Historical background of District Administration in Pakistan

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION:

The district administration has its origin in the Muslim revenue system established by Sher Shah Suri (1529-45). He divided his empire into 47 divisions or Sarkar, which were subdivided into 113,000 Parganas. He established an office of revenue at sarkar and Parganas. In the broad sense, Deputy Commissioner was the descendent of Faujdar of the Mughal administration (Mughal kings did not change the administrative structure established by Sher Shah Suri). The Mughal Empire was divided into provinces (sub-as) and districts (sarkar). The provinces were headed by a governor who was responsible for law & order and revenue collection. The district (sarkar) was subdivided into Parganas; which was headed by shiqdar who was responsible for law & order and general administration. The Mughal had no functionary at the village level, but Muqaddam use to perform revenue functions. He used to collect revenue. Patwari was an accountant, who uses to keep account of cropped areas, the crops sown and revenue demanded. In the Mughal system, there was a separation of judicial and revenue collection functions.

The British Period

The evolution of the modern district administration system can be traced back to Warren Hasting, who had initiated the appointment of a full-time collector to supervise zamindar. Later they were given the dual authority of revenue collection and judge. And we're known as Judge-Magistrates. In 1818, they had given policy control of the districts in some provinces. In 1829, Lord William Bentick appointed commissioners of revenue and circuit. These commissioners supervised the work of Judge-Magistrate and worked as a court of appeals. Between 1831- 1857 the main functions of Collector-cum-District Magistrates (DM) were to collect revenue and law and order. After 1857, the DM's responsibilities extended to development, irrigation functions, hospitals, roads, and railways. In 1861, the control of the police in the district had given to the DM, and he was to be the head of all government departments.

After independence:

After independence, the District administration was advantageous in responding to the requirements of the public and organizing the rehabilitation of refugees, settlement of evacuee properties, etc. Apart from the old regulatory activities, he was to perform new functions like industrialization, education, and health. In the current situation, he had to be more responsive, accessible, responsible, and accountable. The activities to be performed by DM were: