The East India Company's imposition of quit rent in Madras faced initial challenges, as it was long held that the Company lacked the authority to impose such taxes.
This issue was resolved with a Parliamentary Act of 1792, which granted the Company the power to levy municipal taxes, including quit rent, in the city.
The Company subsequently ordered an assessment of five percent to be collected from inhabitants based on the estimated annual rents of their houses.
This system was part of broader efforts to establish municipal governance, including the establishment of a police force and infrastructure improvements like drains and street lighting.
The concept of quit rent was also applied in land tenure systems across the Madras Presidency. Under the zamindari system, zamindars were required to pay a fixed tribute, known as peshkash, to the government in perpetuity.
In the ryotwari system, which was implemented by Thomas Munro from 1820 onward, the government established direct settlements with individual cultivators (ryots), assessing revenue based on soil surveys and productivity, often at rates of 50% for dry land and 60% for irrigated land.
This system aimed to eliminate intermediaries and place the burden of land revenue directly on the cultivator.
In more recent times, the Madras High Court has ruled on the validity of quit rent claims, particularly concerning land use. In a December 2025 decision, the court cleared the way for the eviction of St. Peter’s Matriculation School from 2.14 acres of government land in St. Thomas Mount, Chennai, finding that the land had been leased under conditions that prohibited its use for educational purposes without prior sanction.
The court upheld the State government’s right to invoke the Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act of 1905 to evict unauthorized occupants, affirming that the land vests with the State government