under the
possession of their ancestors, along with the rights and liabilities of the
various forms of village tenures then existing in the district. Their interest in
land was always subordinate to that of the Government. Some of the leading
tribes of the district, especially those who were important as land owners,
are Jats, Balochs, Rajputs, Pathans, Syeds, Qureshis, Arrian, and Gujjarş.
In the District Muzaffargarh the following village tenures, once existed:
(1) Bhai-chara Mukammal:
(2) Bhai-chara Ghair-Mukammal;
(3) Pati-dari;
(4) Zamindari; and
(5) Zamindari Bilijamal.
Practically every well in the district constituted a separate estate, and for
administrative purposes a number of wells had always been grouped together
under the name of a village. In some places there never was any land common
to the wells; in others where there was some common land, it had been
partitioned and each well had a waste area of its own. The great majorities of
villages were accordingly held on tenure called Bhai-chara Mukammal, which
meant that the possession of each owner or group of owners was the measure
of their rights. In other words, the wells or holdings were quite independent
of one another and had nothing in common. Next in importance came the
tenures called Bhai-chara Ghair-Mukammal; where there was some village
common land, i.e shamlat. The number of such villages was largest in the
Tehsil Alipur. The extensive river front prevented a partition of the common
riverain tract. In the Kot Addu and Layyah tehsils, the extensive waste area
of the Thal was used for the grazing of cattle without restriction.
With the exception of the Thal villages, where no partition could take place
in consequence of the agreements executed under the Sindh Saghar Doab
Colonization Act 1902, the villages of the latter class were converted
gradually into Bhai-chara Mukammal.

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