In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, a tehsildar is a tax Officer accompanied with Revenue inspectors. They are in charge of obtaining taxes from a tehsil with regard to Land Revenue. A Tahsildar also known as Executive Magistrate of the tehsil concerned. In the revenue department, the Deputy Collectors is usually a tehsildars who report into the District Revenue Officer who is also called the Additional District Collector and is the overall in-charge of revenue department for the district, DRO in turn reports into the District Collector who is in-charge of overall management of the district across all departments. Deputy Collectors are hired through State's Service Selection Commission, where as DRO and District Collector are usually Centre Civil Services employees appointed to the state cadre. The immediate subordinate of a tehsildar is known as a Naib Tehsildar. It same like an Additional Deputy Commissioner of Deputy Commissioner.
Etymology
The term is assumed to be of Mughal origin, and is perhaps a union of the words "tehsil" and "dar". "Tehsil" is presumably an Arabic word meaning "revenue collection", and "dar" is a Persian word meaning "holder of a position".
During British rule, a Tehsildar was most likely as a stipendiary officer of the government, employed to raise revenue. It was also called as Mamlatdar in Goa and some parts of Maharashtra. It was subsequently used by Pakistan and India following their independence from the British Empire. Tehsildar is also known as Talukdar in some states of India. In Assam, Bengal and parts of Jharkhand Tehsildar is known as Mouzadar. In 17th-century saint composer Kancharla Gopanna who was known as Bhakta Ramadas. Gopanna was the Tahasildar of Bhadrachalam, is said to have used money from the government treasury to build Bhadrachalam Temple, and was imprisoned in a dungeon in Golconda.
Independence
Tehsildar are Class 1Gazetted Officers in most of the states of India. In Uttar Pradesh Tehsildar are given powers of assistant collector Grade I. They also are given judicial power. They implement the various policies of the taluka and are subject to the District Collector. Officers holding the post of Tehsildar preside over matters related to Land, Tax and Revenue. Tehsildar were first appointed as Naib Tehsildars after successful completion of a State Service Exam, or promoted from a subordinate post like Kanoongo. In uttar Pradesh tehsildar are promoted from naib tehsildar. Later on, they get promoted to the post of sub divisional magistrate. according to cadre rules. In Assam Tehsildar is known as Mouzadar, in Bihar Tehsildar is also known as Anchal Adhikari. In Goa, the Mamlatdar heads the taluka revenue office. While each taluka has a Mamlatdar, there are also several Joint Mamlatdars and the work is distributed among them. Each state is divided into districts. The district's senior civil servant is the District Collector/District Magistrate, who is an officer from the IAS cadre. These districts are further subdivided into Revenue Subdivisions or Prants. Each Subdivision is under the charge of an officer designated as a Subdivisional Magistrate or Deputy Collector who is a member of the State Civil Services cadre. These subdivisions are divided into various Tehsils or Talukas. These Tehsils or Talukas are administered by a Tehsildar, also known as a Talukdar in some states of India. In the State of west Bengal subdivisions are divided into Community Development Block or Blocks, A Block is Administrated by BDO or Block Development Officer, who is a member of state Civil Services cadre. and the post is similar to Tehsildar. The Tehsils/Talukas are further divided by groups of villages. Each group comes under the charge of a Kanoongo. These villages are put under a village level revenue employee and is known as a Lekhpal or Patwari''. This hierarchy is mainly used for administrative activities, including the identification and collection of revenue from land. A separate hierarchy exists for law enforcement in each district.
