● Holt Mackenzie felt that the village was an important social institution in north Indian society and needed to be preserved.
● Under his directions, collectors went from village to village, inspecting the land, measuring the fields, and recording the customs and rights of different groups.
● The estimated revenue of each plot within a village was added up to calculate the revenue that each village (mahal) had to pay.
● This demand was to be revised periodically, not permanently fixed.
● The charge of collecting the revenue and paying it to the Company was given to the village headman, rather than the zamindar.
● This system came to be known as the Mahalwari settlement.