Administrative affairs: Civil Administration Ordinance becomes order of the day

Commissioners will be officers in charge of administration at divisional level

LAHORE: A day after the cabinet’s approval, the Punjab governor promulgated the Civil Administration Ordinance 2016 to replace district coordinating officers with deputy commissioners.

According to the notification, the government shall appoint a commissioner who will be the in-charge of general administration and the principal representative of the government in a division. A deputy commissioner will be the in charge of the general administration and principal representative of the government in districts, while assistant commissioners will do the same on a tehsil level.

The commissioners will supervise and monitor duties of deputy commissioners in divisions and will coordinate the work of all offices and public facilities in the division, facilitate and coordinate any work which concerns two or more districts in the division or two or more divisions for integrated development, efficient use of public resources and effective service delivery. These officers will supervise and coordinate the implementation of policies, instructions and guidelines of the government.

A deputy commissioner will wield the same authority over of assistant commissioners in districts and ensure the standards set by the government are followed.

The government may appoint one or more additional commissioners in each division and one or more additional deputy commissioners in each district from officers who will serve under the general administration and control of the commissioner.

An additional deputy commissioner or assistant commissioner shall serve under the general supervision and control of the deputy commissioner. An assistant commissioner may distribute work among officers subordinate to him in the manner and to the extent prescribed.

The government may issue a code of conduct in relation to the exercise of authority and discharge functions under the ordinance.  Any deviation or violation of lawful directions, under the ordinance, shall be referred to the prescribed authority for action in accordance with the law.

The government may also constitute divisional, district or tehsil coordination committees consisting of such heads of local governments, members of the National Assembly and provincial assembly and heads of division, district and tehsil administrations and police.

In case of a complaint or otherwise, the commissioner or deputy commissioner may call for the record of any case from any office in the division or, as the case may be, the district, to satisfy himself as to the propriety or legality of any action taken or proposed by any office and pass appropriate directions.

The deputy commissioner, either on his own or on the request of the head of a local government or head of the district police, may convene a meeting for purposes of maintaining public order and safety and safeguarding public or private properties in the district.

In case of any unforeseen situation, deputy commissioner and the district police head shall jointly take appropriate action.

No public meeting, procession, assembly or gathering shall take place without prior permission of the deputy commissioner.

The deputy commissioner shall oversee the use of all public properties in the district.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2017.