§ MR. O'DONNELLasked the Secretary of State for India, Whether he is aware that wide-spread discontent at the administration of justice in Chingleput has existed for a long time among the 605 Native population; whether he is aware that all the leading Madras newspapers, both English and Native, join in the complaints of the Native population; and, whether he has ordered any steps to be taken in the matter?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONSir, it appears from the Indian newspapers that in May, 1881, charges of attempted extortion were made by some Brahmins in the Chingleput district against the Tahsildar—who is a subordinate Native Revenue officer—of their Talook, and that these charges resulted in a Departmental inquiry and the institution of a variety of criminal proceedings in the Courts. These proceedings, it would appear, were at first favourable to the incriminated Tahsildar, but subsequently seem to have assumed a different aspect. The Tahsildar is said to have absconded, and a warrant to have been issued for his arrest on the charge of stealing certain papers connected with the case. Whether he has been arrested or not is not certain. This information is gathered from the Indian newspapers; but no information on the subject has reached the India Office officially; and, under the circumstances, I have not ordered, and have no present intention of ordering, any steps to be taken in the matter. The case seems to have attracted a great deal of attention in the Press, English and Native; but I am not aware that widespread discontent at the administration of justice in Chingleput can be said to have existed for a long time.