Who Owns Mhow? Read online

  Consistently, the East India Company invited and encouraged the indigenous population to build houses and rent them to the army rather than getting involved with building houses themselves or giving loan: to their Officers to do the needful.

  For administrative convenience, the military set up was divided into 3 parts known as the Bengal Army, the Madras Army and the Bombay Army and rules and regulations were framed by each of these commands with the agreement of the government that then existed in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. Some of these Government Orders relate to the procedure to be adopted in case land was to be allocated to Amy Officers. It is stated that it should be made clear to the Army officers that the land given to them belonged to the government and it could be resumed at the pleasure of the Government. Initially, there was no provision for how the Officer was to be compensated for the structure he had built on the land to be resumed, Later a team of 5 Army Officers was to evaluate the value of the structures. Still later, came the amendment that the owner of the house had the right to nominate one of the

  five Army Officers. In 1856, an order passed in Poona, for the first time stipu- lated that the replacement value of the home at the time of resumption must be paid to the owner. The Government claimed that each of these plots of land was given as per-specific grant, which came to be referred to as 'Old Grant' .

  It is very clear that this rule applied only to land given to Army Officers for building their houses. No Government Order (G.O.) or Governor General's Order (G.G.O.) prevented the land being allocated to the local inhabitants, who were treated as British Subjects, for building houses for their own use or for renting it out to Army Officers. Infact a large number of private bungalows existed in Cantonment areas long before any such Government Order came to be passed. Not only that, there are documents to show that the then Army authorities had reported to the Government within 3 to 4 years of the first set of instructions being given about allotment of lands to Army Officers, that in fact there were no grants in respect of land given to army officers but that at the most it could be said that there was just a verbal understanding between them. In some cases there are records of Bungalows with their accompanying lands being sold by auction by Poona courts and the deal has been registered by the Brigade Major. Other records make note of purchases "along with the land and the trees and shrubs, wells, stones, fences etc. standing thereon.'

  The legend of the "Old Grant" seems to have been repeated so often that even the Government officials came to believe in it! This led to a spate of Resumptions, whereby the Army sent notices to private bungalow owners to vacate their properties within 30 days and enclosed a pathetic amount of money as compensation for the structure standing on the land. Writ petitions in various High courts and civil suits in lower courts disclosed the truth that the Government did not have a single document as proof of the "Old Grant" on the basis of which this entire land - grab operation was being undertaken.

  Even the very first Register of Cantonments maintained by the army authorities of the East India Company captioned the Register - "Register of all Private Buildings and Ground Enclosed on Private Account" and entries In the column showing the date and the number of the letter authorizing enclosure of the buildings are left blank with maybe a mention that the building already existed in the "original cantonment" i.e. at the time when the cantonment area was first demarcated. This makes it very clear that no special terms

  were applied, nor were any taxes levied in order to prove Government owner- ship of the property. The legal Remembrances of the government from early 1870 onwards have repeatedly advised that there was nothing to prove that land was given by Government even to Army Officers on "Old Grant" terms, let alone private parties. They advised that "should the government resort to any hasty action of resuming properties on the basis of the extremely doubt- full title they claimed to lands in cantonments, it would result in serious embarrassment to Government and would be extremely difficult to prove their case in any Court of Law".

  About a hundred years ago, the Government decided to rectify this position by frightening land owners (many of whom were uneducated) into signing a Bombay Form 212, (in Poona Cantonment), which was specifically meant for government servants asking for new lands. Whenever a bungalow owner applied for permission to repair, alter or rebuild the existing structure, he was forced to sign this Form behind which certain conditions were mentioned and which were called "Old Grant" terms. This illegality was followed up after the 1950's by the Defence authorities refusing to transfer property from one owner to another, not even to a legatee or family member unless the person to whose name the property was being transferred signed a document called 'Admission Certificate" which mentions the terms of the imaginary 'Old Grant", The government now produces those "Admission Certificates", obtained under duress as proof of the Old Grant. Landlords who have refused to sign the Admission Certificates have not succeeded in having their properties mutated to the legitimate owners.

  A new move was attempted, after the introduction Of the Cantonments Act of 1889. The Government of India offered owners of bungalows whose lands were held on Old Grant terms, a so called "opportunity" to convert these into perpetual leases. When the bungalow owners resisted persistently and kept demanding that they be shown the Old Grant under which their predecessors were supposed to have been given title, the matter died a quiet death.

  Next came the Cantonment Code of 1912 under which land was to be given under 30 years lease provided the government could resume it - when-ever required by paying compensation for the buildings standing on it , the amount being determined by a three member Committee one of whom would be the representative of the owner.

  A large number of bungalows came to be resumed after 1970. Many Writ Petitions were filed in High Courts all-over the country questioning the legality of the notices issued where it has been alleged that the sites of the properties sought to be resumed were given on Old Grant terms. The Courts have restored the properties to the owners and truck down the notices.

  Today, the cantonments all over India are administered under The Cantonments Act, 19247 as amended from time to time.

  The Cantonments Act, 1924, is "An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to the administration of cantonments".

  Definition and Delimitation of Cantonments

  According to Section 3 of the above mentioned Act,

  1) The Central Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare any place or places in which part of the forces is quartered or which, being in the vicinity of any such place or places, is or are required for the service of such forces to be a cantonment for the purposes of this Act and of all other enactments for the time being in force, and may, by a like notification, declare that any cantonment shall cease to be a cantonment.

  2) The Central Government may, by like notification, define the limits of any Cantonment for the aforesaid purposes.

  3) When any place is declared a cantonment for the first time, the Central government may, until a Board is constituted in accordance with the provisions of this Act, by order make any provisions which appear necessary to it either for the administration of the cantonment or for the constitution of the Board.

  The Central Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, direct that in any place declared a cantonment under sub - section (1) t
he provisions of any enactment relating to local self- government other than this Act shall have effect only to such extent or subject to such modifications, or that any authority constituted under any such enactment shall exercise authority only to such extent, as may be specified in the notification."

  7 This act has been replaced by new Cantonment Act 2006

  S.4 - Alteration of Limits of Cantonments

  "1) The Central Government may, after consulting the State government ahead the Board concerned by notification in the official Gazette, declare its intentions to include within the cantonment any local area situated in the vicinity thereof or to exclude from the cantonment, any local area comprised therein.

  2) Any inhabitant of a cantonment or local area in respect of which a notification has been published under sub- section (1) may, within six weeks from the date of the notification, submit in writing to the Central Government through the Of- ficer Commanding - in - Chief, the Command, an objection to the notification, and the Central Government shall take such objection into consideration.

  3) On the expiry of six weeks from the date of the notification, the Central Government may, after considering the objections, if any; which have been submitted under sub- section (2), by notification in the official Gazette, include the local area in respect of which the notification was published under sub - section (1), or any part thereof, in the cantonment or as the case may be, exclude such area or any part thereof from the cantonment" .

  S.5-The Effect of Including Area in Cantonment

  "When by any notification under section 4, any local area is included in a cantonment, such area shall thereupon become subject to this Act and to all other enactments, for the time being in force throughout the cantonment and to all notifications, rules, regulations, bye-laws, orders and directions issued or made there under.

  S. 110 -Acquisition of immovable Property

  "When there is any hindrance to the permanent or temporary acquisition upon payment of any land required by a Board (Cantonment authority) for the purpose of this Act, the Central Government may, at the request of the Board, procure the acquisition thereof ( proceed to acquire It) under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 and by payment by the Board of the compensation awarded under that Act and of the charges incurred by the government in connection with the proceedings, the land shall vest in the board".

  It must be noted at this very stage that distinction needs to be made between Cantonments in British India which were geographical areas, conquered, purchased or ceded via treaties by the Native States to The East India Company and' its successor, The British Government and other Cantonments like Mhow, Baroda and Secunderabad, where the cantonment was established In the Native States at the pleasure of such states - called "Permissive Possession". Such Cantonments did not form part of British India but wore administered by the British under the Indian Foreign Jurisdiction Acts. British Laws were applied here via various Orders -in- Council issued under these Acts.

  When the British left in 1947, they retro ceded to the respective Native States the jurisdiction they held over these Cantonments and the British laws ceased to apply except for those that the Native States wished to continue.

  3. THE HISTORY OF MHOW CANTONMENT

  1. Treaty between Mulhar Row Holkar and Sir John Malcolm (1818)

  2. The troops of the Bengal army were posted in Mhow-1835

  3. The General Orders by the Governor General in Council (1836)

  4. The Mhow Cantonment fell into the Presidency of Bombay (1874)

  5. Mhow Cantonment is not British India (The Cantonments Act of 1924)

  6. The Indore Land Revenue and Tenancy Act No.1 of 1931

  7. The Gazette of India - Extra Ordinary, New Delhi, Tuesday, August 12,1947

  8. The Holkar Government Gazette-Extraordinary-Published by Au- thority -

  Indore, Thursday 14" August, 1947

  9. A Notification in the Holkar Government Gazette, Indore, Monday 18 and August

  1947

  10. The Revised Instrument of Accession (19thJuly 1948)

  11. The first Schedule of the Constitution of India

  12. The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India

  13. The Land Acquisition Act, 1894

  14. Mass Resumptions (1971)

  Mhow is a very beautiful semi hill-station in M.P, sitting on top of the Malwa Plateau - 2019 feet above sea level. It lies at the intersection of latitude 22.33 degrees North and Longitude 75.46 degrees east.

  Mhow has an active training centre for expertise in numerous combat and supportive military systems. The Officers Training College was closed in 1940 and the Signals School started in 1941. This evolved, into the College of Telecommunication Engineering. The Infantry School, which started in 1948 also, has a College of Combat attached to it now. It is claimed that no one who joins the Indian Army can miss being transferred to Mhow - the Mecca of the, army! It even acquired fame by the claim that MHOW stands for Military Headquarters Of War, however, factually, Mhow Gaon existed way before the army had anything to do with It.

  There is a small Fort, most of it underground, built in 1821 by the British, to control the area then known as Rajputana and also the Neemuch Road, right up to Bombay. Yet it has an unconfirmed history linking it with the Rani of Jhansi. It is rumored to have an underground tunnel that runs all the way from Jhansi to Mhow

  1. Treaty between Mulhar Row Holkar and

  Sir John Malcolm (6-1-1818)

  Mhow was a part of the territory of the State of Indore and was ruled by the Holkars,

  On 6-1-1818 a Treaty was signed between Mulhar Row Holkar and Sir John Malcolm who signed on behalf of The East India Company, after Holkar lost the battle of 1817

  According to Treaty - Peace being established with the Maharaja Mulhar Row Holkar, The Company's government agree, that it will not permit any state or any freebooter to be unpunished that shall commit any outrage or hostility against the territories of l'I1eMaharaja Mulhar Row Holkar, the Maharaja agreeing on such occasion to leng his utmost assistance by the employment of his troops , or in any other manner as may be requisite and British Government will, at all times, extend the same protection Ro the territories of Mulhar Row Holkar as to its own",

  Further, Article VI and VII of the same Treaty read:

  VI. Maharaja Mulhar Row Holkar cedes to the British Government all his territories and claims of every description whatever within and south of the Satpura range of hills, including the fort of Sindwa, with a glacis of two thou- sand yards, Also all his possessions in the territory of Candeish, and those districts such as Amber, Ellora, and others, Intermixed with the territories of the Nizam and Paishwah.

  VII, In consideration of the cessions made by this treaty, the British Government

  binds itself to support a field force to maintain the internal tranquillity of the territories of Mulhar Row Holkar, and to defend them from foreign enemies. This force shall be of such strength as shall be judged adequate to the object. It shall be stationed where the British Government determines to be best, and the Maharaja Mulhar Row Holkar agrees to grant some place of security as a deposit for stores"

  The British Government thereafter determined that Mhow was the best and then started to clear the rich jungles (there has been an instance of, a tiger sitting in

  school hall as late as the 1940's) near Mhow Gaon, to set up the Cantonment of Mhow in the year 1818. It is also very clear that Mhow is north of the Satpura Hills and was in no way ceded to the British.

  2. The troops of the Bengal army were posted in Mhow-1835

  It was in 1835 that troops of the Bengal army were posted in Mhow. At that time, the m
ain British Presidencies were Bengal, Madras and Bombay. Rules, Regulations, Orders were issued every now and then by the British Government of these Presidencies for Cantonments in British India, in order to ensure that various facilities were provided to the armies under British occupation as top priority. This included grant of land and provision of residential with other accommodation for Army personnel. This was done by a number of Governor General's Orders - different ones for different Presidencies but with similar contents.

  The first important thing to note here is that these Orders related to British India i.e. areas conquered by the British or acquired by Treaty or purchase. They were not applicable to Cantonments outsides British India where the area was loaned to the British to quarter their troops and store their equipment, but where the land belonged to the Native states as in the cases of Indore (under which Mhow fell), Baroda, Hyderabad and Mysore.