[sivaharimani]

hai afmcite2002 ,
the phrase about IAs officers that " They are jack of all and master of nothing" was given by the ARC(administrative reforms committee) and Pay commission. It is not my own phrase.
ARC and Pay commissions frequently review the administration and civil service in India,
the reforms made regarding civil service esspecialy all india services(IAS,IPS,IFS) only through the recommandations of these committees

hope you got the poit friend

[sivaharimani]

i wanted say that they are masters in specialisation. That is, they can handle any job (which should be done through a good leadership) and any officers(IPS,IRS,even IAS(sub.collectors. ect))

[chanda_s]

shivaharimani, an IAS officer doesn't 'handle' an IRS officer when he is the district collector in the sense that you are referring to. the only time he can handle an IRS officer is when he is the JS or when he is revenue or finance secretary (and ofcourse cabinet secretary)and that too indirectly.

excepting officers from IPS and to some extent IFS(forest) i dont think any district collector really 'handles' any other officer from Group A central services under normal circumstances.

but do you know this, in some states one need not necessarily be an IAS to be a district collector.

[sivaharimani]

hai Chanda sir,
thanks for your comment on my post. You realy stimulated me to read about the role of the
DC in deep. I gently wants to say the reason for my post in the thread "is realy IAS position
required". I think what i said in the post is correct. the reasons i have given below for your convenience.

As per the role of a district collector,
A collector is a co-ordinating authority in a district.He has to properly handle the
important officers of the district(they may be IPS,IRS,IFS) to co-ordinate them to provide
the service for the people. District collectorate is a unique as it has no parallel in the
district administration.

ofcourse, the IRS officers are responsible to only their respective department
heads.But, a district collector concerned , he is the chief staff or apex of the hiararchy
of a district, having all the important officers of the district to assist him.

Therefore, although Income tax is a central dept, the income tax , sales tax, its
respective arrears, judicial proceedings and taxes leviable in shape of various kinds can
be certified by the district collector only

These proceedings and informations to be certified can be properly moved through
collectors by the officers (who usually IRS officer).

According to the Police Act,Section-4 says that As the role of magistrate of a district
collector, he who has to do the Police administration of the district. The SP heads the
police admin and commissioners in non-rural areas who come under the control of the
district collector.

The annual police administration report to be prepared and submitted through
the DC(district collector) by the SP(usually an IPS officer) even though he is responsible
to the line of authority to the police head DGP, because the operational control of
the police in a district is under the DC.

Police ACT also syas that an SP should stand ant salute to the DC as a
superior to him.

But, I did not like to say that an IPS officer is subordinate to the DC. Thats why i carefully
used the word HANDLE instead of Subordination.

A DC can even check and inspect the SP office and all the police stations in that district,
according to the Police Act.

But the police commission Act 1978, provuded that only the metropolitan cities
Calcutta,Delhi,Bombay,Madras come under the law and order power of the Police Commissionar.

The co-ordinating function gives a DC an immense power, because of the principles of
administration. To be a co-ordinator, he has the power to overall charge of Every important officers in
that district who are answerable to the DC.

However, the DC as a head of the district admin, he supervises and coordinates their works.
Unlike the other district officers, the DC is a generalist civil servant usually a member of IAS. This is what
i meant to say Chanda sir. The officers of various deprts who are supervised by DC as follows,
1.Police
2.Excise/sales/income taxes
3.Medical
4.public health
5.forest
6.education
7.cooperation
8.Agriculture
9.judicial
10.Jails
11.Labour
12.Public works
13.information and publicity
14.Employment
15.Panchayats
16.treasury
17.planning
18.civil supplies ect.,


Several heads and deartments have been set up in district level. same of these are technically headed
by the specialists(ex:taxation-byIRS, Policing by IPS usually). some deprts are public health, public work,
agri, irrigation, revenueofficers.

as he is the chief coordinator of the district to the district plan(king pin action of bottom up approach
of the country), all the plans of the seperate heads as the above mentioned, should take the district as the major operational
unit. So, in this time, the coordination role of the DC is very very vital, ensuring the various departments which
can not execute the tasks directly to the head of the deprt without crossing over the DC and his knowledge.

So, now you can understand what i meant sir, in my post. The chief role of coordinating in the district
give the DC the power to HANDLE the important officers of the district. Thats why the post IAS is given atmost care
and priority both in recruitment and training.

ofcourse sir, in some states the DC need net be an IAS officer. But, i tried to mention only the states in
which DC usually from members of IAS rank, but not other states as you mentioned. In a clear words, he is the CEO
of the district who is overall charge of the important officers and their subordinates.

Reference:Arora goyal, Police ACt, ARC report, Lakshmikanth's notes, and Dr.Fadia

For this information I spent whole day to post and checked the concepts twise and got a good experience.

Thank you sir
sivaharimani

[chanda_s]

sivaharimani, you appear to have done a good research in the subject. but you will realise when you get into the services, from practical experience, that part of the information collected by you is wrong factually. it could be because of your misinterpretation as well.

let me get a few things in proper perspective for your benefit. firstly there is this concept of taxation in the country which you must understand. the constitution of India differentiates various taxes and allots the job of collection and appropriation of taxes between the centre and the states.

income tax is levied and collected by the central govt. the officers of the income tax dept are not district officers. their jurisdiction can in many cases include multiple districts as well. coordination or supervision of levy and collection of income tax is not the responsibility of the district collectors. And income tax is not certified by the collector as you seem to think. The collector is duty bound to assist in recovery of tax arrears to govt and so is the police.

the other confusion you appear to be in is that all forms of tax are collected by IRS officers. it is not correct. IRS officers are responsible for collection of only income, tax, corporation tax, central excise, customs, service tax etc. other taxes like property tax, state sales tax etc are collected by the state govt. and yes, agricultural income tax is in the state list.

further if you are under the impression that all the 18 departments you listed out are headed by specialists, you are mistaken. quite a few of them are headed by the 'generalists' of the state administrative service.

district collector, however, is for most practical purposes the face of government in a district. developmental activities are routed through him and most public grievances can be settled by him. it is also pertinent to mention that in many states, this position is now very much diluted as most of the above mentioned activities are now done through the district panchayat which though not theoretically but in many ways practically independent of the collector. most developmental works are done through the zilla panchayat. After the 73rd constitutional amendment, panchayat raj institutions are gaining pre-eminence at the cost of the district collector. it is besides the point that the CEO of the ZP could possibly again be an IAS officer.

Being the representative of the state government in the district, the DC is the first person approached by most central govt depts for liaison with state govt. the reverse is also true. For any liaison the state govt wants to have at district level with central govt bodies, the DC plays a central role. But to say that DC coordianates and supervises all central govt activities in the district is slightly far fetched. Yes it is correct to the extent that he involves himself in those areas which have substantial state govt interest.

but definitely, sivaharimani, you have done a very honest research and gathered quite some useful information on the office of the district collector. good job.

[Vipula]

Originally Posted by chanda_s

shivaharimani, an IAS officer doesn't 'handle' an IRS officer when he is the district collector in the sense that you are referring to. the only time he can handle an IRS officer is when he is the JS or when he is revenue or finance secretary (and ofcourse cabinet secretary)and that too indirectly.

excepting officers from IPS and to some extent IFS(forest) i dont think any district collector really 'handles' any other officer from Group A central services under normal circumstances.

but do you know this, in some states one need not necessarily be an IAS to be a district collector.

sir, can u plzz name those states where one need not necessarily be an IAS to be a district collector..

[sivaharimani]

thats nice., Thank you chanda sir.,
But sir , the research in a subject will not usefull to clear the CS exam. I refered those books with more practicality. I know all forms of taxes are not collected by the IRS officers the clear classification of the taxation. As a commerce student i have no doubt in this regard.

thank you again
sivaharimani

[tejasri]

thanks for the very valuable information sir

[black eagle]

The IAS is required no doubt. But i dont think in the 21st century administration the IAS is required everywhere. The discussion that has been going on here is restricted to their role in district administration. But one must also remember that the IAS officers also manage most of the ministerial departments. Now here i dont think IAS is required everywhere. There needs to be greater amount specialisation at the ministries because these are mostly involved in formulation of policies. Now, for instance, the ministries like finance , home, telecommunications etc should be managed by specialists. I strongly believe that the home ministry should be managed by the IPS officers, even at the level of the home secretary, simply because our policy making requires more specialisation. Though not all the posts in a ministry should be managed by specialists. People who directly deals with a particular phenomenon should be intimately involved in making policies.

This might irk some IAS officers & aspirants. So appologies.

[sabiha]

That does not irk me, not at all, but here you have raised one of the oldest controversies of civil services, called as GENERALIST vs SPECIALIST. And I can assure you that one of them cannot be replaced by the other all together. There is to be a balanced composition of both even in the most specialisd of the fields. I can go on and on if I start counting the specialities of the generalists which the specialists do not have , or, to be very true, fail to acquire because of insufficient training and field experiences. But at the same time, I cannot forget what the specialists have got unique in them.

The gist is.. they both are required to have a meaningful and purposive partnership both at the key posts and at lower levels also, particularly for development administration. They are complementary to each other, both require the other with the same intensity.

I hope I've been able to convey my opinion without offending you. Thank you.