Village Administration in British India

Compendium of Five articles Published in

The Vedic Magazine Lahore

Author

Late Rao Sahib K.V. Vaze, L.C.E.

Edited by Dr.A. S. Nene

IshaaN Publication Nagpur
December 2022
 CONTENTS

Village Administration in British India

Vedic Magazine Lahore, Year 1929

SN Month Article Page

Pages
1 May-June 75 to 81 1

2 July 144 -150 8

3 August 107-116 15

4 September 283 - 289 24

5 October-November 335 -337 32

 Article 1
Village Administration in British India

The Vedic Magazine Lahore

May & June 1929, Pages 76 to 81

Late Rao Sahib K.V. Vaze, L.C.E.

Page 76

In the beginning the earth’s crust was soft and fertile.The

necessaries of life were few and they could be had very easily. Men wanted

few things and they were content with what they got. Gradually as earth

cooled down and hardened and as the population increased the earth grew
in barrenness and owing to the change in the atmospheric temperature

the wants of men began to increase. Men had to think of shelter snd fire

was discovered and houses began to to be built. Competition and struggle

for existence began and there were frequent strifes and fights. Persons

possessed extra intelligence, extra power and extra skill were the persons

who suffered a loss . They could see the advantages they naturally

possessed and yet were unable to get proper benefits from superior

qualifications they possessed. Therefore these together invented the

institution of Government. They promised to pay to their king –select

share of their produce, installed him king, made laws about ownership
and rights of possession of things, introduced law courts and system of

punishment. Government institutions had their birth in this way and they

were required for creation and maintenance of property rights.

1
 Government was thus an insurance institution and payment of taxes

, an annual premium for the insurance. Maintenance of law of courts and

enforcement of punishment were the primary duty of Government.

(2 )The intelligent class of men made laws and regulations and thus

formed the legislative part of Government.

Page 76
The powerful class of men enforced these laws and formed the
executive side of Government. The skilled class looked after the collection
and distribution of expenditure of Government dues and became
administrative or financial part of Government. Thus Government was
divided into three portions viz. 1-legistative, 2 Executive and 3-
Administrative. As the size of the human community increased the villages
were combined into provinces and provinces into Kingdoms. The ambitions
of deferent lings introduced the element of military force and executive
or enforcing power gained in strength and became the most predominant
function and section of Government. Yet in the internal administration the
three sections maintained their equality and power. What was true in the
village was true in the family and in the universe. Philosophers think that
there are three functionaries for the maintenance of order in the Universe
viz.(1) Bramha -the creative and deliberative power,(2) Vishnu – the
protective power and (3) Rudra – the executive power.

(3 ) The best way of doing anything is that the master should do it himself.

He has the greatest interest in it and does it carefully. If he does it badly

or fails to do it at the proper time in the best way, it is he himself that
suffers. When men live in communities it is neither always possible nor
economical to follow this golden rule. There are so many things to be done
the amount of each thing to be done is so large that the division of labor
is advisable. It results in economy of time and specialization in abilities.
Though human beings are all alike , they differ considerably in their

2
physical, mental and artistic capacities and it is desirable that the
advantage should be yaken of these specialties .

Page 77
There are certain matters which cannot be done individually by each
and have to to be done for the whole community by some person specially
deputed for this purpose. There are three sorts of such deputies , as shown
under:-

1 Servant: - When a man is unable to do a thing owing to his being

engaged in doing a more important work, he engages another to do the

less important thing and pays him for doing this thing from the procedes
of the more important one. The paid person is called a servant and is the
lowest sort of a deputy.

(2 ) Substitute :- When a man is unable to do anything owing to the

lack of the necessary power or knowledge required for doing it, he engages
another man having the requisite power to do it. This man has to be paid
as a penalty for want of special power or knowledge required. This is called
a substitute and is a deputy of a higher order.

(3) Representative:- When a thing concerns more than one person, it has

to be done by a person who commands the confidence of all the persons

concerned in the matter. This is called a representative and is the highest
kind of deputy. Works concerning a community are executed by servants
under the direction and supervision of its representative may be
compelled to act up to the wishes of the community they are elected for
a limited period of time after which they may be reelected if their work is
considered satisfactory. The term of the person elected to represent a
community is not fixed provided he is tempted to be a despot lording it
over the community on whose behalf he may be working.

Page 78

3
Representation for a limited period is therefore best way of appointing a
deputy for supervising communal work.

(4) More than one person having a common purse and united interests

form a family. Many families having common concerns and correlated

existence form a village. Villages following the same social and religious
rules and having mutual relations constitute a district and may such
districts under common laws and regulations make a country or nation.
A Nation is thus the highest unit of Government and smallest unit is a
village. All the residents of village know one and another are better able
to select persons among themselves for management of their common
interests. If these selected person select representative for management
of works in the district and these in their turn select persons for looking
after national concerns, then only the national management can be said
to be truly representative or democratic. A villager is unable not only to
influence but even to select a proper representative for national concerns;
it is impossible for him to know persons diffused over such a large area
as a country and instead of having direct representation for national
management it is always better to have indirect representation as noted
above ; then only the Government can be said to be truly representative
or Democratic and this is the best form of Government.

(5) Democracy and Nationalism are naturally opposites other. Nationalism

claims more efficiency while Democracy seeks to safeguard the rights of

people. The present elective Government in India is a large fraud and

makes a parade of Democratic Government every five years. In this

parade there is a fight between an irresistible force on one side and

irremovable obstacle on the other. To the Nationalist Democracy seems to

help forces of disintegration while to the Democratic Nationalism seems

to encourage oppressing.

4
Page 79
We want Democracy for savings us from the exploitation of the many
by a selected few and the same tine want Nationalism to achieve the

union of all of us. The two conflicting forces can only be reconciled by

having graded representation as noted above.

If the villagers have full freedom in all local matters, the National concerns

may be administered by the representatives of leaders. Thus both National

and Local administration will be carried on by practically same persons or

persons closely connected with a dependent on one another. For higher

administration men of higher qualifications will be available and officers of

higher grade would command due respect from and feel responsibility

to men of lower grades.

(6) National Government has to look after the following communal maters:
--

(a) Protection of the subjects from one another and from outsiders.

(b) Provision of greatest amount of welfare both individual and

collectively for every community.

(c) Measures for improvement of the subjects physically, mentally,

socially and morally.

These duties may be summed up as 1-Protection,2- Preservation and

3- Improvement. As the sphere of activities is small in a village, these

duties assume more limited scope and duties of village administration

and may be said to be 1) safety, 2)Health and 3) Convenience . The

first and most important duty of any Government and particularly of a

Village Administration is protection of lives and property of residents
from internal encroachment ; next comes the duty of preservation of

5
 their lives against diseases and wants and the last is duty of improving

their material and moral condition.

Page 80
For performance of the first duty it must have powers to decide civil
and criminal disputes; for second it should have money for prevention of
diseases and provision of medical relief and for the third it should have

authority tp provide edicational and industrial facilities.

(7) Government is practically an insurance company that insures the lives

and the property of its subjects for the payment of an yearly premium called

taxes. Payment of taxes therefore is necessary condition for the enjoyment

of communal benefits just as restrictions of individual liberty is necessary

condition of national freedom. One cannot be had without the other and

this desideratum is frequently lost sight or overlooked by the advocates of

self-government, whether local or national. Representation or power to

vote thus goes hand in hand with ability and willingness to pay. Every

person who wants a vote or voice in the management of public affairs must
not only willing to insure his life and property or who does not consider his
life or property worth insuring can expect no benefit from and have no

hand in the administration and management of the insurance company.

thus Village administration has to be carried out by persons selected by

the rate-payers from amongst themselves. Though every rate-payer is a

voter he cannot be fit to be a representative or even a candidate unless

he has the ability to manage the public affairs. This ability means (1)

Knowledge of accounts. (2) power to reason and judge and (3) good

character or integrity of purpose. These are to be estimated by his dealing

in his personal affairs for a certain period of time before his election.

6
Page 81
A candidate for the post of representative must therefore be older,

more learned and better behaved than the ordinary voter. Besides these

qualifications the candidate should have sufficient leisure to be solely

devoted to public business.

(8) India is a country of very long standing and had varied experience of

all possible sorts of Governments. In its history are to be found different

sorts of monarchies, oligarchies, democracies and republics. The benefits

and disadvantages of all these kinds of states are noted therein. A Village

Administration, even the working of a family and management of individual

body is always a prototype of the system of National Government. When

there is a King at the head of National Government, there is a Patel in the

village, the elder in the family, and an ego in the individual personality.

While in a Democracy rules at the head of National Government, the village

is administered by Panchayat and the body is Governed by Advaitism.

Different portions of Indian continent have been prone to adopt different

forms of Government and the whole of its vast area has never been under

one uniform system. The forms of Governments ave varied according to

the physical and social environments, and owing to the long continuance
of any particular form of manners and customs of the inhabitants have

developed in a particular groove. Under the Mohammdan a and Maratha

rule, though the Central Government changed hands , the local and village
forms remained the same and villagers did not even know that the Central

Government has changed its position or personnel.

****1 ****

7
 Article 2

Village Administration in British India

The Vedic Magazine Lahore

June 1929, Pages 144 150

Page 144

9. Indian representative Government may be classified into four sorts,

viz., 1-Imperial legislature, 2-Provincial Councils, 3- District Boards, and

4- Municipal or Village administration. Subject to the constitution approved

by the British Parliament the Imperial legislature enacts laws applicable to

the whole of India; within the provisions of Imperial laws Provincial Councils
pass Acts having jurisdiction over the whole province; District Local
Boards carry out works entrusted to them by the Provincial acts; and
Municipal or Village Panchayats are empowered to do certain things as

laid down by Provincial Acts. The functions of District and Municipal Boards

are similar though they are under their area under jurisdiction varies.

Though all the money required for administration purposes are supplied
by the villagers, the power to use it rests solely in the Central Government

or Imperial administration. It is this Central body which allots money and

gives grants to Provinces which in their turn supply Local administration

with money and ask them to look to requirements of villages which are the
real source of all income but are starved or crippled for want of the

necessary authority or power to spend. This can be remedied by graded

representation notes above.

10. With the help of railways and telegraphs the British Government has

been able to introduce a uniform system of Government in India and in

8
doing so, has demolished the old village administrative agencies and

systems.

Page 145

However, when the Great German war broke out and India had to
take part in it, it was noiced that the whole influence of local leaders
was a great hardship and that the villagers evinced no signs of realizing

the great issue s at stake in the world war. India was no able to supply

adequate recruits and money and incentive of Freedom which the Village
Panchayats form the basis had to be held over as a temptation for the

desire assistance. The Government issued a Resolution No 41, dated 16

May 1918 making certain proposals and laying down certain principles for
inaugurating a change in the prevailing policy of Local Self-Government.
This change had been already foreshadowed in the Report of the
Decentralization Commission. As the various provinces in India differ
considerably in material and mental setup of their inhabitants, the
Government of India asked for Local Governments concerned, to draft the
necessary Village Panchayat Acts suited to their local conditions. Local
conditions defer not only in different provinces but even in the divisions
of one province. Naturally therefore there could be no uniform system of
Village Panchayats throughout India and only the general principles to be
followed in developing the system had been laid down by Decentralization
Commission and the Government of India and the Provincial Government
were left free to take necessary measures.

11. Each Local government has its own idiosyncrasies. The

accompanying statement will show how these have worked in drafting the
various Village Panchayat acts. Some Provinces have given criminal and
civil judiciary powers to these Panchayats while the Bombay government
has not given any thing in this matter. In some provinces Panchayats have
to be constituted by local governments themselves while in some other

9
provinces this important function is delegated solely to district officers and
in some to district boards in consultation wuth district officers .

Page 146

The constitutions of the Panchayats also vary considerably. In Bombay

Presidency there ae four divisions with quite distinct peculiarities and
local customs and for all these there is only one Panchayats Avt. This
mvy consequently is unsuitable to any one of them and no wonser the
habitants take no interest in the working of the act. Though Bombay
Presidency is the most enlightened of Presidencies , its Village Panchayat
act is the least liberal because it has to suit four distant communities in
different stages of development. Sind is a Zamindary community while
Maharashtra is a rayatadari one. Gujarati is a trading community while
Deccan is a versatile one and Panchayat act is loose enough to suit all these
different communities.

12.The first requirement of administration of local self- Government is that

it should lessen the authority of Government officers and should transfer it
to the representatives of the people. The very word ’Local Self-
Government’ means that in certain local matters the controlling power will
the local leaders. Unless the local leaders have been endowed with some
power, the government s not a self-government at all. All Self-Government
Acts must therefore aim at the reduction of powers of Government officers
and transfer the same to the newly constituted body. Np amount of order
sand pious wishes by His Majesty or British Parliament would be effective
as one section in the laws or one sentence in one section.

On studying the present laws regulations, one is unable to find any

mention of any such transfer. The laws seem to supplement and not
supplant local Government officers. Local institutions are many additions to
the power of district officers. These District officers are allowed to do their
duties as before and have to supervise the work of new institutions.

Page 147

10
No law enacts after the instruction of this act the introduction of this Act,
the district officers shall cause to do do these certain things act and
institutions constituted under this Act shall have power to do them. Appeals
may lie but not to District officers but to higher Local instututions only.

13. Attainment of Local self-Government or Self-determination is possible

only by means of such transfer of authority and power. Any the smallest
step in this direction is a step towards the real goal. It is no use mincing
.atters any longer.The general public is sufficiently enlightened to
understand the importance of all inovations. From the Minister to the Village
Panchayat we see new institutions supplanting and not supplanting
Government machinery which is daily becoming too heavy.

14. It was admitted on all hands that the Village Panchayats jave not
fulfilled expectations of anybody nor they have satisfied anybody and the
reason of this not very difficult to find. In the first place it must be
remembered that the impetus for the Local self-Government has come
from England. The Decentralization commission wanted the authority to
be diffused over a broad basis. The object wad to relieve the central
authorities of local work and responsibility so as to enable them to devote
more time to foreign and extra- national concerns. In order to coe with
the intensified and concentrated foreign rivalry the central authorities
require more leasure and power and the Village Panchayats were meant
to take up local duties and relieve the central authority so as to afford its
requisite leisure. But the persons in the authority did not like to part with
the authority and hence in almost every clauses they put in some checks
and Gve the central authorities and their officers absolute powers. They
wanted the Village Panchayats to levy new taxes and help the local boards
in their works but did not wish to give Panchayats any real power.

Page 148

It was the Deputy Commissioneror District officer whose whim was the sole
authority that was to establish the village Panchayat. A village Panchayat

11
not entitle only as a favor d to exist on account of any inherent qualification
in the people but only as favor of the district officer. It was not incumbent
on the district officer that every or even certain Village must have
Panchayat but he was left quite free to establish a village Panchayat or not
at his sweet will. When a Panchayat was established there were the
nominated members in it and the village headmen to be an ex-officio
member and perhaps even President. The election was to presided over
by a Revenue Official and he was also to decide the disputes. In short the
village Panchayat is designed to provide unpaid subordinates to Revenue
Department and are ordered to co-operate with Government officers in all
matters as the Local Government may direct and in the way it wishes them
to co-operate !

16. When the legislatures thus paved the way to make village Panchayat
unpopular , the district officers accelerated their fall by further steps.
Before they thought of establishing village Panchayat the district officers
wanted to know if the villagers were willing to tax themselves . While the
Decentralization Commission recommended that the village Panchayats
should levy no taxes, while the acts of Local Government made taxation
only optional , the district officers made taxation a necessary condition to
the establishment of the village Panchayats. As was naturally expected

Nobody wanted new taxes and hence no new village Panchayats could be
started. Old Sanatory committees, however were by force of law converted
into village Panchayats for making a start. The Panchayat laws provided
that grants should be made to village Panchayats by Local boards and Local
Government; but both these bodies had no money to spare for the
purpose. The old Sanatory committees, which used to get grants lost them
on being converted into village Panchayats and no village dared to come
forward

Page 149

12
… forward for the establishment of a new village Panchayat which gave the
villagers nothing but additional taxes and more responsibility without any
benefits or means of fulfilling the same. Magistrates and sub-judges have
not taken advantage of this provision.” Much more use might be made by
magistrates of the power of referring cases under sections 323 and 504 of
the Indian Penal code to village Panchayats concerned ….. Civil courts have
on the other hand , refused to recognize the exclusive jurisdiction
conferred upon the Panchayats by village Panchayat act and have continued
to entertain suits which should have heard by Panchayats and this has
unfortunate results “ The attempt to revive this ancient Indian institution
has been undertaken “, they say largely in response to a long standing
demand of the advances Indians and it is not unreasonable to expect that
those in response to whose demand the attempt os being made should
exert themselves to make that attempt a success. Local Magistrates and
sub-judges are educated. Indians and as such ought to mak a this
experiment success while actually they are found ro working against this
popular measure.

18. The Press and Platform were very indifferent towards these institutions
from very beginning and that was the reason why such unpopular were
allowed to be passed onto laws. Nobody took any notice of what regulations
and rules were being drafted and what laws enacted as if the laws did bot
concern them at all. Had the public leaders and press been alert, the
Panchayat Acts would have assumed a very different form.

Page 150

Madras regulation is a fairly good example of what a Panchayat Act should

be. The details of this measure will be discussed further on. If sufficient
intrest had been taken by public men in their instituions , not only laws
woild have been improved but in their working also more care would have
been taken. The villagers wanted advice as to what steps would be taken
to establish a Village Panchayat and as to how the Panchayat should be
worked to obtain maximum benefits and best results. ‘Pali’ Village

13
Panchayat in Pant Sachiv state. Poona District, is a good example of what
a Village Panchayat can and should do. This Panchayat built a road worth
Rs.30000, prevented fires in the localities , helped persons affected bt
heavy floods, provided houses to house medical relief and circulating
library and all this without any new taxation.

**** End of Article 2 ****

14
 Article 3

Village Administration in British India

(continued from the last issue)
page 107

During the British regime, village autonomy has degenerated or even died
out of the following reasons;

(1) As the state has appointed its special agency for doing every
thing, viz., forest work. Irrigation, investigation, Police work and
justice, the villagers have ceased to have any concern in Government
work.
(2) The new industrial and education systems have removed all
best intellects from the village to town which provides the necessary
scope for them.
(3) Egoism fostered by Western culture has made everybody
independent and parties and factions have filtered down to villages
and even individual families.
(4) The new administrative and judicial machinery has made it
evident that any person beyond the official circle may be safely
ignored and has no power and influence.
(5) The growing poverty of the villagers has left them no leisure to
look to the matters beyond their daily bread and complications of the
British Administrative machinery has left them in a dark as to the
ways it is to be manipulated.

Under these circumstances the villagers are ignorant ,if not actually
indifferent as to what is being enacted and as to how it is to be worked .
Those who understood the works were destructed or suspended of personal
interests both by the villagers and the Government.

15
page 108

Instead of asking the district boards and district officers to establish Village
Panchayats, they ought to have been compulsorily established by law and
should have been asked to elect members of District board s for doing
works which the Panchayats cannot do individually but have to do
conjointly . As every portion of the country forms of some village, it ought
to be under the supervision of some Village Panchayat. In becoming these
Panchayat should be constructed with judicial powers only. As there ought
to be separation of judicial and administrative duties, so there ought to be
separation of duties. Magistrates and sub-judges ought not to entertain
any udicial case trialabe by Village Panchayats. There should be no appeal
against or revision of Panchayat decision as a general rule and only
exceptionable cases should another Village Panchayat be asked to revise
the decision of the first in a joint meeting or independently. When a
Panchayat is established for two or more villages it should be for villages
contiguous to each other. Even small hamlets may have Panchayats which
have fewer members and less work. Unless such a through-going step is
taken , these bodies will neither exist nor thrive.

In each district some non-official person should be engaged ib advising the

Village Panchayats in their work of election and carrying out their various
duties. He should to try to ensure cooperation between Panchayats and
officers; he should make a special study of the difficulties and the means
of overcoming them. He should submit a report pf his work to Government
and the public. The local kamagar (Non-skilled workers) should be put
under the orders of Panchayats and the work at present done by the
Panchayat and carried out under its order by a paid cleark.

page 109

Thus the whole of the Revenue Administration should be carried out

through the village Panchayats. This will ensure economy in establishment

16
charges, popularity and efficiency of the work done and will be a beginning
of real Local Self Government.

In Judicial matters the village Panchayats should charge no fees or only

nominal fees to defray the expenses of office establishment . The work
should be free from red-tapism and prompt.

No [leaders should practice in the Panchayat court which should decide

disputes on the basis of facts and not theoretical principles. Magistrates and
judges should be encouraged to make of these means of administering
justice. If a Panchayat wishes to have any facility or amenity it should be
encouraged to have it at its own cost. The extra expenses required may
may be met by a tax for the use of the facility or by contribution in money
or kind to be paid by all villagers. All the procceds of the cattle pound ,
conservancy, markets and gardens may be made over the village
Panchayat. The villagers may be encouraged to go in the garden crops and
the extra assessment realized from these may be handed over to the
Panchayat. The Aanewary (percent share) should be fixed by actual
experiments by the Panchayats. Similarly extra proceeds from local
industries may be used for giving education in these as well as well as in
developing the industry. The local forest and pasture areas may be
managed by Panchayats and they may be permitted to develop these as
also local water supply. The Panchayats may be given loans from the
Provincial funds for any remunerative schemes such as starting of new
factories pr works likely to be profitable after few years.

page 110
Mismanagement and oppression of the minorities are made much

Of in India as human nature in India is very different from that in other

countries. Everywhere there are minorities and they are every where and
always sumit to the rule of majority. Instances on record that during the
great war men were imprisoned and made to undergo lard labor simply
for refusing to enlist and fight the unjust ( ?)way. If this is the treatment

17
the minority gets in England or France why should not a similar thing be
allowed to happen on some other score in India? New measures are bound
to be fraught with mistakes or unpopularity and things must be looked
square in the face some day.

Why not now ? People must suffer the consequences of bad elections. Party
partiality , or ignorance. Nothing can avoid these and the sooner the are
suffered and learnt the better for all.The power of suffering for mistakes is
diminishing ib India and if it be not sufficient today a time may come when
the suffering caused by a mistake would mean a death and probably
annihilation . Forest, Irrigation , Public works, Excise , Judicial and Revenue
Departments of Government should have root in the Village Panchayats
and many branches of from these roots and end in Government officers at
the other end.

The first defeat in the working of the Village Panchayat Act- infact , any
Local Self-Government institution – is that there is is no discrimination
between voters and candidates. Every voter is made eligible for
candidature. This is wrong both in theory and practice. A candidate has
actually to carry out works and therefore must know accounts. Law and
other things. Before he can be selected he should have done something to
improve what capacity and management he has.

Page 111
As soon as a man comes to age he becomes a voter and also eligible for
being a candidate. Owing to his influence or influence of his friends hr
may get himself elected but qould be raw and found to be unsuitable for
the work. In India where 90% of the population is illiterate and particularly
in villages where the proportion may be 99 % the fact that every voter
should be eligible for candidature is an anomaly. While illiterate and
inexperienced(Ref. “Review of the Working of District concils , etc., in
Burma during 1925 -26, Page 11.” ) ,Panchas ( local judge) is no wonder
if the Audit Officers say:- “ The idea, which is current , that the service of
office bearers being honorary, they cannot be held responsible for any
18
mal-administration. Some fund officers complain that they are practical
people , have not sufficient leasure and knowledge of accounts to
supervise things properly.

Inexperienced men commit many mistakes and when the loss is not
personal, the necessary lessons are not learnt properly. Here is what the
Audit Officers in Burma say in the matter:- “ At present very little care is
taken to enquire into the antecedents of the candidates for employment
under the Local bodies. Men involved in defalcations or forced to leave
services on account of bad work in one Fund Office are entertained in
another …. . All double payments mentioned later on in this note could
have been prevented if the members had exercised any check before the
second claim was passed for payment”. This is the result or inexperience.
But even if after the auditor has drawn an attention of the members
concerned to the defects in the accounts they continue in the same state it
shows that the members do not realize their responsibilities and this is not
rare as will be seen from the remarks:-

Page 112
“if the accounts continue to be unsatisfactory every yer it becomes
apparent that no action is taken to remedy the irregularities detailed in
the audit notes ….. the controlling authority may be overpowered to take
necessary action in such cases”. This is what happens when wrong persons
are elected and the Act ought to provide against the recurrence of of such
faults by prescribing higher qualifications for the candidates.

A second defect in the working of Panchayat acts is that no provision

for regular weekly meeting is made. This is particularly defective when
Panchayats are constructed with judicial powers. It is very well to say that
meetings will be conveyed when required. Who is to determine the
requirement and convey the meeting? Suppose some person in the village
beats another or abuses him and the person injured wants to complain to
the Panchayat, how is he to convene or who is to convene the Panchayat
meeting before which he may lodge the complaint ? In the Baroda state
19
there are 54 Panchayats invested with judicial powers both Civil and
Criminal. Only 10 of these Panchayats disposed 181 Civil and 92 Criminal
disputes. On inquiry as to what other 44 Panchayats did ? were there no
disputes in those villages; if there were what happened ? were the
Panchayats incompetent ?” It has been ascertained that that there were
disputes and the Panchayats were neither had nor incompetent; but owing
to want of regular were sitting the villagers went to Government
magistrates in an adjacent town and sub-judges who are to be found
always at their posts and hold courts at regular hours. The Act should
make some provision for some regular meeting at fixed places and at fixd
hours to be convened by Sar-Panch for judicial purposes whether thre be
complaint or not.

Page 113

The Panchayats should hold their meetings in the Village Chawdi

on at least fixed days if not every day at about 8 p.m. This time and place
is mutually suited for the transaction of village business. In old days the
first. 8th and last day of every forth night were set apart for Panchayat
work and the 1st and last day of the term of Panchayat were set as
holodays. The public was allowed to be presentat the Panch meetings.
Panch enquiries should thus be open to all; only then there will be a
possibility of full justice being done. Evening is the time when everybody
has come back from his outdoor work and the Chawdi has been the place
for public transaction from times immemorable. In Punjab 292 village
Panchayats have been invested with the judicial powers of these only 118
tried 1176 criminal and 5202 civil suits.

Out of these 6468 cases only 71 decisions wer appealed against and in all
of them the Panchayat decision was upheld. Utility of these Panchayats
will be evident from the fact that one Panchayat from Amritsar district
decided 250 criminal disputes and one in Muzaffarnagar d istrict decided
273 civil disputes. Most of the decisions were satisfactory to both the
parties and all this at only nominal cost to the litigants.

20
 A third defect in the working of Village Panchayats is with regard
the dispensing of money. To deposit the proceeds in the Yaluka treasury
and withdraw the money from the sane , mean much expenditure of time
and energy. The act should permit the depositing of these sums in the
nearest Post office Saving Bank. The amount to be deposited or withdrawn
are not great. The income of 203 Panchayats in Punjab for one year is Rs
13647 or Rs 47 per Panchayat. This amount when distributed over one
year will show how trifilling the matter is for the petty sum that Panchayat
is required to go to the Taluka treasury.

Page 114

The largest income of village Panchayat on Punjab, is Rs.300 and to

deposit this amount in the Postal Savings Bank would mean no
inconvenience to that office while it would mean a great facility to
Panchayat particularly as is not unlikely that post office may be situated
in the Panchayat village itself. This deposit is permitted in Assam and
Bombay . Government have issued necessary orders on their attention
being particularly drawn to this facility. Panchayats Deposit withdraw very
small sums some times less than a rupee at a time and the Post Office
is the only fit place for such transactions.

A fourth defect in the working of the Panchayat Act that there is no

cooperation between Panchayat and Government officers. At present from
Village Mahar to the District officer of Government seem to consider the
Village Panchayat something apart from Government machinery. This is
wrong attitude. The Village Panchayat is a part and parcel of Government
machinery and deserves sympathetic help from all Government officers.
The officers on tour shou;d visit Panchayat not as examiners or
superintending officers. They should enquire about work, their difficulties
and their wants and then should advise and assist them in fulfilling their
objects. The village Majars and Talathies should act at the disposal of the
Village Panchayat for doing their portion of village work. Is made If the

21
Village Panchayatis made the lower end of all Government departments,
it would then only have some standing and definite duty to do.

Page 115

Most of the Acts stipulate that Panchayat should cooperate with

Government officers.(See section 12 of the )Central Provinces Panchayat
Act): but no act obliges Government officers to advise and help Village
Panchayats in securing the welfare of the villages and villagers.

At present the Local Self-Government institutions are looked upon as their

rivals by Government officers and not as brother institutions. Government
officers ought to be reminded from time to time that Local Self-
Government institutions are to take their place as time advances and it is
now their duty to develop these institutions in their early stages so as to
make them fit to take their charge when the time arrives for doing so.
The se institutions may make mistakes but those must be sympathetically
treated with a view to their improvement. The members committing the
mistakes should not be allowed to go unpunished but they should not
treated very harshly. What one consider as willful faults may really be
only mistakes due to misunderstanding of the law or ignorance of the
formality or procedure. Men who have spent the best part of their lives in
a particular business make mistakes and have to suffer; it is therefore no
disgrace if men who spend only theire leisure hours in doing the business
commit mistakes and have to suffer. The only thing to be guarded against
is that mistakes should not be repeated or willfully committed eith intuition
of making a personal profit.

The last defect in working of Panchayat Act is that villagers without

sufficient enthusiasm cannot be obtained for honorary work. There must
be compulsion first.

When the British Government was first established they had to rule that
the decisions od Panchayats will not be accepted or enforced by their
22
Courts. To counteract the effects of the sin thus committed it is but right
to rule that no magistrate or Judges should try cases within the power
and jurisdiction of Village Panchayats.

Page 116

Such suits filed in the courts of these officers should be transferred to the
concerned Village Panchayats. The Panchas should meet at Chawdi and
call for petitions at lest on particular days . Execution of Pancha decisions
should be entrusted to Taluka officers and not to District officers for facility
and promptness of execution. When once the present autonomous state
is remedied and normal conditions prevail, the Panchayats will hold their
own and District officers will have to be dispensed with. Above the village
there will be Taluka and above it will be divisions . About 70 villages in
Talka and 70 Talulkas in district will what would be required to
administrate whole at a time.

**** end of article 3 ***

23
 Article 4
Village Administration in British India

The Vedic Magazine Lahore

September 1929, Pages 283 to 289

Late Rao Sahib K.V. Vaze, L.C.E.

Page 283
33 The most unpopular item in the Village Panchayt Act is the insistence on

the imposition of a tax. Here also there is an old sin to be atoned for. Before

the advent of the British rule every village met its own requirements. If the

villagers wanted their children to be educated they made their own

provision for it or left the children uneducated. If they wanted water, they

made the necessary provision or went without it and so on. There were no

taxes except lan revenue which met the expenditure on the armies and

higher judicial offices. With the British rule there came in new taxes and

payments was demanded in cash instead of in kind. British Government

started schools, built roads, provided dispensaries, constructed tanks even

repaired Chawdies and dharmashalas. People thanked God for providing a

Government that was thus to supply all their wants and they called this

Government as Mabap or fatherly Government. There was no necessity of

any subscription and no need for exerting themselves. Government now

wish that the villagers should pay extra new taxes for the things which it

or the Local Board did so long free of cost. The villagers think it a great

hardship and they should have to pay and should have also to work for new

benefits but for works which Government did up till now free of cost.

24
 34 The duties assigned to Village Panchayt are:

Page 284

1-Roads, 2-Sanitation, 3- Water supply and 4- Education;

.things which the Local Board have been managing for the last fifty years.

Why should the local Board be supplemented now? Government is already

pledged to free and compulsory education; village carts do not require
any better roads and if motor cars want them , let them pay ; plague has
already taught good lessons on sanitation; house to house water supply is
not required in the villages where men do not know how to utilize all the

time there is at their disposal. The Village Panchayats are therefore

unnecessary except for squeezing out the last drop of blood from the half-

starved poor. With this mentality it is impossible to convince the villagers

of the advantages of Village Panchayats and the necessity of establishing

them. They look upon the institution with perfect indifference and see no

good coming out of them. When judicial powers are assigned the villagers

find some saving in time and money settling their disputes in the village

through Panchayat. These powers are not given to all Panchayats and

where they are given it is not as a right but as a favor to be got from the
Deputy Commissioner at the stipulated price of having to pay a new tax

or some such thing.35 The remedies for making thes institutions at least

acceptable if not popular, are 1-changed methods of establishment, 2-

Freedom from interference by district officers, 3-Advice from non- official

from good gentlemen, and 4-A definite source of income with defined

useful duties.

25
1.Establishment: Certain definite qualities should be prescribed according

to which a Village Panchayat should come into existence irrespective of

Deputy Commissioner ‘s or anybody else’s wish. The Panchayat should be

elected and candidates should possess higher qualification than those of

voters. These voters should be of mature age and should not be beggars

begging from house to house.

Page 285
The candidates should beside a being a voter be able to read and write
and keep accounts and should have managed his affairs well at least ten

years before election. There should be at least three members and utmost

eleven in a Panchayat. Two members and village accountant should serve

the Panchayat as peon and clerk respectively. The Panchayat should be a

necessary link between village and the departments of Government. All

Government work in the village should be done through the Panchayat

which would have powers to settle petty disputes, both civil and criminal

under the sections of law.

2 Freedom from interference – No rights or actions of the Panchayat should

be made dependent upon the whim of the Deputy Commissioner or any

other officer. If the Panchayat does nothing wrong an appeal may lie to the

usual judiciale courts. The Panchayat should develop forest areas adjacent

to the village and may have share in the excess income, it should have the
management of village irrigation work and should share the extra revenue
obtained; It should have supervision over the village marketm fairs,

religious institutions, education. Public roads and buildings and it should

take measures for prevention of epidemics. For doing these things. It

should get grant from Government and Local Boards and should contribute
26
its own quota which would not be more than half the amount of total

grants it gets from Provincial and local Governments. The Panchayats may

be permitted to raise loans for productive works provided it is able to show

to the satisfaction of experts that the scheme is feasible and likely to be
beneficial and productive of some pecuniary profit not less than the

amount of interest of the loan raised. The Panchayats may accept private

contributions or private institutions on trust provided this entails no

expenditure or burden on the villge.

Page 286

3 Advice from non-official gentlemen: - In its infancy the institution may

require advice and guidance. Official and non-official gentlemen may be

requested to give this help free. In the beginning Government should

appoint non-official organizers whose duty it will be to study the locality,

devise means for making institution popular, frame rules for its
constitution and working , and find out means for overcoming difficulties,

in short to provide all sorts of help to make it success. Some members

will require good training in working these institutions successfully. The

method of writing reports, recording proceedings, keeping accounts and

avoiding audit objections are matters that require some coaching. Small

pamphlets dealing with these matters. Explaining a few legal technicalities

and containing small synopses of sections of the codes required for the
disposal of the cases to be instituted before Village Panchayats should be
prepared and every candidate should be asked to study these pamphlets

before standing up as a candidate for election. He should be made to make

a solemn statement that he has studied these pamphlets and understands

27
them and is willing to take up responsibility devolving upon a member

of Village Panchayat. He should have leisure to do the work.

4 Definite sources of income and duties to defray expenditure: - The

Village Panchayats should obtain a fixed portion of Local Funds receipts

from the area under its control, and all the extra income that it can secure

by developing the agricultural and industrial resources of the area. It

should accept a small fee for defraying the office expenses on the cases it
decides and all proceeds from fines,

Pages 287

Cattle pounds. Market rates should be credited to the Village Panchayat

fund. From this income it should repair the Chavadi or its office, keep the

village tidy and free from epidemic diseases. If there be schools in village

these would be maintained by the Local Board on supervising the schools

and bringing their defects to the notice of the Board and Panchayat would
assist the Government by bringing mediator between the villages and

Government. It would look to the interests of both and try to reconcile

these to the requirements of order and justice. The Anewari experiments

for fixing the revenue assessments etc, will be made in the presence of
Panchayat and it would be entitled to report wht the remission or

enhancement in assessment from time to time should be. 36 YThe ideal

should be kept in view in developing these Village Panchayats.

36 The idea to be kept in view in developing these Village Panchayats s to

have embryo republics spread all over the whole of India. Each village

should be self-sufficient and stand on its own legs. It should be able to

develop its individual resource to the fullest extnbt and conjointly with the

oher similar institutions develop the whole nation . The greatest happiness

28
of each individual man means greatest happiness of each village, means

greatest happiness of each nation.

The Indian continent is a conglomeration of eighteen different

communities. Each village should send its representative to the Taluka

and each Taluka should send its representative to the the Province(Nation)

, which would be an independent autonomous whole. All foreign relations

will be decided and handled by an assembly of representatives of these

nation. In setting the constitution and work of Village Panchayat this ideal

must be kept in view so that no energy need be wasted any further.

Pages 288
Much energy has has already been wasted ib starting down the top and

the present constitution of Indian Government is top-heavy and would

topple down as soon as there is severe storm, internal or foreign. It is

time these conditions are realized with new constitution with the villages

at the bottom , is being inaugurated .

37 The distinction between the National Government and Local

Government should plainly be kept in view. The distinguishing features

are:-

1) Local Government has a good uniformity of interests and civil ideas

with common ground of manners and customs, fairs and festivals

and moral and reliits correlated history and sequence.

2) Local Government has no foreign policy or clashing interests with

adjoining institutions.

3) Local Government has common ground of manners and customs,

fiars and festivals and moral and religious ideas,

29
 A village may therefore be defined to be a local area free from
interference by the officers of the National Government and having
authority to manage its own affairs, Each village has it peculiar physical

and social environment to which it administration has has to respond.

To suit its requirements, it adopts its own methods for attaining its

objects.

Thus for water supply one village may dig wells, another construct a

tank, third a dam across a stream. While the forth may have a recourse

to water carriers.

The duties of of a village administration may be classified as 1) Safety, 2)

Sanitation and 3) Convenience.

Safety: - The Village Panchayat should have powers to do the following

duties:

a) Lighting the roads,

b) Patrolling the village,
c) Prevention and extinguishing of fires,

d) Settling of criminal and civil disputes.

Pages 289

Sanitation and Public health:- The Panchayats should provide for:

a) Sweeping of public areas,

b) Provision of latrines and scavenging,
c) Draininf insanitary areas,
d) Burrial and burning of dead,
e) Removal of sweepings and

f) Supervision of markets and food stuff.

30
Convenience :- The Village Panchayat should aim at:

a) Maintenance of means of communications,

b) Facilities of markets,
c) Maintenance of Educational Institutions,
d) Religious Institutions,
e) Relief of patients and decrepit ,and

f) Arrangement for beauty of the village.

**** 4 ***

31
 Article 5

Village Administration in British India

The Vedic Magazine Lahore

October and November 1929, Pages 335 to 337

Late Rao Sahib K.V.Vaze, L.C.E.

Page 335

It will thus be seen that if each villiage and town is able to fulfil its duties

properly, the whole nation – which is nothing more than an aggregate of

these villiages – will be improved. No separate or special measures will be

required for improvement and strenghening of the nation. At present the

work is beeing done in the wrong order and while keeping national concern

in view, the basic concerns viz. those of individual yilliages are overloaded

or neglected and thus s foundation of the ruin of the whole structure is

laid from the very beginning.

38 Universal suffrage should be established from the beginning and no

caste, creed or community should have separate representation. All

Indians are equal and any voter may vote for any candidate, thus forming

a common electorate. This elected Village Panchayats should free scope

to look after th interests of the village and to develop its resources. Instead

of Local Board giving grants to villages, each village should give a subsidy
to the Taluka Board and each Taluka Board should contribute to Provincial

purse. Unless such a system is followed from village upwards there would

be no proper taxation and no strict economy. When the Provincial budget

of expenditure is passed each Taluka should be left free to say what taxes

it willl levy and how this expenditure is to be met.

32
page 336

Similarly the Taluka Board should pass its budget of expenditure and th
village may left free to sy whay taxes they will levy aand how they would

contribute the required sum to the Taluka Board. Village Panchayat will

thus realise some money for Imperial expenditure, some for Provincial

expenditure, Some for local expenditure,in the village itself. If it the grants

any remisson it will make up the the sum by some other means which it

thinks best suited to the case.

39 There is a difference between Provincial economy and household

economy. In Provincial economy the expenditure is generally fixed. A

certain strength of Army and Navy must be maintained and certain things

must be done if the nation is to exist as an independent nation. Governed

has then to devise means for meeting this expenditure. In Household

economy the income of the family is fixed and the duty of family leaders is

to see how they can maintain themselves within this income. If the income

is not sufficient, certain luxuries and even necessaries have to be omitted

and the family has to do without luxuries. Only absolutely necessary

expenditure shold be paid for by those who want these necessaries. In

the village therefore Government should provide drinking water. Any extra

quantity required should be paid for by the persons using it. Ordinary roads

should be provided by Government and better facilities, if required, should

be provided for by extra taxation on persons who want such facilities. It is

by such strict rules only that proper economy can be observed in public

expenditure. The State provides for only common necessaries and extra

amenities must be obtained by payment of extra taxes by persons who

want these facilities.

33
Page 337

40 These principles can be followed only when the village is asked to supply

money for Local, Provincial and Imperial expenses. The present system of

Local Fund providing money for village Panchayats is wrong in principle

and does not tend to proper economy of public funds. Neither the

Provincial nor the Local Governments have money to spare for the villages.

Their income is not sufficient for their own requirements. As soon as there

is prospect of some surplus, new luxuries are proposed. At present in India

all sort of luxuries such as Railways, Motors, Telephones , Electric light etc,
are available but nobody thinks of providing sufficient food and clothing

for the half-starved and naked poor. If the villagers were to provide money

to the Local and Provincial Government they would first supply necessaries

to all and then think of lusuries or make only rich pay for these.

41. The constitution of the village Panchatats should be framed at the

outset as to meet these ultimate ends so that no changes may be required

in it from time to time . A sprit of independence and consequently

responsibility should be infused in the members from beginning.

***.5***

34
 English books Authored by
Late Rao Sahib K.V. Vaze, L.C.E.

• Study Of Mechanisms in ancient India. (1923)

• Science of Fortification of ancient India. (1924-27)
• Town Planning Science Of Ancient India. (1924-27)
• Principles of Village Administration (1929)