Political and Administrative Roles in East Pakistan's Districts

Abstract

T HIS ARTICLE is an evaluation of recent developments in the field of district administration in East Pakistan and their effect on the role of the chief administrative officer of the district, the Deputy Commissioner. The period covered is up to the end of the Second Five-Year Plan, that is, i965. The district has been chosen as the unit of study for several reasons. It is the lowest level at which most government departments have their agents or field officers and where the mechanism for the coordination of all government activities exists. Furthermore, at this level there is the most effective institution of local government, the District Council. Under British rule the Deputy Commissioner (sometimes known as Collector and Magistrate) was an all-purpose officer representing government at the district level. He was the agent of the government on the one hand and the guardian of the people under his charge on the other. This image of the Deputy Commissioner has undergone considerable change since independence. With the multiplication of government functions and the launching of the economic development program, district administration has gained a new character. In the absence of developed institutions of local government the scope of direct governmental activities at the field level has increased enormously. A large number of departmental officers now operate at the district level and though the direct responsibilities of the Deputy Commissioner have not increased, his task of coordinating their activities has added new dimensions to his role. Because of the economic activities of the government he has been called upon to act as an agent for social and economic change. He has also been given the responsibility of putting life into local government. This, of course, means curtailment of his paternalistic powers and surrender of a good measure of the guardianship he had exercised in earlier days. It is the purpose of this article to explore and evaluate the nature and extent of these new developments in East Pakistan.