LAND SETTLEMENTS IN COLONIAL ODISHA (1805 C.E. - 1837 C.E.)

The British conquest of Odisha in 1803 C.E. presented a melancholy evenht in te annals of
Odisha. Soon after their conquest the administrators paid immediate attention to the problem of
land system and revenue collection as the prosperity of the British rule depended on it, because
land revenue was the main stay of their financial system.
The Government passed some temporary regulations for the administration of Odisha on
4th May, 1804. By those regulations, the territories were divided into two divisions, the northern
and southern with the river Mahanadi as the boundary between the two. For each division a Judge-
Cum-Magistrate was appointed with entrusting duties of collecting the land revenue. Rober Ker
and Charles Groeme were in charge of the northern and southern divisions respectively.1 On
September 15, 1804, a proclamation was issued by the Commissioners at Cuttack concerning the
settlement of the land revenue in the Mughalbandi portion of Odisha. By regulation 12 of 1805
the British imposed the first land revenue settlement in Odisha on an elaborate scale. A yearly
Jama of Rs.13, 14,825 was fixed on the province.2 The financial burden on the land holders
became heavier in comparison to the collection of Jama by the Marathas. As a result of this more
than one-third of the province came under the direct management of the British Administration
when land owners refused to pay land revenue. This land came to be known as Khasmahal. 3 These
Khasmahals were kept under the management of Tahasildars to be supervised by Collectors.4