"تقرير عن إدارة رئاسة بومباي لسنة ١٨٨٢-١٨٨٣." [ظ‎‎٧‎٣] (٤٩٨/١٥٥)

92
BOMBAY ADMINISTRATION REPORT.
[1882-83.
Chap. I.
POLITICAL.
Tributary
States.
Kathiawar.
Internal warfare and resistance to the Supreme Power were both ended in 1807-8 by th
settlements effected by Colonel AValker. The Chiefs were thenceforward bound to pay the/
tribute regularly, to respect each other’s possessions, and to make the highways safe within thef
own limits. But no definite measures were pressed on them for the due performance of th*
latter duty, nor were sufficient or effective remedies provided for civil wrongs. There was ^
infinite number of unsettled claims and rights to property, jurisdiction, rank and independenc 1
in dispute among those who possessed and those who had possessed political power, which the
British Agency when first established in 1822 did not attempt to treat in a way to ensure
finality. The British Agent generally confined himself to mediation, and irreversible decrees
were seldom issued. In i860 the Agent reported that the country seemed to have stood still
since 1808, and that nothing conclusive had been done with a mass of civil business, of which
part might properly be settled by diplomatic means, while the rest might best be dealt with
under ordinary civil procedure.
Before 1863, except for the Criminal Court of the Political Agent established in 1831 to
aid the Darbars in the trial of great crimes, the whole interference of the Political Agent with
the judicial administration of the territories under the several Chiefs -was exercised diplomatic
ally, no magisterial action being ever taken. The criminal jurisdiction of the first and second
class Chiefs only was defined.
Since 1863 the country has undergone a great change. The jurisdiction of all the
Chiefs was then classified and defined. That of Chiefs of the first and second classes, ciyil
and criminal, is plenary; that of the lesser Chiefs graded in diminishing scale. The
residuary jurisdiction is exercised by the four Political Assistants, each resident in his
division, who have the civil powers of District Judges and the criminal powers of Dis
trict Magistrates. They commit to the sessions of the Political Agent’s Court of criminal
justice. Civil and criminal appeals lie from the Political Assistants to the Political Agent
Each Political Assistant in charge of a prant has a subordinate Assistant, who resides at
the head-quarters of the prant, and has civil and criminal powers up to a fixed limit; and
in each prant there are a certain number of sub-divisional thanadars, each invested with lower
civil and criminal powers over a knot of villages contiguous to his thana. It is a note
worthy fact that of 187 territorial divisions, large and small, into which Kathiawar is now
divided, 134 separate talukas are administered under the thanas. Interspersed among the
larger principalities are clusters of small properties so sub-divided and attenuated that
the owners are no longer fit to hold civil or criminal jurisdiction, and are often glad to sur
render it. These petty proprietors are described as miserably poor and ignorant, and steeped
in debt, they do not possess even the semblance of authority, and have not the means to undertake
any works of improvement. The thanadar undertakes the civil and criminal business up to
his powers and the general administration, but not, it is to be noted, any responsibility for
police. It is clear that the area directly administered is destined to increase; for wherever a
“ Gradi”, and therewith the strict right of primogeniture, is not maintained, wherever the estate
is sub-divided anew among each successive generation, the landholders must in time subside to
the level of ordinary subjects. On the other hand, as the principalities, which are impartible,
comprise upwards of 15,000 square miles out of 20,000, the Agency can never be called upon to
administer more than one-fourth part of the total area of the province.
At the base of the political scale are the territorial circles administered under the thanas.
It has already been said that the thanadar is a Civil Judge and Magistrate of small powers,
who administers justice and ordinary affairs for a group of small and generally poor talukas.
20 thanas have been established at different stations in the province; and the administra
tion of the officers in charge, supported and controlled as it is by the superior Political Officers,
secures a well-ordered peace in place of lawless anarchy, and is a benefit and security to the
country.
The Kathiawar Chiefs exercise a jurisdiction graded according to their territorial impor
tance, from the plenary jurisdiction of the first class Chief to the petty magisterial power of
a talukdar of the seventh class. The jurisdiction of the'Agency Officers is complementary of
that of the Chiefs.
The law administered by the Darbari Courts is the customary law of the province, the
Hindu and Muhammadan religious laws as modified by local or tribal usage. The procedure
tends to become like that of the Agency Courts. The large states have procedure codes and
penal codes based upon those used in British India. In cases falling within the proper juris
diction of a Darbar, the Agency does not interfere as a Court having jurisdiction, but only in a
diplomatic or executive manner, where there may be good reason. A special class of cases, viz.,
complaints of mulgirasias and bhayads against Chiefs, are to be heard under certain rules by
the Rajasthanik Court, of which the President is a British Officer. The law administered in the
Agency Courts is comprised in two local codes based on the British-Indian codes, such Acts of
Parliament or of the Grovernment of India as are applicable, local rules issued by the Political
Agent, treaties and engagements, and custom or usage of country, tribe or family. The
criminal jurisdiction, original and residuary, is based on the same scheme as the civil,—the
Political or Special Assistant being invested with powers like those of a District Magistrate.
The Penal Code in its spirit is the substantive criminal law, and, being explicit, it works well.
It is a curious fact that for many years the only jurisdiction of the Agency was that of a
Sessions Court for trial of great crimes, in which the Agent sat with the Chiefs or with their
representatives as President. There was no development of magisterial jurisdiction in the