COMMISSIONERATE SYSTEM VS

LOCAL GOVERNANCE SYSTEM

2001
A Critical Analysis of the Both Systems for
Better Civil Service

BY:

ABDUL

RAHMAN

MALIK

COMMISSIONERATE SYSTEM VS
LOCAL GOVERNANCE SYSTEM
2001
By: Abdul Rahman Malik
Pakistan has been influenced by British
colonial rule when it was united with India popularly
called the subcontinent . The British raj gave some
wonderful systems to be carried over by the successful
governments which includes railways , policing , judiciary
, land revenue and local governance . Both India and
Pakistan have been over influenced by the British colonial
rules which are still kept intact as our legislators have
not bothered so far to either revise these obsolete laws
and acts or produce alternatives to replace those old
acts and laws whose efficiency has diminished with
passage of time and after advancement in the technology
as well as
rising population
, these laws
need
amendments and addition of new paras.
However, all laws could not be done away with
overnight as enough time will be required to present a
well balanced and effective policy to either make any
amendments in the laws or devise new ones keeping in
view the ever increasing demands of the time .
Keeping in view the ever increasing demand of
Local Governance system to make the idea of providing
lasting peace , devolving Administrative , Governance ,
and Financial Powers at District , Tehseels and Union
Council levels , General Pervez Mushharraf tasked the
NRB Chairman Daniyal Aziz to prepare the Draft of
Local Government Ordinance 2001 . Daniyal Aziz along
with Committee members consulted the various Public
Policy and Governance experts , arranged Seminars and
Discussions regarding the proposed Local government
Ordinance 2001 and finally getting inputs from all the
stake holders finalized the Draft and presented in the

assembly for approval which was approved unanimously

.
The local bodies System introduced by
General Pervez Musharaf gave great Administrative ,
Financial and Local Governance powers to the People of
Districts and City Governments . The People got easy
access to Executives at district level and got their
queries solved in their Districts which saved their
precious time of travelling to Divisional and Provincial
Head Quarters for common purposes . It was very first
time that Districts were given financial autonomy and
Finance and Planning Departments were
devolved at
district level as 150 Years Old Commissionerate system
had
no provisions to devolve
or
decentralize
the
Financial system to account IV from account I . This
step greatly helped the various line departments to
prepare their budget estimates and get releases from
finance and Planning Departments executives . It was
also very first time that Police act of British Colonial times
was replaced with
Police Order 2002 separating
Operation and Investigation branches of the police and
renaming the Designation of Superintendent of Police as
District
Police Officer
(DPO) working under
the
supervision of Nazims and District Coordination Officers of
grade 20 .
The Commissionerate system was influential
in terms of matters related to Governance since it served
the purpose of Provincial Governments as powerful
control over the
Financial
, Administrative
and
Governance Powers considered the people
as subjects
rather than as equal citizens and had no provision for
community
Supported
Governance
where
the
Communities could have free will and wish to suggest
development schemes or Programmes for social ,economic
and cultural activities .

The Commissionerate system had long

maintained their supremacy in civil services since
Indians retained Indian Civil Service but Pakistani elite
had named their civil service as Central Superior
Service means those who cleared the English dominated
Competition were Superiors to the society . Now , if you
named them superiors , how would they serve the cause
of community who seek lasting solutions to their Problems
. They had easily became the Superiors and started
considering the poor segments of the society as inferiors
. Moreover , these civil servants broke the records of
corruption in administrative matters as a result people
got sick of them and wanted a new system based on the
principle of Justice at the door step , say in the matters
related to the community and the matters related to
governance , participatory planning and monitoring the
working of local administration as well as employees of
public or social service departments such as Education ,
health and Community Development .
The revival of 150 years old obsolete system also
served the interests of Political pundits who get posted
the District Executives such as Deputy Commissioners ,
Superintendents of Police ,Assistant Commissioners (ACs),
Mukhtiarkars of revenue , District Educations Officers and
even Station House Officers SHOs of their choice so
that they may maintain their influence and dominancy
over the District Administration and get their interests
served by hook or crook . The District Government Heads
such DCs and Police Heads play in hands of powerful
Feudals who are at the same time , elected MNAs and
MPA, . But the Irony is that in some provinces , the MPAs
and MNAs have been given the control of TMA,s and
Other Departments
to establish their
influence
and
misappropriate the funds meant for the Sanitation ,
Public Places , Communication and Development .
The Local Bodies System 2001 was no doubt a
gift for the people of Pakistan to have been implemented
with due attention and making it transparent through

some amendments . The USAID , ADB , World Bank and

AusAid had pledged great support for improvement and
sustainability of the system . The Programmes such as
Sindh Devolved Social services Program
SDSSP ,
Decentralization Support Program by ADB , Districts that
work by USAID and Devolution Trust for Community
Empowerment were the prominent Programmes which
provided Financial Grants to Districts , Capacity Building
of
Officers of
District Governments
, Budgetary
Consultative Workshops , revenue generation at District
Level , Tax , OZT Collection etc . These wonderful
programmes also helped the districts to devise Policies
and
Standard
Operating Procedures
(SOPs)
and
Governance Reforms by training the Nazims , Naib
Nazims , Councilors and Officers of the District .
The Local Governance Ordinance of 2001
had also introduced
new departments at district level
such as Civil Defense , Law Department , IT Department
,Finance and Planning Department
along with
Old
Departments of Education , Health , Revenue , Agriculture
, Food and Works and Services ,Community Development
Departments headed by EDOs and DOs and DDOs etc .
Though the number of Executive bureaucrats was
maximized but it served the interests of the public and
who got their issues solved by approaching the concerned
departments of District .
It would be interesting to know that schemes
such as crosses , brick pavements and CC Blocks or
Drains were approved locally by the Union council
Nazims or Tehseel Nazims which gave relief to the public
where as
in commissionerate
system
Deputy
Commissioners have been given three Millions Annually
for Operational and Grant in Aid purposes which is really
insufficient amount
at the
disposal of
Deputy
Commissioners to serve the needy people submitting
appeals to the District Executive . Where as in Local
Bodies District Coordination Officers had 2 Billion Rupees
at their Disposal in terms of Salary , non salary , grant in aid
and Development purposes . At the same time they had

complete financial autonomy since funds were placed at

district Governments Account-IV released by DCOs ,
EDOs Finance and Planning through District Accounts
Officers . There was great check and balance over the
release of funds and their proper utilization since
monthly utilization and internal audit provision in each
department of District .
The Union Council were provided 100000 to
200000 lac per month for development and salary
purposes . Tehseel and District Nazims were preparing
the Annual budgets themselves with help of Finance and
Planning Departments with budget estimates from all the
departments through DDOs . This greatly helped the
Elected representative of the Taluka and District councils
to learn the legislative and governance dynamics at
grassroots level .
This greatly encouraged community
empowerment through engagement in development and
Financial planning for the communities who voted them
and supported them in non party based elections . Most
of the previous Nazisms won the elections in General
Elections for MNA and MPAs since they had been able to
groom themselves as Public representatives and the
Local Bodies Platform greatly served as nursery for such
future Leaders who have been entrusted with duties of
Policy Making and Implementation at Provincial and
Federal Level .
The Flaws may be related to control of
financial components since no watch dogs for monitoring
the Executives were available at district level . The check
and balance was a bit loose but was not loose at all that
it may have been
replaced
with
the
Colonial
Commissionerate System which heralds that we are not
free from the influence of British Raj and we still endorse
and sustain the laws and acts made 150 years ago . The
World is not the same as it was 150 years ago nor the
problems and needs are the same as they were in those
days . So why we get stuck to these oldies why not try the

new and improved ones. The System introduced after

open discussions and
consultations are
reversed or
replaced on the pretext that it was introduced by Military
ruler .A person can be bad due to his behavior but if
someone gives you the change with clear road map
then its our duty to appreciate the concept and mould
it according to time and consequences rather than making
it controversial through useless and averse comments
that something was introduced by a dictator . Then the
question will pop
up
in
every bodies
mind
that
Commissionerate system was the production of British
who occupied your land and made you slaves
then
commissionerate system must be despised of more than
the Local Bodies System of 2001 introduced by Pakistani
Soldier . The previous argument regarding a system
introduced by Musharaf ,has no base or weightage since
it does not quite satisfy the reason to change the modern
Community based approach to One man show at the
districts where no public opinion is regarded , no timely
relief is provided but the people have been subjugated
to obey the orders of
the local feudal , DCs ,
Commissioners with little options but to approach courts
for relief .
The Commissionerate system is very old and
obsolete may be considered as the dead horse but the
Provincial Governments are stuck to it and resurrected it
again in worst formate which does not serve the interests
of common men . Some provinces such as Punjab is
running
a
blend of
Local
Governance
and
Commissionerate system which may be good experiment
but the other provinces such as KPK , Baluchistan and
Specially Sindh has stuck to this dead horse which has
held
the
whole
governance
system in abeyance
.Commissionerate
System
may have pleased
the
bureaucrats who seem to have regained their former
powers but will continue to haunt the common men by
serving the will of feudals and playing in their hands.

It is , therefore , ardent wish of the people to do

away with bureaucratic influenced system and introduce
the Community participated and represented system to
build the confidence and solve the ever growing
problems of unemployment , law and order situation ,
financial constraints and justice at the door steps .This may
happen when the leaders of
Pakistan
specially the
provincial leaders will give serious consideration to local
Governance
issues
, community participation
and
sustainable Development in order to put Pakistan on the
right track leading to progress so that the idea of a
welfare state could be materialized . After eighteenth
amendment , it is mandatory upon the
provincial
Governments to devolve the Administrative , Financial
and Local Governance Powers at District and Union
Council level to make the dream of a brighter Pakistan a
reality.
References:

1. Local government system in Sind: includes Sind Local

Government Ordinance, 1979.
By Sind (Pakistan). Sind Local Government Board.; Book : State or
province government publication
,Language: English Publisher: [Karachi] : Sind Local Govt. Board,
1981
2. Local government system in Sind. By Sind (Pakistan).;
Book: State or province government Publication, Language: English,
Publisher: [Karachi] :
Sind Local Govt. Board, 1981
3. Mahmood Ali Shah :Sardari, jirga & local government systems in
Baluchistan
Book, Language: English Publisher: Quetta: Qasim Printers, 1992.
4. Munawwar Alam :An introduction to the local councils system in
Sindh & elections
United Nations Development Programme.; Norway. Direktoratet for
utviklingshjelp. Book Language: English, Publisher: Islamabad :
Electoral Processes
Resource Centre, 1999.
5. Munawwar Alam : Managing change in local governance
Andrew Nickson; , Book Language: English ,Publisher: London,
U.K. : Commonwealth Secretariat, 2006.

6. The Sindh Local Government

Ordinance, 2001
Amended Up To December 27, 2002 ,Chapters related Governance
and Administration
7.

The Sindh Local Government Act, 2013

http://www.sindh.gov.pk/dpt/Local%20Government/THE%20DRAFT
%20SINDH%20LOCAL%20GOVERNMENT%20ACT%202013.pdf