Clive’s Jagir

Clive’s Jagir

Mir Jafar had made a grant to the Company of the Zamindari over an extensive tract around the Calcutta which is now known as 24 Pargana. This Twenty-Four Parganas included the country immediately surrounding Calcutta, except city. In 1757, the East India Company obtained the Zamindari rights over this territory so now it could collect the cultivator’s rent, subject to tax paid to the Nawab as the representative of the Mughal Emperor.

• In 1759 the land tax was granted by the emperor in favor of Clive, who thus became the landlord of his own boss i.e. the East India Company. It was known as Clive’s Jagir.

The Clive’s Jagir became a matter of inquiry in England. The Clive’s claim to the property as feudal suzerain over the Company was contested by the company in 1764. In 1765, a new deed was issued, which confirmed this Jagir for 10 years. This Jagir received the sanction of the Mughal Emperor in 1765 and it gave the absolute validity to the original Jagir. However, it was transferred to the company as a perpetual property. Annual grant of around 2.22 Lakh Rupees was paid to Clive from 1765 till 1774, when he shot himself to death. After that whole proprietary rights were reverted to the company.

This was the climax of Clive’s career. In 1758 he was appointed by the court of directors as the first governor of all the company’s settlements in Bengal.