ABSTRACT
Cornwallis believed that the new sense of security which the measure would engender in the zemindars would lead them to spend money on improving their properties. Although the East India Company had claimed the right to sell defaulting zemindaris, hitherto it had seldom exercised it. The accounts for areas under the direct collection of the revenue authorities provided material for a rough-and-ready check on the zemindari accounts. Most of the lands of the empire were either held by revenue farmers or by zemindars, who during the decline of the imperial power had become almost hereditary. When the East India Company took over responsibility for collecting the land revenue in Bengal a revision of the assessment was clearly overdue, but no machinery for this purpose existed. The position was made even worse by the order of the Company discharging the Mofussil qanungos or district revenue officers, who were regarded as largely responsible for the corruption of the old system.
