Letter from the undersigned Sirdars, etc. of the Baroda Sate to Philip Sandys Melvill, Agent to the Governor-General of India, Baroda [‎22v] (12/18)

12
(a) A new officer has been appointed to decide all sucli matters regarding-
ns as were formerly cognizable only by the Hoozoor Sircar through
the medium of the Buxee.
{h) Those rights and privileges which our dependents and followers
have enjoyed under the old practice are discontinued.
(c) The custom of sending our guilty dependents and followers to
undergo their punishment under our superintendence is abolished.
(d) In some respects the principles of ordinary laws are made applicable
to us.
(e) Under the old practice, we and some of our subordinates have never
been compelled to appear in person in any court, and particularly
in a civil court. In criminal proceedings, too, the same rule was
observed, except in the most urgent cases, and a correspondence
between the Buxee and ourselves was all that took place. The
rules of the Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Court, however, appear to abolish this practice.
(/) The power of hearing appeals which, under the old practice, rested
only with the Hoozoor and the Senaputtee (Commander-in-Chief),
is now vested in the Veristha Court.
((/) A warrant whether of attachment or of imprisonment for debts has
never been executed against us (vide para. 97 of His Excellency's
Administration Report 1875-76). This practice is now abolished
by the new rules, which declare that such warrants can be issued
and executed at the discretion of the Hoozoor.
Lastly we beg to state that in almost all civilized Governments it is observed
that the legislative and executive powers are always exercised by different
persons. In this State, however, both functions are entrusted to the same
officers—an arrangenent which deprives the State of all those advantages which
are derived from the welhknown principle of' Division of Labour.'
] 5. The custom which has from the earliest times regulated our jurisdiction
in the inam villages is that all original suits, whether of a civil or of a criminal
nature, are preferred to and decided by us. Criminal cases of a grave nature,
such as dacoity, robbery, murder, are submitted through the Buxee to the
Hoozoor, and are decided by the latter. The same practice is observed regarding
all appeals against our decisions, whether in civil or in criminal cases.
This long-continued custom, which exists most probably in almost every
Native State, is, we learn, to be abolished by the present Ministry, who intend
to reduce our powers in question and to appoint new officers instead. We are
not aware of the exact motives which actuate the Ministry in taking this step.