Page 51 - Muzaffargarh Gazzetteer

usually paid one-quarter or one-sixth. Canal rates were invariably paid by
the tenant. The owner usually got at the most a nominal share of green
fodder, and seldom had any share of straw, though there was no uniform
custom even on the wells grouped in a single estate.

CLASSES OF TENANTS

Mundhimar, Butemar and Charhayat Tenants
Two classes of tenants existed before the First Regular Settlement:
(1) Those who had by clearing the jungle and by bringing under cultivation
acquired a permanent right to cultivate. These were called mundhimar or
butemar, and were, as a rule, recorded at the First Regular Settlement as
tenants with rights of occupancy; and
(2) Those tenants who had been put in, with or without a term being fixed by
proprietors, to cultivate land already cleared and fit for crops. These were
called charhayat. They were usually recorded as tenants without rights of
occupancy.

It may be noted here that land was so abundant at the First Regular
Settlement that the occupancy status had no attraction for tenants. They
preferred not to be tied to the land, and to be able to change their cultivation
when they liked. In the Tehsil Kot Addu applications by tenants not to be
recorded as having rights of occupancy were common though they were by
custom entitled to permanent possession. For quite sometime after the
Second Settlement, tenants were still eagerly sought after and, as a rule, free
from any attempt on the part of the landlord to extort from them. Every effort
was then made to retain them. The share of the crop received by the tenants
was called Rahm.
Over the time, the landlords have started preferring to cultivate land
themselves or through tenants-at-will as the latter have no right of
occupancy. Generally this form of tenants-at-will too has turned into self
cultivation, however, still this form exists in some parts of the district where
land is yet to be tilled and developed. The owners also have adopted to lease
their land to a class of cultivators who are called Mustajir. The Mustajirs pay
fixed rate per acre per annum to the landlords. They cultivate the land on
their own expenses and lift the produce without giving any share of the
produce to the landlords.
Exceptional Forms of Agricultural Status
In addition to the usual forms of proprietors and tenants with their respective
shares in the produce, there were certain exceptional forms of agricultural
status which may be described as follows:

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