Tehsildar is appointed by –

Correct — option (4), The Board of Revenue.

The Board of Revenue's information handbook under the RTI Act, whose dated entries run to June 2022, states that the appointing authority for the Rajasthan Tehsildar Service cadre is the Chairman, Board of Revenue.

The Board's RTS branch handles the appointment, training, seniority, transfer and posting, and retirement of Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars, among other cadre work. The service is run under the Rajasthan Tehsildar Service Rules, 1956, among other rules.

The same handbook says all Tehsildar posts are filled by promotion, in a prescribed ratio from Naib Tehsildars, office superintendents and Sadar Munsarims.

The Board also publishes the Tehsildar seniority lists on its website, among them provisional lists as on 1 April 2023.

The Act words it another way. Section 20 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 says the State Government shall appoint a Tehsildar in each tehsil. The State Government is not among the four options; the Board of Revenue, whose Chairman the handbook names as the cadre's appointing authority, is option (4).

The Board sits at Ajmer under Section 6 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956, and Section 8 makes it the highest revenue court of appeal, revision and reference in Rajasthan.

The idea to remember: by the Board's handbook, all Tehsildar posts are filled by promotion, and the appointing authority for the Rajasthan Tehsildar Service cadre is the Chairman, Board of Revenue, Ajmer.

Why the others are wrong

• (1)
  The Union Public Service Commission — Article 320(1) of the Constitution gives the Union Commission the duty to conduct examinations for appointments to the services of the Union.

  A Tehsildar is a State revenue officer under the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956, in a State cadre whose appointing authority, per the Board's handbook, is the Chairman, Board of Revenue.

• (2)
  The Staff Selection Commission — The Staff Selection Commission is a Government of India organisation that recruits staff for posts in the ministries and departments of the Government of India and their subordinate offices.

  The Tehsildar belongs to the Rajasthan Tehsildar Service, a State cadre. The Board of Revenue's handbook names the Chairman of the Board as its appointing authority.

• (3)
  Rajasthan Public Service Commission — RPSC comes one step earlier in the cadre. The Board's handbook says half the Naib Tehsildar posts are filled by direct recruitment, with RPSC holding the competitive examination and selecting the candidates; the other half come by promotion from the inspector cadre.

  Tehsildar posts, by the same handbook, are all filled by promotion, and the cadre's appointing authority is the Chairman, Board of Revenue.

Section 15 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 lets the State Government divide a district into sub-divisions, each consisting of one or more tehsils. Section 24 makes Additional Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars in a tehsil subordinate to the Tehsildar.

The Tehsildar in turn is subordinate to the Sub-Divisional Officer of the sub-division, the Collector of the district and the Commissioner of the division, among other revenue officers the section lists.

At the top sits the Board of Revenue. Section 9 vests in it the general superintendence and control over all revenue courts and revenue officers, and Section 8 makes it the highest revenue court of appeal, revision and reference in Rajasthan.

Selection and appointment are separate steps. Article 320(1) gives a State Public Service Commission the duty to conduct examinations for appointments; appointing is done by the authority the service rules name.

Key facts

• The Board of Revenue's RTI handbook names the Chairman, Board of Revenue as appointing authority for the Rajasthan Tehsildar Service cadre.
• The same handbook says all Tehsildar posts are filled by promotion, and half the Naib Tehsildar posts by direct recruitment through an RPSC competitive examination.
• The Board of Revenue for Rajasthan was established by the Rajpramukh's ordinance of 7 April 1949, in force from 1 November 1949.
• Section 6 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 fixes the Board of Revenue's headquarters at Ajmer.
• Section 8 of the Act makes the Board the highest revenue court of appeal, revision and reference in Rajasthan.

Common traps

• Treating the examining body as the appointing authority: RPSC selects direct recruits for Naib Tehsildar posts, but the cadre's appointing authority is the Chairman, Board of Revenue.
• Assuming Tehsildar is a direct-recruitment post: the Board's handbook says all Tehsildar posts are filled by promotion.
• Placing the Board of Revenue at Jaipur: Section 6 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 fixes its headquarters at Ajmer.

UnlockIAS will link similar questions from RAS Pre 2021 and 2016 here once those papers are published on this site.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956, the headquarters of the Board of Revenue for Rajasthan is at

  • (a)Jaipur
  • (b)Ajmer
  • (c)Jodhpur
  • (d)Udaipur
  Answer(2) — Section 6 of the Act says the headquarters of the Board of Revenue shall be at Ajmer, though the Board may sit at any place within its jurisdiction subject to State Government orders. Options (1), (3) and (4) are not the seat the Act names.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under Section 24 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956, all Tehsildars in a sub-division are subordinate to the

  • (a)Naib Tehsildar
  • (b)Sub-Divisional Officer of that sub-division
  • (c)Chairman, Rajasthan Public Service Commission
  • (d)Land Records Inspector
  Answer(2) — Section 24(iii) makes all Tehsildars, Additional Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars in a sub-division subordinate to its Sub-Divisional Officer. Option (1) is subordinate to the Tehsildar under Section 24(iv); option (3) heads a Commission outside the revenue hierarchy; option (4) is not among the officers Section 24(iii) names.