PESHAWAR, Dec 12: The NWFP government has submitted a bill to the provincial assembly secretariat to provide legal cover to recently revived divisional commissioners in the province, it is learnt.

An official told Dawn here on Friday that the bill “Land Revenue Amended Act 2008” had been submitted to the assembly secretariat for approval of the house at its coming session starting Dec 16.

NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani had promulgated an ordinance “NWFP Land Laws (Amendments) Ordinance 2008” on Oct 7 that paved the way for revival of divisional commissioners.

Since the lifespan of an ordinance is three months, the government is required to get a bill passed from the provincial legislature for providing legal cover to it. Approval of the proposed bill from the provincial assembly is the only formality left for reviving the commissionerate system in the province, the official said.

The provincial cabinet would also review progress on revival of the commissionerate system in light of the said ordinance at its meeting scheduled for Dec 15, said another official.

He said the proposed bill was almost the replica of the ordinance earlier promulgated by the governor, because the commissioners would have the same sweeping powers already delegated to them.

The proposed bill offers creation of seven revenue divisions, each of them to be headed by a commissioner, as was the case before introduction of the devolution of power plan in 2001.

These divisions include Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Kohat, Peshawar, Mardan, Malakand and Hazara. Each division will comprise four to five districts and adjoining tribal agencies and Frontier Regions.

The commissioners, in the proposed bill, have been delegated immense powers, as they would act as administrative heads of the divisions, besides being the competent authority for all revenue-related cases, the official maintained.

Under the proposed bill, each district would have a collector, assistant collector and revenue appellate tribunals for disposing of revenue-related business of the government.

The old commissionerate system was the major causality of governance sector reforms introduced by the former dispensation in 2001, when executive powers were taken from civil bureaucracy and delegated to elected public representatives in the new local bodies system.

However, early this year, three posts of regional coordination officers (RCOs) were created in the NWFP that proved to be the stepping stone for revival of the old commissionerate system in the province. The number of RCOs’ posts was later increased to five following which these offices were designated as commissioners.

Following promulgation of the ordinance by the governor, the NWFP government converted the RCOs’ posts into commissioners and currently seven commissioners have been posted at designated places.

All the four provinces, the official added, were willing to revive the revenue divisions, as Punjab had already passed a bill from the provincial assembly and steps were being taken in Sindh and Balochistan as well.