CHAPTER IX CHAPTER IX DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION
9.55 AH other developmental activities, not enumerated in the above paragraph should be the responsibility of the Zilla Parishad. The
services of all officers of these development departments engaged in a district should be transferred to the Zilla Parishad. The officers would, however, be transferable from one district to another by their respective parent Department. Such transfers should not be too frequent. While posted in a district, these officers should be under the full operational control of the relevant Zilla Parishad. We would discuss more about the control of these officers while dealing with the
Local Government Service in the next chapter. Arrangements will naturally have to be made for deploying officers separately for carrying on development work retained by the Government.
9.56 The financing of the execution of the development projects by the Zilla Parishad should not pose any extra problem. Obviously, these projects would have been executed by the respective Departments
out of development grants of the Government. These grants should now be placed at the disposal of the Zilla Parishad.
9.57 For the proper supervision and co-ordination of the deve
lopment activities, the Zilla Parishad should constitute a number of committees and sub-committees. Although the officers and staff of the corporate sector would not be transferred to the Zilla Parishads, never
theless, their work which are not inter-district in nature should be performed within the overall co-ordination of the Zilla Parishads. "
Divisional Administration •
(including administration of the Ranges, Circles, Regions, etc.)
9.58 We have already said that the Divisional Commissioners in their present role are acting as mere post offices— an unnecessary link between the Government and the District. Many of their statutory functions can be transferred to the District Officers and the rest to the Government. The post of Divisional Commissioner can thus be abo
lished and the Divisions as administrative tiers may disappear. But the problem of supervising the work of large number of Deputy Commissioners on upgradation of the Subdivisions to Districts would remain. It would not be possible for the Government to directly manage the supervision of the work of so many Deputy Commis
sioners specially the supervision through regular inspection.
9.59 Similar would be the case with other Departments. Most of them have set up circle, range, or regional offices— their jurisdic
tion being mostly co-terminus with the administrative divisions mainly for supervision and inspection purposes. While the operational control of the officers engaged in development Work would remain with the Zilla Parishad, the technical supervision and
2 88
regular inspection would continue to be carried on by the superior officers of the respective Departments. We would, therefore, recom
mend that the regional, circle or range etc. offices should be reorga
nised mainly as inspectorates in the cases of the development Depart
ments. For the supervision of the work of the Deputy Commissioners, the Government should create posts of Vigilance Commissioners.
Their duties may include regular inspection of the offices of the Deputy Commissioners and giving them such guidance as they may require from time to time. They should also receive, till Administrative Tribunals are set up, public complaints in respect of any office, enquire into the same and suggest remedial measures which should not be ignored except under orders of the Government. The post of Vigi
lance Commissioner may be in Grade II. The jurisdiction of the circle/range/region/inspection offices may be conveniently determined depending on the work load and complexity and need not be territori
ally similar in all cases.
Regional Planning Authorities
9.60 Although Bangladesh is a small and compact area, its population is vast. It also has areas with distinct and special problems.
In this regard, the cases of Northern Bengal, the “Haor” areas, the Chittagong Hill Tracts, etc. can be cited. These areas deserve special and concentrated development efforts on an overall basis.
It would be appropriate to set up Regional Planning Authorities for the quick development of these areas.
Thana Administration
9.61 A Union is the lowest unit of administration in Bangladesh, but as it has not been possible to post functioneries of most of the Departments of the Government at the union level it cannot be taken to be the basic unit of administration. As officers of most of the Departments of the Government have been posted at the thana level, it can be taken to be the basic unit of administration in Bangladesh.
We woul(J discuss about the Thana Administration in this chapter and Its functions, as has already been mentioned, as a unit or branch of the
-District* Administration.''With the*upgradation of, the Subdivisions to the Districts, all the Thanas' will become ,the.focal point of administra
tion.
y.e>2 The population of the Thanas varies.considerably. According to 1961 Census, out of the 421 Thanas, 223 Thanas have a population of over 100,dt ' j 6b (in some cases it is up to 1,82,00Q), 34 Thanas haveI L / f»f * T ‘ . .• j-i/ 1 * * a population over r2Q0,000 and 5 Thanas have a population of over 300,000. Tejgaon Tfifipa pncjer the Dacca".Sadar Souths.Subdivision has a.population of 3,47,465; the Brahmanbaria Thana under the Brahmanbaria Subdivision has a population of 3,06,9.66; Laksam Thana h,as a peculation of 3,16*330; Chandpur Thana h^s a popula
tion of.3,05,384; and Begumganj Thana has a population of 3,65,743.
Some readjustment of the boundaries should be made to bring down the population of the Thana to a more or less uniform level. There should be about 450 thanas comprising 5,000, Unions. Present number of Unions is; 4,046. All these bodies at the rural level will cpmprise, the whole of (56,832 villages jn Bangladesh. There will thus be a little over 11 Union Parishads in a Thana. Each Union Parishad wiirconsist of 1 2 or 13 villages.
' ' l , ■* „ . . . i ..
9.63 As in the. case of the District Administration, the responsi
bility of the Development Administration shpuld be. transferred to the Thana Parishad which is to be constituted in accordance with constitu
tional provision. The, responsibilityt of regulatory and, static admin
istration should continue with'the Gpvemment along with the develop
ment functions retained by jt.as indicated at para 9 ,5 4 ., fThe arrange
ments necessary for the Development Administration at; .thana level will discussed' in the next chapter. “We may 'discuss here’ the arrangements’ riecdsWry for regtilatdfy aricT static administration at thana leVel.
Regulatory and Static Administration a t,Thana Level
9.64 The Regulatory, and Static, Administration at thana level