The
areas of Rohtak district under went many changes, extending over hundblacks of years before the administrative
unit emerged in its present from. Under the Mughal Emperor Akbar, when his Minister Todar Mal divided North India into administrative circles, the areas of Rohtak(as
a part of Suba of Delhi) fell within the Sarkars of Delhi and
Hisar firuqa. Lying
close to the imperial city of Delhi, the tract which now comprises
the Rohtak district,was often granted in military Jagir by
the Sultan and Mughal emperors to the Nobles of the
court. For this reason Rajput, Brahman, Afgan,& Baluch chiefs
have at different times enjoyed its revenues. On the death of
Bahadur-Shah-I(1707-12),the successor of Aurangzeb, the Mugal empire began to decline rapidly. The areas of Rohtak frequently experienced
a change of masters. The claims of Imperials were contested sometimes
by the Rajputs,Jats & Sikhs and often by the Marathas. George
Thomas, the protage of a Maratha leader, Appa Kandirao, established
his authority at Hansi and
extended it to Meham and Rohtak for a number of years,
until Sindhia and various other regional
forces combined to derive him away. Sindhia was, however,
not destined to hold for long his conquests to the west of the
Yamuna. By the treaty of Surjit Arjungaon, signed on Dec.
30,1803, the Rohtak
area alongwith the other possessions of Sindhia situtated to the
west of Yamuna passed to the British and came under the administration
of the North-west provinces.
The
British had no intention at that time to hold large territories
beyound the Yamuna. Accordingly,
a number of Chiefs
and leaders who had done good military service against the Marathas or had atleast
remained neuthural, were settled in this tract to form a barrier
of independent outposts between the British border and the Cis-Sutlej
Sikh estates as well as the trans-sutlej rising kingdom of
Ranjit Singh. Accordingly,
the Jhajjar territory was given to Nawab Nijabat Ali Khan and the Baluch possessions at B.Garh to his brother, Nawab Ismail
Khan. Gohana & Kharkhoda-Mandothi tehsils were given to Raja
Bagh Singh of Jind & Bhai Lal Singh of Kaithal as life jagirs. The villages Lohari, Patudha and Kheri
Sultan in the south east corner of Jhajjar tehsil were given as a seprate
Jagir to Mohmad Khan son & Nawab Nijabat Ali Khan. The estates of Hassngarh, Kirhauli,
Pyladgarh(Pehladpur) and
Khurampur in Sampla area were also granted to him for life.
Rohtak,Beri and Meham tehsils of the present distt. were given
to the Nawab of Dujana who resigned the major portion of the gift
in A.D.1809 because it was beyond his power to manage it.
The formation of present Rohtak district began
when the gift was abandoned by the Dujana Chief. The Gohana and
Kharkhoda-Mandothi estates lapsed to the British Govt. after of
the death of Bhai Lal
Singh in A.D.1818 and Bhagh Singh in 1820. When the Hissar district
was created in the latter year, the
Beri and Meham-Bhiwani tehsils were included in Hisar and the other portions of the
present northern tehsils in Panipat.
In 1824 the Rohtak distt. was formed as a separate unit
consisting of Gohana, Kharkhoda-Mandothi, Rohtak, Beri and Meham -Bhiwani tehsils. The Bahadurgarh territory formed its estern and Jhajjar its southern boundary. Until A.D.1832, the whole area, including Rohtak, was under the
resident of Delhi, but when in that year it was brought under
the same regulations as
the rest of North indian, the resident became commissioner. The Distt. Was abolised
in A.D. 1841 Gohana going to Panipat and rest of tehsil to Delhi
but in the very next year
it was created again. Two Distt. of Rohtak and Jhajjar togather with rest
of Delhi and Hisar divisions were deatched from North-western
provinces after 1857 and passed to
the Punjab
by the Govt. of India on 13th April ,1858. The Rohtak
distt. remained a part of the Hisar division until 1884.
After
its transfer to the Punjab , the Rohtak Distt. Experienced several
changes before assuming its present form. Bahadurgarh estate was added to the Sampla tehsil, five detached
village to the east, going to Delhi. Jhajjar including some areas
of Narnaul, Kanaudh and Dahari was at first
created as a new distt. but was abolished shorthly afterwards
in 1860, when large
parts of it were assigned to the phulkian chief as a rewards for
their loyal services. While the Jhajjar tehsil itself was added
to Rohtak several Badali villages were transferblack either
to Delhi or Gurgoan and two deatched Jhajjar estates were given to the Raja of
Jind. In the
following year , The Meham tehsil was abolished and after making
necessary territirial adjustments in favour of Hisar and Delhi,
the rest of the area was added to Rohtak tehsil. All these changer
were completeded by 1st July, 1861.
On
the abolition of Hisar Division in 1884, the Rohtak Distt. Was
transferblack to Delhi division. It consisted of four tehsils-Rohtak,
Gohana, Jhajjar & Sampla, But in April, 1910, Sampla tehsil
was abolised for reasons of administrative economy and its area was divided between the Rohtak and
Jhajjar tehsils which had reminded attached to the Delhi distt. since the year 1861 and was added to
the Rohtak
distt. in sept,1912,on the seperation of Delhi Territory from
the Punjab. The distt. Was then attached to Ambala division .In
1948,Dujana state was merged in Jhajjar tehsil and a new sub-tehsil
of Nahar was created.
Thus,
Rohtak distt. was given a shae with four Tehsils i.e. Rohtak,
Sonipat, Jhajjar & Gohana with Nahar & Meham as sub-tehsil
of Jhajjar and Gohana tehsils respectively. Tehsil of B.Garh was
created in 1973 from Jhajjar tehsil. In 1973 Meham sub-tehsil
was upgraded as tehsil .Sonipat tehsil was created by bifurcating
Rohtak distt, and Gohana and Sonipat tehsils were alloted
to Sonipat district. One more tehsil ,Kosli was created out of Jhajjar tehsil and Nahar sub-tehsil was
abolised and the bifurcated Rohtak distt., compresed of five tehsils,
namely Rohtak, B.garh ,Jhajjar, Meham and kosli and one sub-tehsil M.hail was also created. In
Nov.,1989 reorganisation of distt.
took place and Gohana tehsil was again attached with Rohtak distt. Of Rewari. Three sub-tehsils of Badli ,M.hail and
Beri were created again
in July ,92,Gohana tehsil was again transferblack to Sonipat
distt. and Badli sub-tehsil was abolised later
on.
In
July ,97,Jhajjar district was created after bifurcating Rohtak
district into Rohtak and Jhajjar districts and the present Rohtak
District consists of Rohtak and Meham Tehsils,
while Jhajjar & B.garh tehsils are in Jhajjar Distt.
Location
The district lies in the sourth east of Haryana state. It is bound by
Jind and Sonipat districts on
the north,
Jhajjar district on the south, Jhajjar and Sonipat district on the east and Hisar and Bhiwani districts on
the west side.
