The Sunset Law in British India

According to Mughal rule, The land was owned by the state and the raiyats or tenants enjoyed customary rights. The zamindars were merely agents or representatives appointed by the state to collect rent or taxes from the raiyats. The relationship between zamindars as tax collecting agents and raiyats as inheritors of land was replaced by a new relationship.[2] As a result, the zamindars gained absolute ownership of the land and the raiyats became their tenants. In addition to this huge benefit, zamindars got a special benefit of paying taxes to the government at a fixed rate. Increasing the revenue demand on zamindars prescribed by the Permanent Settlement Act was permanently prohibited by the government.[3]

The colonial government enacted a strict law against these two privileges: the acquisition of land by landlords at no cost and the determination of permanent government revenue claims. The Act stipulated that zamindars could never make any claim for loss of revenue due to natural calamities like floods, droughts, etc. and the government would ensure arrears of revenue by selling zamindari at public auction. In a seasonal climate-dependent agricultural economy like in Bengal, such a law inevitably creates extreme hardship among landowners, as floods and droughts have destroyed crops and destroyed livestock, leaving the economy temporarily paralyzed. As a result, it would be uncertain for the zamindars to pay the due revenue on time.

The Revenue Sales Act was enacted in 1793, despite strong[4] protests from the zamindars]. Within seven years of the enactment of the law, almost half of the zamindars lost their ownership of the lands. The zamindars of large areas were particularly affected by this law. Within a decade of the law coming into force, the zamindars of Rajshahi, Nadia, Bishnupur, Dinajpur, Rajnagar, Laskarpur and the greater Burdwan region were divided and their lands passed into the hands of new landlords. Medium and small zamindars were always approached for fear that the Revenue Sale Act could destroy them in any month of the year. In this law, the rule of paying tax in twelve installments or points, i.e. monthly, was prevalent. There was a provision to sell the zamindari at public auction at the end of the month if any installment failed to be paid on time. The provision of sale of land to the zamindars who failed to pay taxes was so strictly and ruthlessly enforced that it was as irresistible and inevitable as the sunset and the sun of many great zamindar dynasties would fall and the sun would set. And that is why people call this law The Sunset Law.[5]

In 1799, the government was forced to amend the Revenue Sales Act due to social unrest and conflict, deteriorating law and order situation, and, above all, uncertainty in the collection of government revenue. Under Regulation 7 of 1799, the process of selling the land of those who failed to pay tax at the end of the month was abolished and a new system of sale at auction was introduced at the end of the year.