Dating back to the Mughal period, situated close to the borders of Haryana and Uttarakhand states, and surrounded by a very fertile agricultural region namely ( Ahata Gaunsgarh, Nagal, Khanpur, Ahmedpur, Chandona, Pandokhedi, Kamalpur Bakdoli, Umarpur, Tilafra, Hasanpur Luhari) famous for plentiful yields in grains and fruits, Jalalabad is internationally famous for its wood carving work cottage industry.

Of these mahals, Sardhana was included in the sirkar of Saharanpur and together with the bulk of the present district of Muzaffarnagar, formed a dastur (an administrative unit).

Under the Marathas, the districts were included in the Saharanpur, or Baoni division, which consisted of fifty two parganas, and this arrangement continued till 1803, when, by a treaty, the Sindhia ceded to the British the whole of his possessions between the Ganges and the Yamuna.

Between 1804 and 1806, the parganas of Baghpat, Sarnawa, Loni, Chhaprauli, Dasana, Jalalabad and Dadri were placed in the charge of the residents at Delhi but later were attached to the southern division of Saharanpur, with a collector resident at Meerut, the revenue administration of the northern division being under the collector stationed at Saharanpur.

By this time, district had assumed something of its present shape and size, but its boundaries, area and internal adjustments kept on undergoing several changes till 1859.

The first change took place in 1835 (after the lapse of the jagir of Bala Bai of Gwalior), when the district was reconstituted with the tahsils of Meerut, Hastinapur, Kandhla, Baghpat, Dasna, Hapur, and Puth-Siyana; the second with the lapse of the estates of Begum Samru in 1836, when the parganas of Sardhana, Barnawa and Kotana were included in the district, each forming a separate tahsil till 1840; the third in 1842, when the parganas of Shikarpur, Sambhlera, Bhuma, Kandhla and Budhana were transferred to Muzaffarnagar, the tahsils constituting the district then being Meerut, Sardhana, Baraut, Baghpat, Hapur and Dasna; the fourth in 1853 when 110 villages of Loni and 14 of Dasna were transferred to Delhi, 15 being given to Muzaffarnagar and 7 being received in exchange.

In May of that year, the district was reorganised so far as to constitute six tahsils, those of Meerut with 323 estates; Sardhana with 154; Baghpat with 277; Muradnagar with 266; Hapur with 329; and Mawana with 289.