Which one of the following is NOT the characteristics of ‘Iqta System’?

The correct answer is C. Under the iqta system, a muqti was assigned the revenue of a territory in lieu of salary, and the revenue was not paid directly into the Sultan's account. The muqti collected it, met the costs of administration and the army, and remitted only the surplus to the centre. That is why the arrangement was a revenue assignment, not direct central collection.

• A is true. Iqta was essentially a right to collect and keep land revenue from a specified area.
• B is true. Nizam al-Mulk's Siyasatnama, a Persian text on Seljuk statecraft, is the classic source for how the iqta system worked.
• D is true. The muqti was expected to maintain a contingent of troops from the revenue he collected, which is what made iqta a military-administrative arrangement.

Core concept: iqta as a revenue-assignment system linking land revenue, military service and provincial control. For Mains, it is useful for explaining how the Delhi Sultanate's administration became decentralised and how Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad bin Tughlaq tried to control muqtis.

Trap: aspirants often assume that because the iqta was a state institution, all revenue went straight to the treasury. The muqti kept a share, so the surplus alone was remitted.