The Assistant Political Agent acted as ex-officio Superintendent of the Palanpur Imperial Police, controlling the force employed in the Headquarters and thana circles.

The Deesa Cantonment was established in 1821 for the purpose of maintaining order in the Palanpur state, which had been subject to many disturbances since 1813, and to overawe the wild Bhil and Rajput outlaws, who from time immemorial had been the terror of the surrounding districts.

Situated on the left bank of the Banas river, three miles (5 km) north-east of Deesa town, it had a population (in 1901) of 11,047.

On 15 November 1879 the portion of the Western Rajputana States Railway between Ahmedabad and Palanpur opened for public traffic.

Just before the 1911 Coronation Darbar held for King-Emperor George V, the diwan was awarded the title of nawab, a personal salute of 13 guns, and the style of His Highness, in 1910.

Relations with Radhanpur State date from 6 July 1820, when an agreement was signed under the terms of which the Nawab was bound to pay a yearly tribute to the British.

After the death of Bismillah Khan in 1895, Radhanpur was put in the charge of British officers who toke over the treasury and the administration until the nawab's successor, who was a minor, came of age.

Of the seven smaller states, five (Tharad, Wao, Warahi, Deodar and Santalpur) signed agreements in 1820 by which they became tributary to the British.

They were bound by the same Engagements as the chiefs of Mahi Kantha, executed in 1812. and Deesa estate & thana ( Faujdari/thanedari ) was the part of Palanpur state.

Its rulers, Vaghela Rajputs, obtained possession of Morvada in 1508, and received Tharad in 1759 from the Nawab of Radhanpur.

In October 1904 he was invested with the powers of a 3rd Class Magistrate, but only in his villages of Ghadsai and Kalyanpur, due east of the town of Santalpur.

The state of Varahi was divided between two branches of the ruling family, who belonged to a Jat clan of Muslims.

Deodar State, modern Diyodar, was equally split between two ruling branches of the same family of Vaghela Rajputs.

[4] The British cantonment, named Deesa Field Brigade, was built in the middle of Rajasthan and Palanpur to maintain and protect the regions between Abu and Kutch from dacoits.

[5] According to the Palanpur Agency Directory (1907), the thana system was introduced 'merely because the estates are so small and the authority of the proprietors so weak, that otherwise no justice at all could be obtained.'

The estates of Dhima (in Wao thana) and Sanva (in Santalpur) had formerly also been granted jurisdictional powers, but these rights were never enjoyed.