Deputy Commissioners in Assam staggering under burden of committees

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Overburdened with a whole lot of additional responsibilities, the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) in Assam have little time to focus on their prime duties. A DC heads 70-120 committees as chairmen in the respective district. In such a situation, he can neither focus on his prime responsibilities nor can he do justice to the committees he heads.

The DCs also head the committees to select the beneficiaries of the schemes of various departments. All such additional responsibilities have their cascading effects on the DCs.

According to the State government's updated 'Manual of Office Procedures Secretariat-1981', the duties of DCs are monitoring and supervising of revenue administration as collectors, supervising law and order, land records, conveying reactions of the public about various government policies to the government, coordinating among various departments in the district, etc. Apart from this, at the time of natural calamities the DCs have to oversee relief and rehabilitation of the affected people. They have to make time to meet and see ministers and other VIPs when they visit districts.

When asked for their comment, a section of DCs is of the opinion that "a DC is the representative of the government in the district". They, however, rue the fact that they are made chairman of every single committee of every department in their districts. Such a practice, according to them, delays holding meetings of various committees by three or four months. "Barring a few schemes that involve huge amounts of funds, rest of the committees can be headed by the officers of the respective departments so as to get things done at the least possible time. The overburdened DCs have no way out but to relegate the responsibilities of such committees to the ADCs (Additional Deputy Commissioners)," said one the DCs.

Sources said that according to the 'Manual of Office Procedures', only the Department of Administrative Reforms and Training (AR&T) can entrust a DC with an additional responsibility. If a department wants to give an additional responsibility to the DC, it has to do it through the AR&T. However of late, various departments entrust additional responsibilities to the DCs directly without going through the AR&T, making its role on such issues redundant.

If a DC feels that he's overburdened, according the manual, he can let the Chief Secretary know it. However, the DCs do not take any such move, maybe, with the fear of not being in the good books of the government.

A pertinent question is: Will the government continue to overburden the DCs with additional responsibilities of various committees making them less productive or allow them to focus on their prime responsibilities to deliver goods?

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