espite some government announcements to the contrary, the lumberdari system in the Punjab has not been fully revived to deal with the problems faced by people at the grassroots level.

The lumberdar is a very important link between the collector, a representative of the state, and the village community to recover land revenue, cess or taxes of any kind and for related functions.

After coming into power in the Punjab in 2018, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)-led coalition government had pledged to restore the system to empower rural populations. In 2020, PTI Punjab leader Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry had urged the government to enforce lumberdari system in rural areas. “This legacy system remained successful for many decades. It will be no additional burden on the public kitty as the position of a lumberdar is voluntary.”

In 2021, the Punjab government promised to allot around 398,400 acres of land to lumberdars. The promise was made at a meeting of the Punjab Lumberdar Association with Agriculture Minister Syed Hussain Jahanian Gardezi at the Civil Secretariat.

However, none of the promises were fulfilled.

“The PTI government caused a heavy dent in the lumberdari system by curtailing its revenue collection powers. They restricted them to only dhalbash or theka abiyiana,” says Sardar Mujahid Ali Baloch, the Punjab Lumberdar Association Multan president.

“This sort of tax is levied per acre on cotton, cane, wheat and other crops. The PTI government took a rare decision and decided that Dhalbash Tax would be included in electricity bills. Later, the government realised its mistake after many villages were found to have no electricity connection. The neutrality of lumberdar was a key factor in the resolution of public affairs,” he adds.

The British Raj had introduced the lumberdari system in the subcontinent to monitor affairs at grassroots level and facilitate villagers in resolution of their day to day problems.

The British Raj and Land Settlement Record 1840-41 says that there was no concept of land ownership in ancient history. The peasants started cultivating available pieces of land to earn their livelihood. However, many occupants of the land abandoned the villages and migrated to other destinations soon after the 1783 famine. Small farmers in the area then became the occupants of abandoned land with the passage of time. They earned the status of proprietors of village estate and the Land Settlement Record 1840-41 declared them owners, Zaildars and lumberdars having the largest land holdings in the area. The British Raj also used them as ombudsman to settle local disputes in land record settlement in 1840-41.

After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the country continued running the system with a few amendments in Land Revenue Acts without changing the basic spirit of the system. Section 4 (28) of the West Pakistan Land Revenue Act, 1967 states: “Village officer: a person appointed under this Act whose duty is to collect, or to supervise the collection of, the revenue of an estate and include Kanungos, Patwaris, Service Centre Officials and Headmen (Lumberdars).”

Section 36 of the Act says, “The Board of Revenue may, with the previous approval of Government, make rules to regulate the appointments, duties, emoluments, punishments, suspension and removal of Village Officers.”

Rule 16 of the Act says that a sufficient number of headmen shall be appointed to every estate. This number when once fixed shall not be increased except by or under the order of the commissioner.

The headman of a village is called lumberdar. He is appointed by the executive district officer in a village. The lumberdar collects and supervises the collection of revenue of an estate. He is the representative of the people of an estate and a link between the government and the public. A village officer means any person appointed under this Act whose duty is to collect, or to supervise the collection of the revenue of an estate and includes Kaungos, Patwaris, Zabits, Kotars or Tapedar’s peons, Arbabs, Rais and Headman.

Talking to The News on Sunday, a Punjab Revenue Department official said the government was working to release funds for lumberdars and allotting them more than 39,000 acres of land. Another senior revenue official at the Multan Deputy Commissioner’s office said there are 38,700 lumberdars, including 2,800 women, in the province. Of them, 5,500 have been allotted state land.

Lumberdar Association Multan president Sardar Mujahid Ali Baloch, however, says that only 7,000-7,500 lumberdars had been allotted state lands across the province. He says at least 37,000 are awaiting allotment.

The law entitles each lumberdar to 12 acres of land in return for running the affairs round the year, he says. “The government should fulfil the promises made to the lumberdars in connection with allotment of 398,400 acres of land to landless lumberdars. The government should digitalise the whole lumberdari system records,” he says.

A senior official of the Punjab Revenue Department said that reactivation of the lumberdari system could help improve revenue collection through better liaison between rural population and the government. They could also help in collection of data about health facilities and epidemics, outbreak of diseases in villages or breaches in canals or drains.

The writer is bureau chief of The News in Multan. He can be reached at trisign69@yahoo.com