DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68025#0205
ROYAL COMMISSION UPON DECENTRALIZATION.
199
In revenue matters, except famine and forests, the
Commissioners are subject to the orders of the Board
of Revenue. In other matters, they deal with the
Government direct.
Apart from their special duties, the Commissioners
are recognized as the local representatives of Govern-
ment. They are expected to intervene in all matters
where prompt action is needed, even when they have
no concern with them in the ordinary course of their
duties, e.g., in a dispute between two Departments, or
where the conduct of an officer is likely to cause
scandal. The amount of work a Commissioner has to
do depends largely on his activity and his methods,
and on the time he has been in his division.
District Officers.—Under the Commissioner is the
District Officer. There are 34 districts in Bengal.
The largest is Darbhanga with a population of close
upon three millions. As Magistrate of the District,
the District Officer is required to supervise the work
of all the subordinate Magistrates. He seldom tries
cases himself, and his judicial work is confined almost
entirely to the hearing of applications for revision and
of appeals in petty cases disposed of by Magistrates
of the second or third class. He exercises the quasi-
executive powers vested in him under the Criminal
Procedure Code, and he is responsible for peace and
, good order in his district.
In the Non-Regulation districts, the District Officer
still possesses the powers of a Subordinate Judge, but,
except in one district, whole time Subordinate Judges
have now been appointed, and the District Officer
seldom does any civil judicial work himself, other than
work of a purely routine nature.
The District Magistrate is Head of the Police. In
this capacity, he exercises control over the investiga-
tion of important cases before they come to trial.
The Superintendent of Police is required to obtain
his approval to all orders of an important nature,
except such as relate solely to discipline and other
technical subjects ; and correspondence between the
Superintendent of Police and the Deputy Inspector
General passes through him. Appeals against orders
of dismissal and punishment lie to him.
In his capacity of Collector the District Officer
deals with all revenue matter affecting his district,
including the collection of the land revenue,
settlements, the partition of estates, the assessment
of income-tax, excise, stamps, treasury, &c., &c.
The District Officer is er.-officio Registrar and
ex-officio Chairman of the District Board. In the
latter capacity, he has control over primary education
and is charged with the execution and administration
of all local Public Works. He is also sometimes Chair-
man of the municipality at his district headquarters.
APPENDIX II.
No. 1550, dated Calcutta, the 16th March, 1908.
From—E. A. Gait, Esq., C.I.E., I.C.S., Chief Secretary to the Government of Bengal, Revenue Department,
To—The Secretary to the Royal Commission on Decentralization.
I am directed to submit, for the consideration of the
Royal Commission on Decentralization, the following
expression of the views of this Government as to
practical measures of devolution which it is prepared
to recommend in the direction of—(a) giving larger
powers to the Local Government itself, and (6) simi-
larly enlarging the powers of the Board of Revenue,
the Heads of Departments, and Commissioners and
Collectors ; and as regards the desirability of giving
larger powers to District Boards and municipalities.
2. In regard to the powers of the Local Government
itself, the most important direction in which the prin-
ciple of devolution can be given effect to is, no doubt,
that of financial control. The details of this control
are contained chiefly in the several codes issued under
the authority of the Government of India, such as the
Civil Service Regulations, Civil Account Code, Public
Works Department Code, &c. While this Government
fully realises the paramount importance of rigid
scrutiny and strict control of all proposals for increase
of recurring expenditure, there are many respects in
which the existing Regulations are too rigid. As
matters stand, the Head of the Local Government
may incur an expenditure up to 10 lakhs of rupees on
a particular work ; but he is prohibited from spending
a single extra rupee on salaries or allowances, where
this raises the charge beyond a certain small limit,
or from deviating a hair’s breadth from some general
rule, such as that prohibiting the deputation to foreign
service of an officer of less than 10 years’ standing.
The rule in question is, of course, a good one ; but
cases often occur in which exceptions have to be made ;
and it is, I am to submit, absurd that in all such
cases a reference has to be made to the Government of
India.
3. Sir Andrew Fraser is in full sympathy with the
views put forward by Sir S. Edgerley at the meeting
of the Supreme Council held on the 27th March last,
viz., that all Local Governments should have wider
discretion themselves to dispose of all particular cases
either of an infringement by past action of financial
rules of control, or of cases that do not involve a
new principle of administration or sanction to fresh
expenditure beyond such limits as may be imposed
from time to time, provided that in financial matters
the head Accounts Officer of the province concurs in
the proposed disposal as reasonable, and as being such
as his experience leads him to consider would be likely
to be sanctioned by the Government of India.
Periodical statements of all such cases should be
submitted to the Government of India in the Financial
Department.
4. In the interests of good administration it is
essential that everything possible should be done to
restore the local officers to the position which they
held before the days of telegraphs and returns, when
they were far less burdened with routine work, their
powers were less restricted, and the people were
accustomed to regard their orders as finally disposing
of the questions coming before them. The system of
administration which has grown up gradually in recent
years makes it necessary for a District Officer to
devote so much of his time to correspondence, registers
and returns,'all of which are in English, that he has
no longer the leisure to master the local dialects or go
about amongst the people as his predecessors did.
The result is that he and the people have, to a great
extent, got out of touch, and the old conditions of
mutual confidence and liking have largely disappeared.
The Lieutenant-Governor fears that the average Dis-
trict Officer of to-day knows less of the real life of
the people—of their character, interests, and aspira-
tions—than did his predecessors of half a century
back.
5. The evil has been accentuated by the more frequent
transfers of recent years. These are due partly to the
shortening of the journey to Europe, and partly to
the growth of special departments, such as the Settle-
ment Department, for which officers have to be care-
fully selected. It is also due in this province (as will
be pointed out immediately) to the staff being in-
adequate. The objection to frequent transfers are
manifold. Nothing tends to reduce the authority of
the Head of the district, or to diminish his interest in
it, more than the knowledge that his term of office there
is not likely to last more than a very limited time. He
199
In revenue matters, except famine and forests, the
Commissioners are subject to the orders of the Board
of Revenue. In other matters, they deal with the
Government direct.
Apart from their special duties, the Commissioners
are recognized as the local representatives of Govern-
ment. They are expected to intervene in all matters
where prompt action is needed, even when they have
no concern with them in the ordinary course of their
duties, e.g., in a dispute between two Departments, or
where the conduct of an officer is likely to cause
scandal. The amount of work a Commissioner has to
do depends largely on his activity and his methods,
and on the time he has been in his division.
District Officers.—Under the Commissioner is the
District Officer. There are 34 districts in Bengal.
The largest is Darbhanga with a population of close
upon three millions. As Magistrate of the District,
the District Officer is required to supervise the work
of all the subordinate Magistrates. He seldom tries
cases himself, and his judicial work is confined almost
entirely to the hearing of applications for revision and
of appeals in petty cases disposed of by Magistrates
of the second or third class. He exercises the quasi-
executive powers vested in him under the Criminal
Procedure Code, and he is responsible for peace and
, good order in his district.
In the Non-Regulation districts, the District Officer
still possesses the powers of a Subordinate Judge, but,
except in one district, whole time Subordinate Judges
have now been appointed, and the District Officer
seldom does any civil judicial work himself, other than
work of a purely routine nature.
The District Magistrate is Head of the Police. In
this capacity, he exercises control over the investiga-
tion of important cases before they come to trial.
The Superintendent of Police is required to obtain
his approval to all orders of an important nature,
except such as relate solely to discipline and other
technical subjects ; and correspondence between the
Superintendent of Police and the Deputy Inspector
General passes through him. Appeals against orders
of dismissal and punishment lie to him.
In his capacity of Collector the District Officer
deals with all revenue matter affecting his district,
including the collection of the land revenue,
settlements, the partition of estates, the assessment
of income-tax, excise, stamps, treasury, &c., &c.
The District Officer is er.-officio Registrar and
ex-officio Chairman of the District Board. In the
latter capacity, he has control over primary education
and is charged with the execution and administration
of all local Public Works. He is also sometimes Chair-
man of the municipality at his district headquarters.
APPENDIX II.
No. 1550, dated Calcutta, the 16th March, 1908.
From—E. A. Gait, Esq., C.I.E., I.C.S., Chief Secretary to the Government of Bengal, Revenue Department,
To—The Secretary to the Royal Commission on Decentralization.
I am directed to submit, for the consideration of the
Royal Commission on Decentralization, the following
expression of the views of this Government as to
practical measures of devolution which it is prepared
to recommend in the direction of—(a) giving larger
powers to the Local Government itself, and (6) simi-
larly enlarging the powers of the Board of Revenue,
the Heads of Departments, and Commissioners and
Collectors ; and as regards the desirability of giving
larger powers to District Boards and municipalities.
2. In regard to the powers of the Local Government
itself, the most important direction in which the prin-
ciple of devolution can be given effect to is, no doubt,
that of financial control. The details of this control
are contained chiefly in the several codes issued under
the authority of the Government of India, such as the
Civil Service Regulations, Civil Account Code, Public
Works Department Code, &c. While this Government
fully realises the paramount importance of rigid
scrutiny and strict control of all proposals for increase
of recurring expenditure, there are many respects in
which the existing Regulations are too rigid. As
matters stand, the Head of the Local Government
may incur an expenditure up to 10 lakhs of rupees on
a particular work ; but he is prohibited from spending
a single extra rupee on salaries or allowances, where
this raises the charge beyond a certain small limit,
or from deviating a hair’s breadth from some general
rule, such as that prohibiting the deputation to foreign
service of an officer of less than 10 years’ standing.
The rule in question is, of course, a good one ; but
cases often occur in which exceptions have to be made ;
and it is, I am to submit, absurd that in all such
cases a reference has to be made to the Government of
India.
3. Sir Andrew Fraser is in full sympathy with the
views put forward by Sir S. Edgerley at the meeting
of the Supreme Council held on the 27th March last,
viz., that all Local Governments should have wider
discretion themselves to dispose of all particular cases
either of an infringement by past action of financial
rules of control, or of cases that do not involve a
new principle of administration or sanction to fresh
expenditure beyond such limits as may be imposed
from time to time, provided that in financial matters
the head Accounts Officer of the province concurs in
the proposed disposal as reasonable, and as being such
as his experience leads him to consider would be likely
to be sanctioned by the Government of India.
Periodical statements of all such cases should be
submitted to the Government of India in the Financial
Department.
4. In the interests of good administration it is
essential that everything possible should be done to
restore the local officers to the position which they
held before the days of telegraphs and returns, when
they were far less burdened with routine work, their
powers were less restricted, and the people were
accustomed to regard their orders as finally disposing
of the questions coming before them. The system of
administration which has grown up gradually in recent
years makes it necessary for a District Officer to
devote so much of his time to correspondence, registers
and returns,'all of which are in English, that he has
no longer the leisure to master the local dialects or go
about amongst the people as his predecessors did.
The result is that he and the people have, to a great
extent, got out of touch, and the old conditions of
mutual confidence and liking have largely disappeared.
The Lieutenant-Governor fears that the average Dis-
trict Officer of to-day knows less of the real life of
the people—of their character, interests, and aspira-
tions—than did his predecessors of half a century
back.
5. The evil has been accentuated by the more frequent
transfers of recent years. These are due partly to the
shortening of the journey to Europe, and partly to
the growth of special departments, such as the Settle-
ment Department, for which officers have to be care-
fully selected. It is also due in this province (as will
be pointed out immediately) to the staff being in-
adequate. The objection to frequent transfers are
manifold. Nothing tends to reduce the authority of
the Head of the district, or to diminish his interest in
it, more than the knowledge that his term of office there
is not likely to last more than a very limited time. He