Mahalwari Settlement-1822

• In the North Western Provinces of the Bengal Presidency (most of this area is now in Uttar Pradesh), an Englishman called Holt Mackenzie devised the new system of revenue system which came into effect in 1822 called known as the Mahalwari Settlement.

• Holt Mackenzie felt that the village was an important social institution in north Indian society and needed to be preserved.

• Under this system the estimated revenue of each plot within a village was added up to calculate the revenue that each village (mahal) had to pay. This demand was to be revised periodically, not permanently fixed. 

• The charge of collecting the revenue and paying it to the Company was given to the village headman, rather than the zamindar.