Bengal Tenancy Act 1885  an enactment of the Bengal government defining the natural rights and liabilities of zamindars and tenants in response to widespread peasant discontent threatening the stability of the colonial system of governance. The permanent settlement gave absolute proprietary rights to landholders but was silent about the rights of tenants, although it vaguely recognised their customary rights. With the increase of population and rise of prices of agricultural produce in the nineteenth century, demand for land increased. In consequence, zamindars tended to enhance rents. The raiyats (tenants) refused to accept the zamindari right to enhance rent beyond pargana nirikh (rate) established by custom. Zamindars, as absolute proprietors of land, were not inclined to recognise such customary rights.

Another very important factor that contributed to the deteriorating relationship between zamindars and tenants was the emergence of a landed intermediate class contrary to the rules of the Permanent Settlement. The madhyasvatvas or intermediate interests acquired their rights by purchase. In the statute book, the madhyasvatvas did not exist. The law courts were giving conflicting judgements as regards the rights and liabilities of the intermediate classes and also of the peasants. The operation of the Permanent Settlement and the growth of commercial crops led to the rise of a rich peasantry which was quite close to the landed class in riches and social influence, but their rights over land were not very clear under the laws of the Permanent Settlement. The government tried to accommodate this class by enacting the Rent Act of 1859. But the discontents of the class did not subside.

From the mid-nineteenth century, peasant resistance movements assumed alarming proportion. In the 1870s, the landlord-tenant relation deteriorated so much in almost all districts, particularly in the jute growing districts of eastern Bengal, that peasant jotes were formed to resist zamindari attempts to subvert their claimed customary rights in land. To contain the situation and to adopt necessary measures to improve relations between landlord and tenant, a Rent Commission was set up in 1880.

In the light of the recommendations and observations of the Rent Commission, the Bengal Legislative Council enacted Act III of 1885. This Act is popularly known in legal circle as the Bengal Tenancy Act. The Act defined rights and obligations of intermediate tenancies and raiyati tenancies. However, inferior tenancies such as kurfa, barga, chakran, nankar, karsha and so on still remained undefined. The Act also enacted rules for undertaking a detailed Survey and Settlement Operation of all holdings and their holders so that a reliable record of rights could be prepared for different interests in land from zamindars to ordinary raiyats. [Sirajul Islam]