GUWAHATI, July 11 � The Mouzadars of the State are deprived of their due status. The Assam Land Revenue Regulation Act, 1886 has recognized the Mouzadars as revenue officers. The Supreme Court of India also observed, in connection with a case, that the Mouzadars of Assam Valley are �holders of Civil Posts� under the State and are entitled to protection under Article 311(2) of the Constitution of India, said the Sadou Assam Mouzadar Sanmilani.
In a statement here, the Sanmilani said though the Mouzadars are to get all the facilities entitled to the holders of the civil posts, in fact they are made to live on the negligible portions of the commissions they earn, after paying their employees.
Significantly, 90 per cent of the Mouzas of the State could earn between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh in a year as land revenue. A Mouzadar, whose Mouza can earn Rs 2 lakh in a year is entitled to 35 per cent commission only after collecting the entire amount of the assigned land revenue. Thus his annual income stands at Rs 70,000. Similarly, a Mouzadar, whose Mouza can earn Rs 3 lakh in a year, can earn a commission of Rs 1,05,000 if he could collect the entire allocated revenue of his Mouza annually.
Thus the monthly income of a Mouzadar stands between Rs 6,000 and Rs 8,750. With this income he is to support two Maharis and a Tekela. The situation has reached such a state that several of the Mouzadars have to die without proper medical treatment of their ailments.
It is important to note here that in general the annual land revenue against per bigha of land in Assam is Rs 5. Therefore, a land owner is to pay Rs 1 as land revenue in a year against a katha of land. However, the situation in Guwahati and its adjacent areas is quite different.
A land owner in Guwahati is to pay between Rs 94 (minimum) and Rs 10,000 (maximum) as annual land revenue for a bigha of land under his possession.
The meagre amount of land revenue has an adverse impact on the attitude of the State�s farmers. It has made them less enthusiastic in properly using their farmlands. This has made the State�s agriculture sector suffer a lot, said the Sanmilani.
The Sanmilani has also pleaded for use of Assamese years and dates in the Mouzadari system and a thorough survey of the State�s land to determine their categories afresh. This is sure to increase the land revenue income of the Government, it asserted.
