LAHORE: The Punjab government quarters concerned are assessing the proposals floated by all administrative secretaries on placing their subordinates under the administrative control of commissioners or deputy commissioners who have not yet been able to deliver for want of such authority.

“The deputy commissioners or the commissioners do not have legal powers to control the employees of all departments at the district and divisional level, and have therefore failed to serve as effective administrative heads.

“Therefore, the government is actively working on placing the district employees under their (DCs) administrative control. This would make the word of the commissioner or the DC as law for the employees,” a senior official told Dawn on Tuesday.

If agreed to, the placement of the employees of all departments, except those of police and local government departments, under DC and commissioner would authorise the district and divisional heads to also write their annual confidential reports (ACRs), he said.

The idea was discussed in the meeting of the secretaries presided over by the chief secretary on May 15. It was decided that all administrative secretaries would submit their proposals to the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) regarding the delegation of powers to the “powerless” commissioners, deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners under the Punjab Civil Administration Act, 2017.

The secretaries were asked to give their opinion on Section 24 of the Act’s part 1 that says: “The government may, by notification, delegate such of its powers to its officers in the district as it considers appropriate in the interest of effective, efficient and economical delivery of public services subject to such conditions, if any, as may be specified in the order.”

Section 24 says: “In the like manner, the government may by notification, place such of its employees, excluding the employees of the police department and the local governments, under the administrative control of commissioner or deputy commissioner.”

It may be said the government had to reintroduce the office of deputy commissioner under the Civil Administration Act in view of the establishment of a new local council system late last year. But this office did not have the powers of the erstwhile deputy commissioners of the post-Musharraf era during which a new local government-cum-district administration office was introduced under the Local Government Ordinance 2001.

Even an attempt to make them ‘Justice of Peace’ instead of the district and sessions judges was foiled by police through active lobbying. In fact, police fought tooth and nail against the move as they took it as an attempt to once again place them under the civil bureaucracy.

Official sources said keeping in view the opposition from different quarters and to also dispel the impression that the government was once again introducing the “colonial district administration” the deputy commissioners were kept almost powerless.

But Section 24, on which the opinion of the administrative secretaries has been sought, was inserted to empower the DCs and commissioners at a later stage. “And it has come handy as powerless deputy commissioners are not delivering properly,” a senior official said.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2017