CHAPTER IX CHAPTER IX DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION
9.64 The Regulatory, and Static, Administration at thana level would include th? following:—
-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.
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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
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(ii) O vil judicial Adtninistratioit-^-The Munsiffs and Subdrdi- n'ate Judgbs- will Carry on this functiofi;
(iii) Land Revenue Administration and Land Management, i.te., the Wofk ho% being carried on by tile Citele'Officer
^Revenue) —Yhe respbnsibility of executive Magistracy and residual elxedutive function riiaiy also be Vested' in th'e officer entrusted With the Lan'd Revenue Administration.
Re Will be! assisted by KanUftgbs, TahSildars 'and Amins oi) die revenue
side
and such'5 Other officers as may be necessary on th'e executive Side depending on the work Ib id . The Treasury wilf also have to be gradually haftsferred to the Th’ana. The work should not posfe miich difficulty as the Banks ‘will handle cash. Thfe Circle Offidgr (Revenue) is presently an officer of Grade Vf."When tHe Thanas wotild be fully constituted as the 'focal point of ‘administration* fee post will have to be redesig
nated a's T'hana Executive Officers and placed in Grade V:
(iv) Food ana Civil Supplies—The work is now being managed , by the Officers o f, Food apd Civil Supplies Ministry .and the Consumers, Supplies Corp6ration tinder The’ s^pefviifeft' b fffte^D ep u ty Commissioners ._ Existing atra'iigertftent may continue with' the modification that ' the Wbrk Of SUbdivisionAl ’^onttofler 6f Food wfil haVe to 'be
’redistributed feetWeSft the Thaftas altd‘ Districts oh upgrate- tion e f ‘the$#bdiViSfc>tfs td Districts;
r .
(v) Public Order—^ h e Police will be responsible for this un^ier the overall supervision .oil the Deputy Commissioner and the officer performing the work of executive Magistrate at th^na level till, the responsibility of public order is transferred rto ' the Thana farishad. ' Whefi Judicial Magistrates ‘are p'6Vted:at thana level, ft woul$ be necessary to expand and modernise the Thana lbdk' up makfrig it suitable a& thC/judicial? lock u$V'i;er. Hajat;- «
(&) RfegWtratieffl—^-The- 'Sub-Registrars will'continue to carry on this work; and
(vii) Ansars, Customs and Excise, etc.—Existing arrangements may continue.
Union Administration
9.65 It has already been stated that a Union is the lowest unit of administration in Bangladesh. Excepting that there should be out
post of Police Stations in the Unions, it would not be possible to imme
diately deploy at this level officers of Regulatory and Static Depart
ment of the Government. The Development Administration in Union should be the responsibility of the Union Parishad to be constituted in accordance with the constitutional provision. The union administra
tive arrangements would therefore be discussed in the next chapter.
nt
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CHAPTER X
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION introduction
10.1 The function of the Government at all levels have increased beyond recognition in the twentieth century. The advent of the Socialist States has added enormously to the scale, volume, variety and complexity of governmental responsibilities everywhere. The Government of' Bangladesh is no exception. Moreover, the Govern
ment of Bangladesh is committed to democracy and socialism. Its principal aim' is to establish a socialist pattern of economy through the consent of the’ people. The Government is compelled to take upon itself the responsibility for the direction and utilisation of man-power,‘natural resources and the fast-growing technology for the creation of an environment conducive to widespread economic and social well-being.
The demands of the people upon the Government have become insistent and persistent.' Less and less, they are resigned to lives of proverty, hunger, ignorance and disease. In a country like ours, more and more the Government is looked upon as the agency to meet these urgent demands. The consequence of these is a huge expansion of the activities of the Government at*all levels to1 meet the problems that are being thrown up at these levels.
i 10.2 To effectively and expeditiously meet the problems, not central in nature, i.e., those which do not affect the country as a whole, decision should be taken at the place and by the persons, where and by whom the incidence is most deeply felt. Among the people of a particular locality, or area, there is cpnsciousness of .common purpose and common needs, which distinguish them from the inhabitants of o.ther areas. It is the neighbourhood which makes, them aware, of their common interests and these interests affect thejn more directly than others. If any attempt is made to administer these interests from without^ it is quite likely to be not responsive to local opinion. It is bound, in the nature of things, to miss shades and expressions of thought and sentiment, the perception of which is, in a real degree,
urgent to the success of administration. And such a government is bound almost inevitably, to aim, not at variety but at uniformity. It cannot graspin other words, the “genius of place”. Further, because it is the Government from without, it fails to evoke either interest or responsibility from the neighbourhood it controls. It may well provoke indignation, but it does not succeed in eliciting the creative support -of the people.
i ,
10.3 Good government is no substitute for self-government, 'and that is -the foundation of the Local Self-government. People must govern themselves and that is democracy. The success of a govern
ment and also of .the development programmes upon which the country has embarked depends on the active participation of the people jthemselves in the .administration an,d in the developmental activities at the ^grassiroot level. The local self-governing bodies provide the peqple with opportunity to participate in the local administration.
Article 59(1) of the Constitution has accordingly provided that the
■Local Government in every administrative unit of the country shall be entrusted to bodies composed of persons elected in accordance \vith law.
10.4 The distribution of functions between the National Govern
ment and the Local Government is consequently based on the principle that all the functions of the Government are not central in their nature and incidence, and that there are certain functions of a predominantly local character, which can be effectively administered by the local people. The guiding principle in the allocation of duties between 'different levels of local authority and the National Government is that a service should be administered by a local body that can administer it effectively. There are certain subjects which concern the country as a'wllole such as defence, foreign affairs, currency, etc., and these are the proper and legitimate sphere of the National Government.
There are certain subjects which concern the local areas such as a bridge over a canal, a primary school, protection of the locality, etc., and these constitute the proper sphere of the Local Government.
These functions can be effectively administered by the people of the
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locality. There are certain functiofls-^-agricuiture, animal? ftusba'ncfry, irrigation and reclamation, .health and rural sanitation,, education, jsfociaL .education (women and children)*, communication, ruraL arts, crafts and industries, rural engineering, co-Operation. and housing*^- which concern the local-,people-vitally. The Local Government in the rural are^s such as the jLJnion Parishad and the Thana Parishad can deal with these subjects effectively. This is in consonance with democratic principles.
10.,5 It is, however, true that there cannot be any fixity or unalterable rigidity about the devolution of functions from the National Government to the Local Government. What is purely local to-day may assume national.importance to-morrow. Again, what is national to-day may be a fit subject for the Local Government to-morrow., The Ideal authorities thus have only those powers that liaye been given to them by law o r( by an executive order or by an ordinance. There is no such thing as inherent power in the Local Government. I | a power cannot be found in legislation or .ordinance in favour, of the local bodies, there is no such power available for them. The power ol-the local authority -can be divided into permissive poWfer' and mandatory power.
10.6 It is in- the light ,pf the principles stated ^bove th a t We propose, to discuss the composition and functions of the -various levels of. the Local Government. We have already stated in the earlier chapter, the functions that should be retained by the National Government.>
Uhron Parishad
,10.7 A Union Ibeing the lowest unit of administration,- th^re sboiild be a Union Parishad in every Union in accordance with Article 55(1) of the Constitution. There should be 5,000 Union Parishads in, Bangladesh. Each Union Parishad should consist of 9 to 15 electoral
tfftifs, each unit comprising 1,000 to 1,500 persons. In other wprds, each Union Parishad should cover a rtumber of villages with a popula- J trdtt^ariging between ^OOO'ttf15;006 peltfohs.
Membership of the Union Parishad
i 10.8" , Each Union Parishad should consist of 9 to 15 members approximately, one member for every 1^000 persons in a Union. All the -members should, be directly elected for a term of five years on the basis of universal adult-franchise. A person who is a member of any other local body or df the Parliament should hot be eligible to become a member of a Union Parishad.
Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Union Parishad
10.9 In addition to the 9 to 15 members., a Chairman and a Vice-