Memoir on Thar and

to a rude community, such as I have above described, than one suited to the more
civilized and populous portions of the province. The taking of fees, and having
their disputes adjudicated on by a jury or punchayet, named otherwise than by
themselves, and without their concurrence, would be perfectly incomprehensible
to the inhabitants of the Desert.
“Under these circumstances, and feeling well assured that the inhabitants of the
Desert are not yet sufficiently far advanced in civilization to require or appreciate
an improved judicial system; and further, fearing the result, from want of
supervision, of the greatly increased powers that would thus be granted to the
Kardars, and the difficulty that may be anticipated in finding respectable men in
the scattered tribes of the Desert to sit in judgment with the Kardar on cases that
they neither know nor care aught of, I deem it my duty, as regards the districts
under me, to recommend for your consideration the temporary postponement of
the judicial system now being introduced into other parts of Sind.”
135. Notwithstanding that circumstances rendered it expedient to postpone temporarily
the assimilation of the judicial system in the Thurr and Parkur with that in Sind in 1852,
every opportunity was taken of improving the former, and putting things in training for a
future assimilation. The steps taken were thus reported in 1853:—
“While, however, the system has not yet been much modified, advantage has been
taken of respectable chiefs and others from the Desert being in attendance, to
associate them with myself on any trials that happened to be pending, with the
view of accustoming them to act as assessors; the objects of which, and that they
would be requested hereafter to act in the same capacity at trials in the districts,
were also fully explained to them.
“The opportunity afforded by my late visit to Parkur was taken advantage of to
explain to the Kardars personally the intended modifications in the present
judicial system, and I have now supplied them with detailed forms of proceedings,
for both civil and criminal trials. The instructions for conducting these trials are
in accordance with your instructions above quoted, with explanations and
elucidations for their guidance. The peculiar circumstances of the case appear to
warrant some deviations from the rules in force for the guidance of the ative
officials of a similar class in Sind proper, the particulars of which will be
mentioned below.”
136. In 1856, the time for making further modifications in the Thurr and Parkur judicial
arrangements appeared to have arrived; they were reported as follows and approved of:—
“The deviations in the proposed arrangements for trials in the Desert, alluded to
above, and which consisted in not levying fees, or paying the assessors anything,
have now been modified, and the Kardars directed to levy the usual percentage on
all civil suits, and to pay one Rupee and a half per diem to members of the
mercantile community acting as assessors in civil cases.
<strong>Memoir</strong> on the Thurr and Parkur Districts of Sind. Copyright © www.panhwar.com
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