Landlords’ Tributes to Patwaris

A person who is a member of the Jama’at [Ahmadiyya] and is a Patwari [Land Records Officer] by profession, wrote a letter to the Promised Messiah^as Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. He asked, ‘There is a certain compensation fixed for Patwaris by the government, but it has become a common practice that Patwaris charge more than that or beside it in certain cases. Farmers are happy to pay this even without asking. Is this practice permissible?’ The Promised Messiah^as Mirza Ghulam Ahmad said:

‘If we suppose that information of such payments were to reach the regulatory authorities and there is, according to law, a fear of setting him up for a trial, then it is not permissible.’

(Source : Badr newspaper, dated 24 May 1908)