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Govt. of Andhra Pradesh

OVERVIEW OF
“REVENUE DEPARTMENT”
HISTORY :-
CHIEF COMMISSIONERATE / TELANGANA BOARD OF REVENUE / THE BOARD
OF REVENUE IN ANDHRA PRADESH / COMMISSIONERS ACT 1977 / THE
PRESENT SET UP
HISTORY
The history of Land Administration dates back to the olden days of kings and
Kingdoms. The Land Revenue was the major source of revenue for the kings. The
present system of preparing and maintaining land records originated from the
Moghul period and it reached its scientific form during the British rule.

During the British times the Revenue Department was the pivot of Administration.
The Board of Revenue that wielded extraordinary powers administered it. The
Collector was the virtual monarch at the District.
MADRAS BOARD OF REVENUE
In Andhra area the Board of Revenue was established in Madras State
in1786 with the sanction of the Court of Directors of East India Company. The Board
subject to the control of Governor had to superintend the whole administration,
collect revenue and control subordinates. It marked the beginning of
departmentalizing the functions of Government.

The Revenue Regulation in 1803 de linked administration of Civil Justice from

Board. It gave statutory foundation to the Board and spelled out its main duties like
Collection of Revenue, recommending sources for augmenting the income of the
Government and punishing the subordinate.

In 1849 decentralization was introduced. The Board of Revenue Act 1883

dispensed with the Collective nature of the Board. Each member was assigned
some subjects and his orders were treated as those of the board. In 1894 the Board
received operational freedom when the condition that all the orders given by Board
need Government approval to be effective was dispensed. Senior members of ICS
were selected as members.

The Board seems to have received a setback from 1916 to 1926 when its
jurisdiction shrank. Separate Departments were constituted and certain sources of
Revenue were transferred to Center. However from 1937 it regained its importance.
Further in the wake of Independence it was asked to coordinate Food Production,
Community Development and National Extension Service.
ANDHRA BOARD OF REVENUE
With the formation of separate Andhra State the Andhra Board of Revenue
was formed in 1953. It was a replica of Madras board. But it has only 2 members
where as Madras Board has 5 members drawn from ICS. It was the link between
the Government and the Districts. The first member was senior even to the then
Chief Secretary to Government.
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TELANGANA BOARD OF REVENUE

The Prime Minister of Hyderabad, Sir Salar Jung, constituted a board of
revenue for the first time in 1864.In 1885 it was abolished and Inspector General at
State Level was appointed. In 1893, the assistant Minister of revenue, Vkar-ul-
Umra, was appointed as the Prime Minister and to fill this gap a Revenue Board
was created for the third time. It was abolished in 1901 and the post of Revenue
Secretary was revived. He was also designated as Director General of Revenue in
1928. Thus the Secretariat and executive functions were combined. This
arrangement continued till 1945 when the Board of Revenue was created for the
fourth time purely as an appellate body. Its life ended by 1949.Meanwhile
Hyderabad merged with the Union of India.

Then for the fifth time the board of Revenue in erstwhile State of Hyderabad was
established under a Regulation issued in 1949. (Regulation LX of 1358 Fasli). The
Hyderabad board as it existed in 1956 was by and large modeled on Madras
pattern. However it had four members who were Secretaries to Government
whereas in Madras they were seniors to Secretaries though next to Chief Secretary.
The Senior Member of the Telangana Board functioned also as the Development
Commissioner and was designated as ex officio Secretary to Government.
THE BOARD OF REVENUE IN ANDHRA PRADESH
The integrated Board of Andhra Pradesh, constituted on Madras pattern
enjoyed some of the powers of Hyderabad Board also. It administered through the
Board Standing Orders that form the basis of administration even till today. It
consisted of five members. In 1957 National savings Scheme was put under its
charge. It lost its control over minor irrigation in 1962 and Endowments in 1964.The
Panchayat Raj was withdrawn in 1970. But Tribal Welfare and PWD were added
under its control as a coordinating agency.

Gradually the Board lost its position as the highest Revenue Court. In some matters
Board Standing orders were altered by statutory amendments. Again Special
Secretaries to Government were created in1961 and Board lost its distinction as the
only administrative body with senior most officers though Chief Secretaries were
drawn from the Board Members.

In the Revenue Department, Commissioner of Revenue assisted the Board of

Revenue in its functioning. Secretary, Board’s Land revenue and irrigation Branch,
in turn assisted the Commissioner. At the District Level District Collectors, District
Revenue Officers performed the revenue and administrative functions. Revenue
Divisional Officers and Sub Collectors at the Sub-Divisional Level, Tahsildars and
Deputy Tahsildars at the Tahsil Level, Revenue Inspectors and Girdwars at the
Firka/ Circle Level, and Village Officers and Village Servants at the Village Level
assisted the Collector.
COMMISSIONERS ACT 1977
The Board of Revenue was abolished by the A .P. Board of Revenue
Replacement by Commissioners Act, 1977.As per this new Act Commissioners
were appointed in place of Members. The Commissioner of Land Revenue,
Commissioner of Survey and Settlement, commissioner of Excise, Commissioner of
Commercial Taxes and Commissioner Land Reforms and Urban Land Ceiling
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exercised the powers of Members.

THE PRESENT SET UP
In 1999 the posts of Commissioners, Survey Settlement & Land Records and
Land reforms & Urban land Ceiling were abolished. The post of Commissioner of
Land Revenue was re designated as Chief Commissioner of Land Administration.
Commissioner Appeals in a Cadre post of I.A.S and Commissioner Legal affairs in
the cadre of District and Sessions judge were also created to assist the Chief
Commissioner of Land administration.

ADMINISTRATIVE SETUP :-
CHIEF COMMISSIONERATE / COLLECTORATES / SUB DIVISIONAL
OFFICES / MANDAL REVENUE OFFICES / PANCHAYAT SECRETARIES
ADMINISTRATIVE SETUP
In the organization of Revenue Department the apex body of
administration is the head office of Chief Commissioner of Land
Administration at State Level. But the core administration is carried out at
Districts that have direct interface with public. For administrative convenience
the District is divided into Sub Divisions, which are further divided into
Mandals that have jurisdiction over a few villages. The present set up of
revenue administration consists of the following hierarchy of Officials.

 Chief Commissionerate at State Level

 Collectorates at District Level.
 Divisional Officers at Revenue Divisional Level.
 Tahsildars at Mandal Level.
 Village Revenue Officer at Village Level.

At the Mandal level the Mandal Development Officer (MDO) takes care of the
development activities.
CHIEF COMMISSIONERATE
Consequent on the abolition of the erstwhile Board of Revenue, the
functional Commissioners of Survey, Settlement & Land Records and
Commissioner of Land Reforms & Urban Land Ceiling were created.
Subsequently they were replaced. In their place, the post of Chief
Commissioner of Land Administration was created in GO MS No: 59
Revenue (DA) Dated 21.01.1999.

The Chief Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA) is the chief

controlling authority for the revenue administration consisting of Revenue,
Survey, Settlement & Land Records and Urban Land Ceiling Departments.
He exercises statutory functions and general superintendence over all his
subordinates. In the case of Survey, Settlement & Land Records and Urban
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Land Ceiling Departments he has a supervisory and statutory role. The

concerned Commissioner and the Special Officer deal the routine
administration respectively. He is the link between the Government and the
administration. He monitors and guides the District Collectors and advises the
Government in all the policy matters.

The post of Commissioner Appeals is created to share some of the

responsibilities of Chief Commissioner of Land Administration. Further one
judicial officer in the rank of Commissioner Legal Affairs has been newly
created to give his legal advice wherever necessary.

In carrying out the different functions 3 Principal Officers in I.A.S Cadre .ie
Secretary to CCLA, Joint Secretary to CCLA, AND Project Director (CMRO)
Project, assist the Chief Commissioner of land Administration. In the year
2003 another Officer in the cadre of IAS, designated as Special
Commissioner was appointed to assist the Chief Commissioner of Land
Administration. So the subjects are divided among these 4 Officers. Further 8
Assistant Secretaries in the Cadre of Special Grade Deputy Collectors/
Orinary Grade Deputy Collectors and 8 Additional Assistant Commissioners
drawn from Commissionerate services to assist them. The Assistant
Secretaries are in charge of different subjects as per their work distribution.
Each Assistant Secretary/ Additional Assistant Secretary looks after 3 to 5
sections. A Superintendent heads each section. 4 to 6 Assistants and a typist
assist him.
COLLECTORATES
The Collectorates play a pivotal role in the District administration.
There are 23 Collectorates in the State. A Collector in the Cadre of I.A.S
heads the District. He acts as the District Magistrate for maintaining Law and
Order in his jurisdiction. He deals mainly with planning and development, law
and order, scheduled areas/agency areas, general elections, arms licensing
etc.

The Joint Collector who also belongs to the I.A.S Cadre runs the Revenue
administration under various enactments in the District. He is also designated
as Additional District Magistrate. He mainly deals with civil supplies, land
matters, mines and minerals, village officers etc.

The District Revenue Officer (DRO) in the Cadre of Special Grade Deputy
Collectors assists the Collector and Joint Collector in discharging their duties.
The District Revenue Officer looks after all the branches of the Collectorate.
He deals mainly with general administration and is vested with supervision of
day-to-day functions of the Collectorate.
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The administrative Officer in the rank of a Tahsildar is the general assistant to

the Collector. He directly supervises all the sections in the Collectorate and
most of the files are routed through him.

The Collectorate is divided into 8 sections as per the administrative reforms

taken up by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. An alphabet letter is given
to each section for easy reference.

 Section A: Deals with Establishment and Office Procedures.

 Section B: Deals with Accounts and audit.
 Section C: Deals with Magisterial (Court/Legal) matters.
 Section D: Deals with Land Revenue and relief.
 Section E: Deals with Land Administration.
 Section F: Deals with Land Reforms.
 Section G: Deals with Land Acquisition.
 Section H: Deals with Protocol, Elections and Residuary work.

SUB DIVISIONAL OFFICES

Each District is divided into Sub divisions for administrative
convenience. A Sub division is headed by a Revenue Divisional Officer in the
rank of a Deputy Collector or a Sub – Collector in Cadre of IAS. He is the Sub
Divisional Magistrate having jurisdiction over his division. An administrative
Officer in the Cadre of a Tahsildar assists in administration. The Sub
divisional Offices are a replica of Collectorate in the matter of number of
sections and they act as intermediary in the administrative setup. There
are 91 divisions in Andhra Pradesh. Each division consists of a few Mandals
whose performance is constantly monitored by the concerned Divisional
Office.

TAHSILDAR OFFICES:
There are 1128 Mandals in the state, each Mandal having population
ranging from 35,000 to 50,000 people. The Mandals have been formed in
Andhra Pradesh to bring administration to the doorsteps of Citizens and
make all the public services easily available to them. Earlier the Taluks had
huge jurisdiction and were divided into Firkas. This 5 tier district
administrative system was unviable for delivering speedy Citizen Services.
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So against 305 Taluks and 1084 Firkas, 1106 Mandals were formed in 1985.
Subsequently 20 more Mandals were added at different intervals of time. So
at present we have a 4 tier district administrative set up with the Mandal
playing an important role in administration at the grass root level.

A gazetted Tahsildar heads the Mandals. The Tahsildar is vested with the
same powers and functions of Tahsildars of erstwhile Taluks including
magisterial powers. Tahsildar heads the Tahsildar office. Tahsildar provides
the interface between the government and public within his jurisdiction. He
initiates welfare measures within his jurisdiction. The Tahsildar assists the
higher authorities in collecting information and conducting inquiries. He
provides feedback to the district administration that helps in decision-making
at higher levels of administration.

The Deputy Tahsildar/ Superintendent, Mandal Revenue Inspector,

Superintendent, Mandal Surveyor, Assistant Statistical Officer and Other
Ministerial Staff.

The Deputy Tahsildar/ Superintendent supervises the day today functions of

Tahsildar’s office and deals mainly with general administration. Most of the
files are routed through him. He monitors all the sections in the Tahsildar’s
office.

The (Mandal Revenue Inspector) MRI assists the Tahsildar in conducting

inquiries and inspections. He supervises the Village Secretaries. He inspects
crop fields (Azmoish), writes Sharas (field inspection details) in Pahani,
collects land revenue, non-agricultural land assessment and other dues and
keeps close watch on the villages within his jurisdiction to maintain law and
order,

The Assistant Statistical Officer (ASO), who is under the overall control of
Chief Planning Officer at the District and Directorate of Economics and
Statistics at the State Level, maintains data related to rainfall, crops and
population. He conducts crop estimate tests. He inspects crops to submit
crop condition details. He prepares periodical reports on births and deaths
and assists the Tahsildar in conduct of livestock census, population census
and other surveys taken up by the government from time to time. Tahsildar
sends reports on above items to the District collector. Later these are sent to
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the department of economics and statistics and planning department at

government level.

The Mandal Surveyor, who belongs to the Survey Settlement and Land
Records Department, assists the Tahsildar in survey operations. Chain Man
assists Mandal Surveyor in his duties.

As per the administrative reforms the various sections in the Tahsildar Office
are:

 Section A: Office procedure and financial activities,

 Section B: Land Related activities,
 Section C: Civil Supplies, Pension Schemes etc.
 Section D: Establishment, Natural Calamities,
 Section E: Issue of Caste, income, nativity etc; certificates.

VILLAGE REVENUE OFFICER

Earlier Patwaries/ Karanams ran the Village Level administration up to
1981 and later Village administrative Officers who was a part time functionary
looked after revenue functions. He was responsible to revenue hierarchy. But
in 2001 as a part of strengthening Local bodies Panchayat Secretaries were
created combining the revenue and Panchayat functions. There are
21943 Panchayats in Andhra Pradesh. They are under the administrative
control of Gram Panchayats but are also responsible to Revenue Department
for revenue functions. Kamadars or Village Revenue Assistants assists the
Village Revenue Officers. The number of Village Revenue Assistants varies
depending upon the area, population and irrigation sources of the village. The
entire village is divided among the Village Revenue Assistants for convenient
administration. Village Revenue Assistants provide complete information
about their areas in all aspects.

ORGANOGRAM :-
REVENUE DEPT / CCLA OFFICE / COLLECTOR'S OFFICE / RDO'S
OFFICE / TAHSILDAR OFFICE

REVENUE DEPARTMENT
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CCLA OFFICE
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COLLECTOR'S OFFICE

RDO'S OFFICE
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TAHSILDAR OFFICE
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REVENUE DEPARTMENT FUNCTIONS :-

Other Functions of Revenue Department
REVENUE DEPARTMENT FUNCTIONS
1. Maintenance of Land Records Pertaining to land in the State. Survey number-wise crops
cultivated, sources of Irrigation ownership due to sale of land, hereditary transfer,
following the due procedures envisaged in the ROR Act.
2. Issue of Pattedar Pass Books and Title-deeds, Under the Records of Rights Act 1971
(amended in 1980, 89 and 1993) to the occupants also who are in occupation as a tenant,
lessee, mortgager of the lands to facilitate them to seek loans on the land from banks.
3. Assignment of Land for Agriculture and House Sites: Government land both for Agriculture
and for House sites purposes to various categories of people like Landless Poor, Political
Sufferers, Land Oustees, Ex-Servicemen, Government Servants, etc.,
4. Alienation and Acquisition of Government land / Private Land for bonafide public purposes
to a person, institution or local body either free of cost or on payment of market value, For
public purposes like construction of Project, Factory, and Government Institution etc.,
5. Protection of Government Land: From any encroachments, grabbing etc. to safeguard the
interests of the Government.
6. Under Inam Abolition Act, 1956 : This Act conducts enquiry and grants Ryotwari patta for
eligible cases.
7. Under A. P. Land Reforms Act (COAH), 1973: Determines surplus agricultural land and
takes possession of the land declared surplus and distributes the land to landless
agricultural laborers.
8. Maintenance of Birth and Death Registers in the rural areas by Village Revenue Officers.
9. Maintenance of Database & extending Citizen Services: By issue of various certificates
namely Caste, Income, Residential, Integrated Caste-Nativity-Date of Birth, Income, Non-
earning member, Possession, Patta, Extract of Pahani and PPB/TD etc.,
10. Water Tax: Demand and collection as per the provisions of the A. P. Water Tax act
13/1997 on all agricultural lands notified under category I and category II sources of
irrigation for every cropping season.
11. Levy of NALA and One time Conversion and Collection.
12. Under Revenue Recovery Act: Recovering arrears of revenue namely by Distraint and
sale of immovable property, attachment and sale of immovable property, and arrest and
detention of the defaulter.
13. Relief and Rehabilitation in case of Natural Calamities: Like Floods, Cyclone, Hail Storm,
Earth-quake etc and when a large number of people are affected, Organize relief camps
and supply of food, water, Medicines, Clothing, Utensils, cash, etc. to the victims and
construction of houses.
14. Public Distribution System of Essential commodities like Rice, Wheat, Sugar, Edible oil
under the Public Distribution System (PDS) to all Card holders. Appointing Fair Price
Shop dealers in the State by Revenue Divisional Officer.
15. Maintenance of Law and Order: Through various sections of Criminal Procedure Code are
invoked in case of any breach or apprehension of breach of law and order by Collector,
Revenue Divisional Officer and Tahsildar.
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OTHER FUNCTIONS OF REVENUE DEPARTMENT

1. Elections: The District Collector conducts various elections like Parliament,

Assembly, Local Bodies, and Water User Associations etc. Publication of Electoral
rolls, calling up of claims and objections, conducting enquiry, and issue of Photo
Identity cards to all Voters online.
2. Social Security activities: Identifying the beneficiaries under Widow Pension
Scheme, OAP.,and Handicap together with National Family Benefit Scheme and
also processes the cases for sanction of relief under Apadbandu Scheme where
the primary breadwinner has met with an accidental death.
3. Miscellaneous Activities: The Officials of the Revenue Department discharges
various miscellaneous activities like attending Protocol duties in case of visits of
VVIPs, supervision of conduct of various exams, eradication of child labour,
eradication of Untouchability, adult literacy programme et

Thank you,

Shaik Ismail
B.Sc., B.Ed., MA, LLB.,
Deputy Collector (Rtd)
Guntur – 522 007
Cell – 9949876608