C H A P T E R III
The excessive size of certain Districts and Subdivisions
31. T h e essential differences betw een Bengal, especially Eastern Bengal, and the rest o f In d ia are no t such as can be deduced from m ere
statistics, striking as the statistics of such ^a tract Introductory. undoubtedly are. I t has ‘been necessary, therefore, to attem p t a som ewhat detailed description of this rem arkable country, or a t any ra te of the n a tu ra l peculiarities which affect its adm inistration. T h e impression m ade on th e non-Bengal members of the Com m ittee was a very strong one, an d they are fully convinced of the danger of basing proposals abo ut, Bengal on experience derived from other parts of India. In particular, they w ere especially struck by the immense population, the large proportion o f educated persons, the high degree of agricultural prosperity and the extraordinary volume o f work th a t has consequently to be dealt w ith by the district establishments.
Figures will be quoted further on in this ch apter to show th e great expansion th a t has taken place during the last 30 years in th e volum e o f work in some of the district and subdivisional offices in E astern Bengal, and the increase in the num ber of crim inal cases brought before the courts. Statistics prove th a t the duration o f crim inal trials is g reater th an formerly, in spite of the fact th at in m ost subdivisions thp m agisterial staff has been doubled, and in some cases even trebled. B ut the m ultiplication of the gazetted staff of a district does not im ply a corresponding relief to the D istrict Officer; on the contrary, it n ecessifates'Tncreased inspection and supervision, an d in m any directions!
adds to his work and responsibility. A t a very early stage in th eir acquaintance with the Province, the C om m ittee were fully persuaded of the im portance of the suggestion contained in the term s of reference, th a t the reduction of inordinately large charges m ight be needed, to enable the officers o f G overnm ent to obtain a closer touch w ith the people. But the creation o f a new district o r subdivision entails heavy expenditure, both recurring an d non-recurring, and for this reason we have very carefully examined all the proposals th a t have been suggested
■resTsfc 5 ^ 1 ,
to us, and have recom m ended only such as ap p e ar to us to be absolutely --- and im m ediately necessary for th e efficient adm inistration o f th.e districts.
i i . I t is frequently asserted th a t in Bengal the executive officers of G overnm ent are less in touch w ith the people th a n elsewhere in India.
Peculiar I t is inevitable under the circum stances th a t it should difficulties of be so ; b u t, if it is necessary to ad m it this, it is no Eastern Bengal less necessary to explain a t th e same tim e th a t this w ant Districts. 0 f touch w ith the people is in no way due to any defect in the officers themselves, b u t to the disheartening and well-nigh impossible conditions u n d e r which they have to work. In his zealous efforts for the welfare o f his district, the D istrict Officer in Bengal is in no way behind his b ro th er officers in o ther Provinces in In d ia; btft it has to be recognized th a t by the force o f circum stances and through no fault of his own there are m any duties which h e m ust neglect, no t because he does n o t realize th eir im portance, b u t because he has not the tim e to
take them up.
33. This is forcibly brought out by the Collector o f Dacca, in a letter dated 31st D ecem ber 1913. H e w rites—
“ As m atters stand a t present, we are neglecting the work which m atters most, because neglect does not show, an d in order
O p in io n o f w e m Jq the work which is intrinsically o f no greater
th e C ollector . .
of Dacca im portance, b u t which m ust have the preference, because it comes m ore im m ediately to the notice of Government.
I t is because the mass of the people are so submissive to authority, and because they cherish an old belief th a t the British Governm ent desires to do justice, th a t they do not m ake their voices heard, when the District Officer fails to save them from such delay in obtaining justice in the crim inal courts as am ounts to a denial of justice, because he has no time to control th e work of the courts; when the D istrict Officer fails to give them a fair price for their hom estead land acquired for a public purpose, because he has not time to control the work o f the L and Acquisition D eputy C ollector; when the D istrict O fficer allows the holdings of khas m ahal raiyats to be sold and fall into the hands o f mahajans, because - through w a n t o f time he exercises no control over collections, and allow s,
an altern atio n of slackness an d undue severity ; and when the District Officer fails to redress the ju st grievances of raiyats in w ards’ estates, because he is defeated by the volum e of the com plaints an d the passive resistance of th e estate subordinates. None of these defects in the adm inistration com e very prom inently before th e notice of Government, because the people do not often com plain; bu t the cum ulative effect of these omissions, though slow, cannot fail to *>e far-reaching; and there is grave danger th a t th e effect m ay become m ore rapid, now th a t ill-disposed people have
set to work to persuade the masses th a t Governm ent does n o t care for their interests. W hen the charge o f a D istrict Officer is too heavy, these are the duties w hich he will in most cases neglect, an d it has been so in the D acca district.”
And further on he writes—
“ A t the cost of several mistakes due to hasty despatch o f im portant business I have found tim e to discover m any errors, b u t I have n o t found tim e to correct them ; this can be done only by assiduous atten tion to individual cases, for which attention I have no t found sufficient time.
I cannot say th a t I have done m ore th an increase the work by stirring up questions which I have no t h ad time to settle.”
M r. Birley is an exceptionally able an d zealous officer. His experience is th a t of m any other officers who are serving in the heavier districts in Eastern Bengal. I t is impossible th a t such condition% tending as they do to lower, by the force of example, th e general standard of adm inistration throughout the Province, should be allowed to continue.
I t is essential th a t measures should be taken to remove the underlying causes, or a t least to m inim ize their effects.
34. T h e increase in the work o f a large Eastern Bengal district d u rin g the last 40 years is very striking, an d a consideration thereof
will in our opinion clearly show th a t the control of the Increase of district organization is beyond the power o f a single work m past 0fficer. T h e p artitio n of the M ym ensingh and M idnapur districts was -first proposed in 1876; th e figures for 1873 w here available, have been selected by us as a basis of comparison, th a t being th e year to which most o f figures for this district given in H u n te r’s well-known work relate. T h e M ymensingh district has been selected as an adm ittedly extrem e case; b u t a perusal o f the statistics presented a t the end of this chapter will show th a t the gap which separates it from D acca, M idnapur and Bakarganj is not very wide. %
Between the years 1873 and 1913, the population o f the M ymensingh district increased from 2,349,917 to 4,526,422 . Between 1883 and 1912 the num ber o f crim inal cases brought to trial and o f witnesses examined in them rose from 4,588 and 16,973 to 11,494 and 36,270, respectively.
T he greatness o f the increase in work is by no means m erely in proportion to the above figures. T he spread o f ju te cultivation an d the increase in the price o f this an d of other crops added greatly to the w ealth of the population. T h e num ber o f pupils in P rim ary • Schools between 1873 and 1913 h ad risen from 4,800 to 77,576, an d o f pupils a t H igh and M iddle Schools from 3,952 to 30,514. T h e num bqf o f pleaders in the distrct in
1872 was 52; w hen we visited M ymensingh we were inform ed th a t at the headquarters there were nearly 300 pleaders and barristers. A t one
subdivision, K ishorganj, there were betw een 50 a n d 60 pleaders; and a t an outlying munsifi in the same subdivision there were some 20 m ore.
T he total strength of the Bar in the M ym ensingh district consists of 403 pleaders and barristers, w ith 384 m ukhtars and 96 revenue agents. All b u t a few of these expect to m ake a living by their profession; and we were informed th a t the villages are full o f touts who incite the people to litigation.
Given a population which has gained so m uch in w ealth an d intelligence;
add the great increase in facilities for litigation offered by Governm ent;
take into consideration also the ever-rising influence o f Bar on Bench;
and the com plication of crim inal work, a p a rt from any m ere increase in the n um ber o f cases, m ay perhaps be imagined.
Those m em bers of our C om m ittee from o th er Province who sat by the M agistrate in his court, or by the Collector a t his desk, noticed especially how m atters which in less advanced Provinces are settled by*
the exchange of a word or twfo, or by a few strokes of the pen, in Bengal necessitate long argum ent, careful reference to rules, an d a detailed order in writing.
T h e Com mittee have no wish to enter into any comparison of the working of the courts now an d forty years ago, from which, indeed, they are precluded by the term s of their reference. But we are bound to bring to notice the growing influence of the Bar in increasing the work of the courts. T his m atter was frequently m entioned by witnesses, especially by non-officials. O ne witness, indeed, thought th a t the policy of closer relations between officials and non-officials m ight be overdone, an d th a t the social influence of the Bar over D eputy M agistrates .was becom ing stronger, and contributed greatly to th e increasing reluctance o f the courts to dispose prom ptly of obviously weak pleas or cases. T h ere is a general consensus of opinion, which could, in one district a t any ra te , be supported by statistics, th at the length o f tim e taken in the disposal, of case-work has increased far m ore th an th e growth in the n u m b er or -complexity of cases would w arrant, and am ong the reasons assigned for this, is the fact th a t the Bar has gained influence at the cost of th e Bench.
N ot to overload this p a rt of our .R eport w ith statistics, we will quote no fu rth er figures, save those for civil litigation, which stood as un der : —
1873 . . •• •• 16,680
1883 . . . . • • 23,207
1912 . . •• . . 54,616
I t m ust of -course be rem em bered th a t in Bengal rent-suits are included in civil suits, bu t even m aking full allowance for this, the figures are very striking, and are a m easure o f -the increase, not merely in the civil work, bu t also in the wealth, intelligence, and economic activity of the district. Obviously a district where the people cannot
m anage th e ir own affairs w ithout filing 54,616 ciyil suits m ust need a m uch m ore elaborate adm inistrative m achine th an was the case when 16,680 suits used to suffice.
35. T h e m ore com plicated economic, fiscal, an d political relations th a t arise from increasing w ealth and civilization are accom panied in some countries by an increase in the efficiency o f the Increase of work various forms of m unicipal responsibility. But in m ost and responsibility p a r t s Qf India, where economic an d social developm ent without increase jjave jn some respects altogether o u trun the political
in supervising . .
staff evolution of the country, this has n o t yet been the. case;
and every forward step which th e people are helped to J^ake1 adds to th e responsibility of the controlling staff1. T he increase in"
'every b ra n ch o f the Collector’s work, which can b e clearly shown by Statistics, illustrates this principle. T h e work of the Iqss responsible posts in the district staff m ay be, w ithout m uch difficulty, expressed 'in num bers o f cases or letters, in terms of areas checked o r revenue collected; and . it has always been far easier to m ake o u t a pase for anp th er plerk or Sub-.
R egistrar, o r even for another M urjsif or D eputy M agistrate, th an to.
induce G overnm ent to create another subdivision, still m ore another district; and we find, therefore, th a t this heavy incje^se in. work, has been met, so far as the subordinate staff ar^. concerned, by a corresponding addition to their num bers. Since 1873 the Assistant -and J o in t M agistrates o f the M ym ensingh D istrict have been increased fi;om 2
to 6; the D eputy M agistrates from 5 to ,10, the Munsifs from l l to 25;
an d the Assistant S uperintendents bf Police from 2 ,to 5, including a n , A dditional S u perintendent an d 2 D eputy Superintendents. B ut an addition to the subordinate staff m ust inevitably entail a greater strain on the supervising agency. In some places the im provem ent o f com m unications m ay p alliate the difficulty; b u t there has been little help of this kind in E astern Bengal. V ery m uch th e same type o f Collector holds charge of a district like M ym ensingh now as 30 years ago; either the work then was absurdly light, or it m ust now be intolerably heavy.
T h e appointm ent o f an A dditional M agistrate does n o t affect the question a t issue, for, as we shall show in the following p aragraph , an A dditional M agistrate m ay take away some o f the work o f the C ollector,.
b u t cannot add to his pow er of control; the single officer to whom is entrusted the supervision o f the whole com plicated m achinery o f the district staff must obviously for some years past ha\»e had m uch m ore, w ork th an he can possibly accomplish. T here are certain things, such as the supervision of the courts, the disposal^ of cg.se-work, of current references and correspondence, the control o f existing . institutions,, th at, though by no means necessarily constituting the most im po rtant p a rt of
his work, yet m ake the most insistent dem and on his time. This class o f duties has assumed such proportions, th a t they leave the Collector Jjardly any leisure for other tasks, w ith the result th a t the latter, w hich are often of deeper necessity an d m ore essential to the true welfare an d advancem ent of the people, are left undone. We allude to such m atters as the supervision of education; personal intercourse w ith the people;
the collection and assimilation of detailed economic, social and political knowledge, and the elaboration o f schemes which require such knowledge.
T h e neglect of these is no t so readily ap p aren t or so easily discerned by an official inspection; b u t sooner or later some deep-seated evil is b ound to m ake its appearance in the adm inistrative organization from this weakening of its vital impulse. W e have dwelt m ore particu larly on the necessity for the relief o f the Collector, th e officer with whose functions our R ep o rt is principally concerned; b u t the pressure o f the work is alm ost as great in th e , case o f other officers. T he D istrict Ju d g e is seldom able to visit his outlying courts, and he has to rely on A dditional Ju d g e to deal w ith m any of the appeals th a t come from them ; th e Civil Surgeon rarely inspects a tithe of his outlying dispensaries; an d the-S uperintendent of Police has to delegate an undesirably large portion o f his autho rity to an A dditional S uperintendent, an expedient to which the obje'ctions taken in the case of A dditional D istrict M agistrates apply w ith equal force.
36. Several remedies other th an the p artitio n o f districts have been suggested. T h e first is a rem edy which has been actually tried in
M ymensingh, M idnapur, D acca, Bakarganj, an d T ippera, Alternative nam ely, the appointm ent of an A dditional District Pr°P“ a!s j M agistrate under section 10 (2) of th e Crim inal
District Procedure Code. These officers have also been invested Magistrate. w ith the powers of a Collector under various revenue enactm ents. W e have examined the w orking of this experim ent in all the districts nam ed above, an d we have come to the unanim ous conclusion th a t it is an em inently unsatisfactory so lu tio n nf the p roblem. T h e m ethod of distribution of work between the two officers varies greatly in different districts, bu t one o f two things always h appens:
either the A dditional M agistrate sinks to the level of an expensive Jo in t M agistrate; or there is a most deplorable division of au tho rity, division of knowledge, and division of adm inistrative grasp. T h e whole idea of
“ two Kings in B rentford” is foreign to the recognized scheme of Indian adm inistration, and we are satisfied th a t it surpasses the w it of m an to conduct this dual system in a satisfactory m anner. In fact it is the opinion of all who have seen the innet working of the experim ent th a t it has been a signal failure. I t has created adm inistrative confusion an d inefficiency,
Without in any way bringing the district officer into closer touch w ith the people.
37. A nother remedy which has been suggested is w h at is popularly known as the “ Separation of Ju d icial an d Executive.” In
the terms of reference this rem edy has been excluded Separation of from our consideration, and we need not discuss it further.
Judicial and W e m ay say, however, to avoid m isapprehension, th at we have not seen any scheme of this n atu re w hich would obviate the necessity for the p artitio n of the unwieldy districts of Bengal.
38. In C hapters V I and V II we have form ulated a scheme for a thorough reform o f the village system an d of local self-government. Some people seem to think th a t the introduction of these reforms Decentralization do aw ay w ith the need, for subdividing districts. We of Local Self- are, however, emphatically o f the opinion th at, far from Government doing aw ay" witlT~~this need! it will greatly intensify it. ~
W hen a district officer has im p o rtan t work to do in every village of his district, it is m ore than ever necessary th a t the district should be of reasonable size.
39. T he same argum ent applies to th e introduction o f a scheme for m aintaining the record-of-rights. W e have discussed this question
in C hapter V, and, although we do not recom m end the Land Record im m ediate introduction o f any such scheme, we are opinon Maintenance that, if a t a future date such a scheme be introduced, the System. size of the districts will not im probably require further
reduction.
40. Non-official In d ian witnesses have repeatedly suggested to us th a t one of the best means o f lightening heavy charges and of bringing
the executive officers into closer touch w ith the people District Advisory would be by the creation of “Advisory Councils for Dis- Councils. tric t Officers.” M ost of the witnesses readily adm itted
th a t such m atters as the detection o f crime, th e prosecution of criminals, the trial of offences, the adm inistration of the regular police and the village police, the hearing of appeals from subordinate M agistrates, an d the inspection and supervision of subordinate courts m ust be dealt w ith by the D istrict M egistrate alone; th a t such m atters as the collection of land revenue, the registration o f proprietors, the p artitio n of estates, the exem ption of estates from sale, the issue o f 'certificates under the Public Demands Recovery Act, the adm inistration o f the Stam p Act, th e m anagem ent of w ards’ estate^ an d the m anagem ent and resettlem ent of G overnm ent estates m ust be dealt w ith by the Collector alone; and, finally, th a t all m atters which are