State and Government in Ancient India c16.18

c16.18

The secretariat had naturally a big record office. Ordinary or routine orders were not naturally preserved for a long time, but those which granted lands or assigned revenues were kept with great care for future reference. Sometimes donees wanted to exchange villages; original grants had to be consulted and amended on such occasions.² In all cases of land grants, therefore, the entry of the transaction was made at the secretariat as soon as possible; the delay in this connection was regarded as irregular and officers responsible for it were censured.³ Ordinary individuals had to pay a fee registering transfers of property in the secretariat registers; king Yaśaskara of Kashmir could detect a fraudulent transaction on account of the unusually high fee paid when it was registered at the secretariat.⁴