The History and Mystery of Poramboke Resolved .....

The History and Mystery of Poramboke Resolved .....

The Formation of Private Property and Subsequent Changes after British Conquest:

            The early English administrators proceeded upon the assumption that the soil belonged to the sovereign. This made them believe that India should also have a similar system of property formation as European Feudalism where the King is the owner of all land of the Country and the subject can only have an interest upon the land. However, this stand did not help the British to seek revenue from the land. By the situation that prevailed at that time, the British opted for privatization of all land. However, by the despatch of Lord Wellesley, it was conveyed to the English masters that it was not desirable for the Government to be the custodian of the land and collect taxes from the immediate cultivators of the soil. At this point, the Government took a major step as to declare that all waste land/unappropriated land (Even Sir Thomas Munroe endorsed this view later), other than private control become state possession and the proprietor of the soil of cultivable land on the Zamindars (in the case of Zamindari Settlement) or by the cultivator himself (in the case of Ryotwari System) by way of Permanent Settlement in Bengal. Thus there were three distinct classification of Land in India called the (1) Agricultural (sounding to be Private), (2) and the Non- Agricultural which meant both the Waste land and the Common Property land vested with the State.

India has only three types of properties such as (1) Agricultural (2) Non-Agricultural and (3) Common properties. By social practice, we see a set of new unrecorded conventions and power structures with reference to Private Properties. However, Private property was never documented in ancient Indian literatures. It is also pertinent to point out that the Indian Land Administration derives its genesis from “Land Revenue Administration”, where every land record created aimed at tapping the revenue to the state.

The king generously donated agricultural land for temples so that the agricultural revenue from that land may be used for running the temple. The later legal system that was developed with the fusion of English Property system and Mughal system of Administration. The ‘gifts’ to individuals by the Muslim rulers called “Jagirs”, “Inams” etc and the grants made by the earlier Indian rulers as Brammadeyam and Dharamadheyam land paved way for the notion of private property system. The British , when they were conducting periodic land Revenue Settlement (every in thirty years), duly recognized the inheritance of property by temples and land lords that they inherited by way of gifts from the ancient kings supported by copper plate ( Seppedu or Seppu Pattayam) or any material evidence.  Invariably, all individual property ownership is associated with a term called “Patta”. In the case of waste lands or the unappropriated land the British termed as “Poramboke”.

The History of Poramboke

The whole area of a Tamil village dating to ancient Chola period and thereafter were divided into four classification :(1) Warapat, (2) Tirwapat, (3) Tarisu, (4) Poramboke.

Cultivable Land : Warapet and Tirwapet

            The first two namely Warapet and Tirwapet were under the control of private persons and are cultivable land.  Warapet generally were wetlands (‘Nanjai’, that yielded more produce and produce were paid as tax and the Tirwapet ( tirwai means tax assessment), the dry land in which only a fixed amount of money was levied because they belonged to the Dry category of the land or “Punjai”, without assured water supply from the state as in the case of Warapet.

            During the time of introduction of Ryotwari system, it was easy for the British to club the two as patta classification of land and levied tax as money for both Warapet and Tirwapet.

Uncultivated Land: Sheykal Karambu (Somewhat cultivable) and Poramboke (completely cultivable)

Tarisu are waste or uncultivated lands which are divided into two classes, sheykal karambu, (cultivable waste, yet no fixed owners ) and Anadi karambu, (immemorial waste, that is they have been never cultivated).

Poramboke

Poramboke are land incapable of cultivation or set apart for public or communal purposes. They are of various kinds of classification of Poramboke land according to the purposes for which they have been designated. In common parlance any land that does not yield revenue is known as Poramboke. But it is liable to revenue, but the right to levy assessment on it is given up by government for certain reasons (in the case of Ponmudi Nagar, the inhabitation became the cause of levy of B-Memo with an annual assessment).

The three main Classification of Land under Ryotwari System that exist today

Under the ryotwari system waste are classified into (a) assessed, (b) unassessed and (c) poramboke. Assessed waste are cultivated lands which have been left uncultivated, lands relinquished by ryots, and lands bought in by government in revenue sales. Unassessed waste are lands to which no classification or assessment has been assigned because they are considered unfit for cultivation. Poramboke denote lands set apart for public or communal purposes. They are also unassessed. The free- hold in these three classes of lands is in government.

‘Natham’ or ‘nattam’ or ‘gramanattam’ is the site on which village habitations are situated, and is held free of assessment. Except the Nattam Poramboke, which is permitted for inhabitation, all other Poramboke such as Lake, River, Hill, Grazing Ground, Cattle pond, Forest and similar classification of Poramboke of public use or common use are completely protected from any kind of people’s enjoyment.

Individual Ownership of Land – The Patta Mystery of India (Tamil Nadu)

Individual ownership and related records – legal system, their understanding by common people.

Common people consider “patta” as their ultimate proof of title of ownership of the land. Patta is nothing but the copy of the document called “Settlement Register”, maintained in the Revenue Office at each Sub-division of a District. The Settlement Register mentions that a specific land measuring such extent is under the enjoyment of a particular individual.

This Patta reflects the land registry and in practice, not all patta may reflect the reality, because eaqch time the land gets sold , the title change does not happen automatically. The system as it exist today require the land purchaser to follow the process of updating of records and many illiterate, unaware citizens do not have a patta even though they would have purchased the land. This has indeed given many civil litigations and contestations.

However, the relevant point relevant that the term “Patta”, that is the one word understood as (1) Ownership Title Deed (2) Certificate of Ownership.

The understanding of patta as ‘deed system’ is the institutional interpretation to deal with  tax, registry of possession and assertion of the control of the statecontrol and in social practice would mean ‘patta’ as a presumptive title, where the name of the  Individual gets links to the landed property. There is one more practice oriented possession of land called “Adverse Possession”, that legitimizes the claim of Squatters called “ B-Memo”, that is the sole proof of squatters, if they are habiting a classification of Common Land called “Poramboke Land. The possession of B- Memo is in the case of ‘Ponmudi Nagar’ Study, what is being studied, has made the people of ‘Ponmudi Nagar’, obtain their patta.  

Understanding of Patta
Legal	Practice
It is issued to Squatters that they are levied a penalty of a meager amount say Rs. 5/- per cent for a revenue year for squatting Government Land without binding to law. The text of the patta is very rude and sharp and say that the squatting is not legal and liable for eviction.	People consider that this one step for regular title and claim that B- Memo will assure them patta ultimately. In other words B- Memo is a deemed to be an imitation of Patta. Example: The modern day famous Chennai city Medical College owned by a private firm stands on a lake completely filled with sand. The classification is Eri/lake Poramboke. But somehow Tahsildar was pressurized to issue B- Memo to prove that the lake did not exist and then pressure was exerted by the private management to the Government and ultimately the land/Lake was placed at the disposal of the Government

Conditional patta (1822) colonial arrangement for ensuring property to landless Legal base what is called today as free House Site patta (Revenue Standing Order 15)

State Sponsored Patta for Squatters involve a Process called “De-Classification of Common Land/Poramboke”

The process of declassification is a clear evidence of theory-practice divide. For example, on revenue record viz., the settlement register it might appear “River”, or “ Cattle Pound”, or “ Grazing Ground” or as in the case of Ponmudi Nagar “ Lake”. But in reality, due to changing land use pattern, change of river course and other natural and manmade causes, the classification of the land has been done by the State inorder to place the common land for public/private use. Since human habitation cannot be legally done in a land classified as lake, the Government orders for change of classification and then calls it as “ Natham Settlement (Habitable Land)” or “ College Poramboke ( if it has been given for starting a Government College)”, depending upon the exigencies.

Issue of Land Title by Expropriation

Land reform, the process of acquiring surplus land from the land lords and expropriating it to land less poor as redistributed of private properties also invoke the same declassification procedure.  In this case, the Private Land/ Individual Patta lands are taken possession by the State by notifications under Land Reforms Act and the classified as “Government Poramboke”, and then the procedure as per R.S.O (Revenue Standing Order 15) for conditional patta is made and given to individuals. Page 66to 87 of the Policy Note of Government of Tamil Nadu throw much light in these kind of transaction.

Titling for Urban Poor

In the state of Tamil Nadu by the year 1975, urban unused Government Land as well as land acquired from Private person were developed as vertical tenements with all civic amenities and handed over to beneficiaries as part of “Social Empowerment Project”. In this case, the beneficiaries are granted a ‘joint-patta’ after the expiry of ten years and until then, legally the tenements must not be sold.  But the practice is that the tenements under Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board have seen enormous sale transaction outside the purview of the state that is, the sale transacted would be never registered and the integration and identification of real owner and the title of ownership of the tenement are seldom verified and checked.