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'Baroda Enquiry Commission Report, 1874' [170r] (344/502)
The record is made up of 1 volume (249 folios). It was created in 1 Nov 1873-14 Feb 1874. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
13
Also that in May 1873 oneKarkun Daji Shridar, tortured the witness and
10 01 . i5 others, till they paid the gadi nazarana.
Witness No. 2 cites case of Bhavandas, of Brahmangam, also the Sojitra
also case of Chhagabhai, Patel of Changa, tortured at Baroda; 25 Kanbis
deserted the village.
Witness No. 3 confirms foregoing.
Witness No. 4 cites the case of a Koli named Kasra; ten Kolis deserted
the place.
Witness No. 5 cites the case of the same Karkun, Daji Shridhar, as above,
i 0 tortured 40 or 50 men, all of whom, if alive, would be forthcoming, and
so on in every instance, specific cases are cited which could easily have been
verified by the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
had they chosen to take the trouble to do so,—thus the
excuse that they do not know the names, and that the torture was not syste
matic, moreover, that the whole account is exaggerated, if not totally false,
is disproved, not only by the 26 representative witnesses in this case, but by
the collateral evidence of the Patau and Visnagar torture cases, Seiad Sadak
Ali's case which show that not only in the Revenue but in the Police and
Judicial Departments also torture is practised in a systematic manner to
extort revenue agreements, collect revenue, extort money, confessions, raji-
namas, and acquittances of every kind ; in short, there is scarcely a cas e or a
transaction even amongst those which have been brought before the Com
mission, in which the system is not enforced in some shape or other.
Had the details of the revenue administration been gone into, the reasons
for employing torture would become apparent, inasmuch as what with the ex
cessive assessment, numerous cesses, unauthorised levies by Vahivatdars, and
others, desertion of homes, nazarana, short measurement of land, encroach
ment on giras lands and haks, forced labour, the agncu tuia
classes are thoroughly pauperised, and their condition about as hopeless an
one as it can well be.
With regard to the Circular of February 1873 which the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
in their
reply call a general one it is not so, it having been addressed to t e et ac
Vahivatdars alone, who have evidently taken good care to keep it to lem-
selves. Moreover, it will be seen by the evidence of several witnesses, la ie y
were turned away by the Maharaja himself, when they came to comp am a ou
the oppression committed in connection with the levy of gadi nazaiana an
other cesses ; e. sr., witness No. 7, who is the chief nian of e vi age o
Ardi, in Petlad, with three other Matadars, went to the Vahivatdar to complain
and were confined by him in a privy till they promised to pay 300
rupees
Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
, i hey
also failed to obtain redress from the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
for this instance of oppression,
which, I have reason to know, is by no means uncommon m the Gaekwar Mate.
There is also the instance of witness No. 25, who in March last, immediately
after the date of this Circular, was removed from the Maharaja s presence un-
heard, although he went to complain against the oppression of the Vahivatdar.
In fact, the system of farming out Vahivatdarships ancl other offices,
judicial and executive, initiated, by the present administration.t g
with the prevalence of bribery and corruption, fostered the jery aWs
which the Circular was supposed to suppress, and thus^it will continue to
in this unfortunate State so long as the present administration
power.
, , With regard to the Bhats of Patan, even if they did
lation, as stated by the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
, which is not boine outby 5 m t i,„
^whatever, they were driven to it by the treatment ley re ^ eive ,
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
officials. This, however, and the Sojitra case, are matters of history,
the real facts of which cannot be controverted, and can be swoio to y
hundreds of people,
n—3 a
About this item
- Content
Report of the Baroda Enquiry Commission on the administration of the government of Malharrao, Gaekwar of Baroda. The Commission comprised Richard John Meade (President), Edward William Ravenscroft, Mumtazul Dowlah Nawab An honorific title; an official acting as a provincial deputy ruler in South Asia; or a significant Muslim landowner in nineteenth century India. Faiz Ali Khan, Colonel Alfred Thomas Etheridge and Thomas Duncan Mackenzie (Secretary).
The report comprises a letter from the members of the Baroda Enquiry Commission to the Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department presenting their report on the results of the proceedings and submitting copies of correspondence, reports and statements relative to the enquiry (ff 5-19):
Appendix A, Part I
- Schedules I-III: Complaints and grievances against the Gaekwar's Government from individuals and groups (ff 21-78).
- Appendix B, Schedules I-III: Cases of complaint and grievance which the commission did not look into during the enquiry (ff 79-81).
- Appendix C: Letter from Colonel Richard John Meade, President, Special Commission of Enquiry on Baroda Affairs, to Colonel Robert Phayre, Resident at Baroda, 1 November 1873 (ff 82-83).
- Appendix D: Translation of an amended notice issued by the Resident to complainants desirous of appearing before the Baroda Enquiry Commission (ff 84-85).
- Appendix E: Schedules presented to the Commission along with Colonel Phayre's introductory statement regarding them. (ff 86-131).
- Appendix F: Letter No. 1128 of 1873 from Colonel Phayre to the President, Baroda Commission regarding the cases already submitted to the Commission, the List of undisposed petitions to be attended to by the Resident which could be used as additional cases if required and the statements that he had yet to make on cases under enquiry by the Commission (ff 132-133).
- Appendix G, Schedule I: Statements from witnesses with cross examination statements from the Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). on behalf of the Gaekwar and statements from the Resident as to the accuracy of the information provided (ff 134-229).
Appendix Part II (ff 231-245)
- Letter from James Braithwaite Peile, Acting Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Kattywar [Kathiawar] to T D Mackenzie, Secretary, Baroda Commission, 13 December 1873 regarding papers requested by the Commission and informing them that the outstanding paper will be forwarded as soon as they are received. Enclosed with the letter are a memorandum from Peile for reconstitution of His Highness the Gaekwar's Contingent in Kattywar, 13 December 1873 and Rule for the guidance of the Officers and Kamdars appointed to the Contingent of Horse of His Highness the Gaekwar, serving in the various Tributary Mahals according to treaty.
- Letter from Peile to Mackenzie, 6 January 1874, forwarding a report and returns received from Colonel Walker, Superintendent to the Gaekwar's Contingent in Kattywar and stating that he does not concur with the Colonel's opinion. Enclosed with this letter is a letter from Colonel Chamberlen William Walker, 30 December 1873, providing the information on the Contingent requested by the Commission and enclosing an extract of the Contingents annual report for 1871 and a statement of the men within the Contingent on duty under officials paid by Talukdars etc, 06 March 1872.
- Letters from John Whaley Watson, Acting Political Superintendent Pahlanpur [Palanpur], Captain Henry Nicholas Reeves, Acting Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. Rewa Kanta [Rewa Kantha] and Major Philip Harrison Le Geyt, Acting Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Mahi Kanta [Mahi Kantha] to the secretary of the Baroda Commission 19 December 1873 to 9 January 1874 reporting on the Gaekwar's contingents serving within their districts and commenting on numbers of men, pay and conditions. The letters all refer to enclosed returns, but only the return for Mahi Kanta is included in the report.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (249 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the main sequence of foliation consists of a small pencil number in the top front right hand corner of each folio enclosed in a circle.
There is also an original sequence of foliation which consists of larger pencil numbers also in the top front right hand corner of folios, however the sequence is not consistent and some of the numbers may be filing references rather than foliation numbers.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F126/78
- Title
- 'Baroda Enquiry Commission Report, 1874'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:248v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence