Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, a tehsildar, talukdar, or mamlatdar is a land revenue officer accompanied by revenue inspectors. They are in charge of obtaining taxes from a

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...

with regard to land revenue. A tehsildar is also known as an executive magistrate of the relevant tehsil. The immediate subordinate of a tehsildar is known as a ''naib tehsildar''.

Etymology

The term is assumed to be of

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

origin and is perhaps a union of the words "tehsil" and "dar". "Tehsil" is presumably an

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

word meaning "revenue collection", and "dar" is a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

word meaning "holder of a position". Mamlatdar is a synonymous term used in some Indian states that comes from the Hindi word ''māmala'' (मामला), which is derived from the Arabic ''muʿāmala'' (مُعَامَلَة‎ – "conduct, dealing, handling").

India

British rule

During

British rule The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or dire ...

, a tehsildar was most likely a

stipendiary A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work pe ...

officer of the government, employed to raise revenue. The position was called mamlatdar in

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

and some parts of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. It was subsequently used by Pakistan and India following their independence from the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

. Tehsildar is also known as Talukdar in some states of

. In Assam, Bengal, and parts of Jharkhand, a tehsildar is known as a

Mouzadar The term Mouzadar refers to a person who takes tax of a mouza (revenue collection unit). Historically, they were influential hereditary aristocratic nobility figures in Assam's socio-political landscape during the feudal era during the Kamarupa Kin ...

Independence

Tehsildar are Class 1 gazetted officers in most states of India. In Uttar Pradesh, tehsildar are given powers of assistant collector Grade I. They also are given judicial power. They implement the various policies of the

taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...

and are subject to the

district collector The district magistrate, also known as the district collector or deputy commissioner, is a career civil servant who serves as the executive head of a district's administration in India. The specific name depends on the state or union territo ...

. Officers holding the post of tehsildar preside over matters related to land, tax, and revenue. Tehsildar were first appointed as Naib Tehsildars after successful completion of a State Service Exam (i.e. UP-PSC in Uttar Pradesh, HP-PSC in Himachal Pradesh, RPSC in Rajasthan, MP-PSC in Madhya Pradesh, BPSC in Bihar, AP-PSC in Andhra Pradesh, TSPSC in Telangana, or other equivalent exams in other states of India), or promoted from a subordinate post like Kanoongo (also known as Revenue Inspectors). In Uttar Pradesh, tehsildar are promoted from Naib Tehsildar. Later on, they get promoted to the post of

sub-divisional magistrate A sub-divisional magistrate, also known as assistant collector, sub collector, revenue divisional officer, or assistant commissioner, is the administrative head of a sub-division in an Indian district, exercising executive, revenue, and magist ...

. In Goa, the mamlatdar heads the

revenue office. While each taluka has a mamlatdar, there are also several joint mamlatdars and the work is distributed among them. Each state is divided into districts. The district's senior civil servant is the district collector/district magistrate, who is an officer from the IAS cadre. These districts are further subdivided into

revenue subdivisions A sub-division is an administrative division of a district in India. In some states (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala) they are called Revenue Divisions. It is headed by a sub-divisional magistrate (also known as assistant collector ...

or prants (West India). Each subdivision is under the charge of an officer designated as a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), or deputy collector, who is a member of the State Civil Service cadre. In the revenue department, the deputy collector reports to the district revenue officer (DRO), who is also called the additional district magistrate (ADM Revenue) and is the person in charge of the revenue department for the district. The DRO in turn reports to the district collector (also called district magistrate, or DM), who is in charge of overall management of the district across all departments. Deputy collectors are hired through State Service Selection Commissions, whereas DROs and district collectors are usually Centre Civil Services employees appointed to the state cadre.

References

{{reflist Tax collectors Taxation in Pakistan * Taxation in India Titles in Bangladesh Titles in Pakistan Titles in India