Tehsildar
A tehsildar (Urdu: تحصیلدار, Hindi: तहसीलदार) is a revenue administrative officer in Pakistan and India in charge of obtaining taxation from a tehsil. The term is of imperial Mughal origin made of "tahsil", an Islamic administrative derived from Arabic, meaning "revenue generating; collection" and "dar", Persian for "holder of a position", together meaning tax collector. The role of tehsildar continued during the period of British Rule and was subsequently used by Pakistan and India following their independence from the British. The deputy of a tehsildar is known as a naib tehsildar.
British rule
During British rule the tehsildar was a stipendiary officer of the government to raise revenue, in the "History of the Colonies of the British Empire: From the Official Records", Robert Montgomery Martin described local government as follows:[1]
India
In India an official position is existing with this same title. Tahsildar(Group A) and Naib Tahsildar are gazetted officer (Group B) and known as Assistant collector & Executive Magistrate (Class II).Both holds court related to land, Tax and revenue matter with a position which has a lot of authority, power and respect. Tahsildar and Naib Tahsildar are directly appointed from state administrative services (i.e. PCS in Utter Pradesh, HPAS in Himachal Pradesh, RAS in Rajsthan and BAS in Bihar or as equivalent cadre in other states of India). In modern India a State is divided into various districts. The district's senior most civil servant is the District Collector, who could be a promoted officer from the state cadre or most likely an IAS officer. These districts are further sub divided into Revenue Sub Divisions, under an officer designated as Sub Divisional Magistrate ( S.D.M, Deputy collector or Executive Magistrate Class I) or Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO)who could be a promoted officer from the state cadre or most likely an IAS officer. These sub divisions are divided into various Tehsils or Talukas orAnchal . Tahsildar is also known as Anchal Adhikari or Circle Officer(CO) in some states of India.[2] The Teshils and Talukas are under an officer designated as Tehsildar. The Tehsildar appointment is a formally announced through the official gazette of the state government. The Tehsils/Taluks are further divided into Villages, under a Village officer. This hierarchy is mainly used for undertaking the regular administrative activities, including identification and collection of revenue (from land) etc. A separate hierarchy exists for the law enforcement in a district.