No one, except perhaps the Punjab Police, is happy with the recently promulgated Civil Administration Ordinance 2016. Indeed, the police have emerged victorious as they have jealously guarded their turf.
The ordinance does away with District Coordination Officers and reinstates District Commissioners. But this has not sat well with the civil servants. In a rare expression of solidarity, the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) and Provincial Management Service (PMS), who are otherwise rivals, have joined hands and the Assistant Commissioner-level officers of both services have gone on a partial strike in the province since the law came into effect. They argue that a powerless District Administration is being set up under the ordinance and they will not be able to do their job without the necessary powers.
Political parties such as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, Pakistan Awami Tehreek, Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Q and Jamaat-e-Islami, also rejected the ordinance at an all-parties conference (convened by the PTI). They declared it a relic of a colonial past and described it as a move to weaken local government institutions. They demanded the Punjab government immediately revoke it as it went against the spirit of the Constitution.
Local govt worry
To many, the new civil administration set-up is unclear under the new law. People are wrong when they read the law to claim that Deputy Commissioners (DCs) will now control local government. The confusion arises when you read the ordinance in isolation and not with the parts that lay out definitions. Police, Safety Commissions, Complaint Authorities, District Councils, Metropolitan Corporations, Municipal Corporations, health and education authorities, all have been declared out of bounds for Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners. The authorities will be independent bodies with no control of the DCs over them. (Although the DCs have been appointed administrators of these authorities, this is a temporary arrangement and the politically appointed chairmen will take their position.) The authorities will be empowered to plan development schemes and make budgets for their districts and will have full administrative and financial powers.
This is perhaps why newly elected Lahore Mayor Colonel (retd) Mubashar Javed said that the new law presented no problems for the working of the civil administration. There was no conflicting gray areas and local government was meant to improve service delivery to the people, he said.
Justice of Peace powers
A draft of the ordinance contained the stipulation that the Deputy Commissioners and the Assistant Commissioners would have powers of Justices of Peace. Currently the power of Justice of Peace (JoP) is available only to the lower judiciary. A Justice of Peace is empowered to order the registration of an FIR if the police refuses to register one. Although the transfer of powers of JoPs from judicial to administrative officers does not involve the police, it looks like a threat because it empowers the office of the DC.
Former IG Tariq Saleem Dogar felt that there was no need to give powers of the Justice of Peace to the DC given that we already have sessions judges. He argued that this went against the spirit of the separation of the Judiciary from the Executive.
However, the Punjab Police forestalled this move by threatening to resign. The police maintained that placing them under the control of a civil boss would make it difficult to smoothly handle law and order. Even a brigade of retired IGPs joined the fray to resist the move. They called on the chief minister to ask him to refrain from passing any such law as they said it would create a sense of enmity between the police and bureaucracy.
The Deputy Commissioner used to be the District Magistrate which strengthened his position, says a senior PAS officer. District Magistrates exercised superintendence over the district police. A District Magistrate could inspect police stations to check if anyone had been put behind bars illegally. He could order an inquiry into police excesses. This kept the police in check and human rights violations and police high handedness were not as common then as these are now, he maintained. But the position of the Deputy Commissioner has been seriously eroded under the new system, said the PAS officer. The new DC is not even a shadow of the DC from the pre-Musharraf era.
DCs & DCOs
The office of the new Deputy Commissioner is not comparable to the office of the District Coordination Officer in terms of prestige and authority. The DCO was the head of the District Administration and had vast administrative and financial powers. The DCO was answerable to the District Nazim but now the DC will report to the Punjab Government (which means the chief minister). The commissioner will also follow the same path.
The Deputy Commissioner of the pre-Musharraf era had an executive magistracy to support him. In 2001, the executive magistracy was abolished and it has not been restored under the new system. The offices of the District Magistrate, Sub-Divisional Magistrate and the Executive Magistrate were also abolished.
The Government of Balochistan restored executive magistracy in 2011. However, the Balochistan High Court declared it null and void. Currently, the restoration of the executive Magistracy is in the Supreme Court where all four provincial governments and the federal government have become parties to the case. The executive Magistracy is in place in the Islamabad Capital Territory, Gilgit Baltistan and AJK.
A comparison shows that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has put in place a better system of local government by actually devolving power to the local level. However, at the same time, it has also ensured that the zila nazim does not interfere in the administrative matters of the DCO.
Under the new system, a new feature has been introduced for the coordination and oversight of the DC over the provincial departments in the districts. The DC will have powers to get matters pertaining to these departments inquired into and recommend action accordingly. However, the administrative officers are calling these powers peanuts. They are of the view that despite the much eroded position and powers of the DC, the government will expect him to deliver like a DCO or a pre-Musharraf Deputy Commissioner.
The Assistant Commissioners are particularly perturbed at their powerlessness. They claim that it is the AC who is the executor of the government’s policies and directives on the ground at the tehsil level. With absolutely no control over the police, with local government beyond his control, with the revenue officers and Patwaris under the effective control of the newly created Land Records Authority, he will be as helpless as anybody else.
Asif Cheema, a former general secretary the Supreme Court Bar, said there was no need to restore the DC’s office; what was needed was to improve the office of the DCO and District Nazim. The PAS cadre always misguides the rulers and the new system will not improve governance at the grassroots level, he added.
Devolution & police
Devolution was introduced by General Pervez Musharraf in 2001. He abolished the executive magistracy when he amended the Criminal Procedure Code and introduced Police Order 2002 that separated the police from the civil administration or ‘babus’. “The police’s basic duty was to control law and order,” said a senior police officer. “And the role of the Deputy Commissioner was just to victimise it in financial, administrative and command affairs.”
Under Police Order 2002, District Public Safety Commissions and Complaint Authorities were introduced at the district level to control police excesses. A police officer explained that Police Order 2002 empowers the people as the Safety Commissions and Complaint Authorities were made up of the general public.
However, a retired PMS officer rebutted the claim that Safety Commissions and Complaint authorities can work as effective community oversight for the police. He believes this because he says that nazims of Union Councils were members of Safety Commissions they developed a collusive relationship between members of the Safety Commissions and the police. He claimed that even an ASI would have two to four members of the commissions in his pocket, not to speak of the SHO. Political survival of these local members depended on the local police. “How can they control police,” the officer asked. “These bodies proved to be quite ineffective in curbing police excesses.” The police shun the control of the Deputy Commissioner because he is in a position to control police effectively as he has institutional support and the support of the Home Department.
The ordinance does away with District Coordination Officers and reinstates District Commissioners. But this has not sat well with the civil servants. In a rare expression of solidarity, the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) and Provincial Management Service (PMS), who are otherwise rivals, have joined hands and the Assistant Commissioner-level officers of both services have gone on a partial strike in the province since the law came into effect. They argue that a powerless District Administration is being set up under the ordinance and they will not be able to do their job without the necessary powers.
Political parties such as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, Pakistan Awami Tehreek, Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Q and Jamaat-e-Islami, also rejected the ordinance at an all-parties conference (convened by the PTI). They declared it a relic of a colonial past and described it as a move to weaken local government institutions. They demanded the Punjab government immediately revoke it as it went against the spirit of the Constitution.
The police maintain that placing them under the control of a civil boss would make it difficult to smoothly handle law and order. Devolution was introduced by General Pervez Musharraf in 2001. He abolished the executive magistracy when he amended the Criminal Procedure Code and introduced Police Order 2002 that separated the police from the civil administration or 'babus'
Local govt worry
To many, the new civil administration set-up is unclear under the new law. People are wrong when they read the law to claim that Deputy Commissioners (DCs) will now control local government. The confusion arises when you read the ordinance in isolation and not with the parts that lay out definitions. Police, Safety Commissions, Complaint Authorities, District Councils, Metropolitan Corporations, Municipal Corporations, health and education authorities, all have been declared out of bounds for Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners. The authorities will be independent bodies with no control of the DCs over them. (Although the DCs have been appointed administrators of these authorities, this is a temporary arrangement and the politically appointed chairmen will take their position.) The authorities will be empowered to plan development schemes and make budgets for their districts and will have full administrative and financial powers.
This is perhaps why newly elected Lahore Mayor Colonel (retd) Mubashar Javed said that the new law presented no problems for the working of the civil administration. There was no conflicting gray areas and local government was meant to improve service delivery to the people, he said.
Justice of Peace powers
A draft of the ordinance contained the stipulation that the Deputy Commissioners and the Assistant Commissioners would have powers of Justices of Peace. Currently the power of Justice of Peace (JoP) is available only to the lower judiciary. A Justice of Peace is empowered to order the registration of an FIR if the police refuses to register one. Although the transfer of powers of JoPs from judicial to administrative officers does not involve the police, it looks like a threat because it empowers the office of the DC.
Former IG Tariq Saleem Dogar felt that there was no need to give powers of the Justice of Peace to the DC given that we already have sessions judges. He argued that this went against the spirit of the separation of the Judiciary from the Executive.
However, the Punjab Police forestalled this move by threatening to resign. The police maintained that placing them under the control of a civil boss would make it difficult to smoothly handle law and order. Even a brigade of retired IGPs joined the fray to resist the move. They called on the chief minister to ask him to refrain from passing any such law as they said it would create a sense of enmity between the police and bureaucracy.
The Deputy Commissioner used to be the District Magistrate which strengthened his position, says a senior PAS officer. District Magistrates exercised superintendence over the district police. A District Magistrate could inspect police stations to check if anyone had been put behind bars illegally. He could order an inquiry into police excesses. This kept the police in check and human rights violations and police high handedness were not as common then as these are now, he maintained. But the position of the Deputy Commissioner has been seriously eroded under the new system, said the PAS officer. The new DC is not even a shadow of the DC from the pre-Musharraf era.
DCs & DCOs
The office of the new Deputy Commissioner is not comparable to the office of the District Coordination Officer in terms of prestige and authority. The DCO was the head of the District Administration and had vast administrative and financial powers. The DCO was answerable to the District Nazim but now the DC will report to the Punjab Government (which means the chief minister). The commissioner will also follow the same path.
The Deputy Commissioner of the pre-Musharraf era had an executive magistracy to support him. In 2001, the executive magistracy was abolished and it has not been restored under the new system. The offices of the District Magistrate, Sub-Divisional Magistrate and the Executive Magistrate were also abolished.
The Government of Balochistan restored executive magistracy in 2011. However, the Balochistan High Court declared it null and void. Currently, the restoration of the executive Magistracy is in the Supreme Court where all four provincial governments and the federal government have become parties to the case. The executive Magistracy is in place in the Islamabad Capital Territory, Gilgit Baltistan and AJK.
A comparison shows that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has put in place a better system of local government by actually devolving power to the local level. However, at the same time, it has also ensured that the zila nazim does not interfere in the administrative matters of the DCO.
Under the new system, a new feature has been introduced for the coordination and oversight of the DC over the provincial departments in the districts. The DC will have powers to get matters pertaining to these departments inquired into and recommend action accordingly. However, the administrative officers are calling these powers peanuts. They are of the view that despite the much eroded position and powers of the DC, the government will expect him to deliver like a DCO or a pre-Musharraf Deputy Commissioner.
The Assistant Commissioners are particularly perturbed at their powerlessness. They claim that it is the AC who is the executor of the government’s policies and directives on the ground at the tehsil level. With absolutely no control over the police, with local government beyond his control, with the revenue officers and Patwaris under the effective control of the newly created Land Records Authority, he will be as helpless as anybody else.
Asif Cheema, a former general secretary the Supreme Court Bar, said there was no need to restore the DC’s office; what was needed was to improve the office of the DCO and District Nazim. The PAS cadre always misguides the rulers and the new system will not improve governance at the grassroots level, he added.
Devolution & police
Devolution was introduced by General Pervez Musharraf in 2001. He abolished the executive magistracy when he amended the Criminal Procedure Code and introduced Police Order 2002 that separated the police from the civil administration or ‘babus’. “The police’s basic duty was to control law and order,” said a senior police officer. “And the role of the Deputy Commissioner was just to victimise it in financial, administrative and command affairs.”
Under Police Order 2002, District Public Safety Commissions and Complaint Authorities were introduced at the district level to control police excesses. A police officer explained that Police Order 2002 empowers the people as the Safety Commissions and Complaint Authorities were made up of the general public.
However, a retired PMS officer rebutted the claim that Safety Commissions and Complaint authorities can work as effective community oversight for the police. He believes this because he says that nazims of Union Councils were members of Safety Commissions they developed a collusive relationship between members of the Safety Commissions and the police. He claimed that even an ASI would have two to four members of the commissions in his pocket, not to speak of the SHO. Political survival of these local members depended on the local police. “How can they control police,” the officer asked. “These bodies proved to be quite ineffective in curbing police excesses.” The police shun the control of the Deputy Commissioner because he is in a position to control police effectively as he has institutional support and the support of the Home Department.