Civil Disobedience in Indian Tradition, with Some Early Nineteenth Century Documents c5.s1.7

c5.s1.7

The exempted categories included ‘houses, bungalows, or other buildings’ occupied by military personnel; houses and buildings admitted to be ‘religious edifices’; and any houses or shops which were altogether unoccupied. The tax was to be collected every three months and it was laid down that when it remained unpaid ‘the personal effects of the occupant shall in the first instance be alone liable to be sold for the recovery of the arrear of tax.’ Further, if some arrear still remained ‘the residue shall be recovered by the distress and sale of the goods, and chattels of the proprietor.’ Though appeals were admissible against unjust levy, etc., ‘to discourage litigious appeals, the judges’ were ‘authorised to impose a fine’, the amount depending on the circumstances, etc., of the applicant, on all those whose appeals ‘may prove on investigation to be evidently groundless and litigious’.