District coordination officer
District Coordination Officer (popularly abbreviated as ''DCO'' or now the Deputy Commissioner ''DC'') is the administrative head of the district administration in Pakistan and is a senior officer belonging from the Provincial or Federal government service cadre. He supervises the affairs of all the public offices and public facilities in the district or a city district for purposes of integrated development, efficient use of public resources and effective service delivery. He ensures that the standards set by the Government in respect of a public facility are fully observed and supervises and coordinates the implementation of the policies, instructions and guidelines of the government.[1]
Local Government Reforms (2001 to 2008) and establishment of the office of District Coordination Officer D.C.O.
Post devolution, local government[2] ordinance PLGO 2001. The Divisional Governments were abolished by the then President Pervaiz Musharraf in 2001 and hence the post of Divisional Commissioner (Grade BS20/BS21) were brought to an end. In Punjab Province, there are 9 divisions and the posts of 9 Commissioners were abolished. The Deputy Commissioners of the districts were designated as DCOs i.e District Coordination Officers and the post of DCO was upgraded to grade BS21 in the city district governments and to grade BS20 in all other districts from 14th Aug 2001.
Formation of City District Governments, District Governments
Much of the powers and functions of Provincial and Divisional Governments were shifted and devolved to the newly formed district and city district governments.[3] In Punjab province, there are total 36 districts out of which five metropolis have status of city districts i.e Lahore (CDGL) , Faisalabad (CDGF) , Rawalpindi (CDGR), Gujranwala (CDGG) and Multan (CDGM) having city district governments. Initially, the existing Commissioners were posted as DCO in the city districts. In Sindh province, five districts of Karachi division[4] were abolished and a single city district government Karachi (CDGK) was formed. Divisional Commissioner Karachi was appointed as first DCO Karachi. Each district was empowered to make own polices and developmental budgets[5] via newly formed District Assemblies.[6]
Functions and Powers of the DCO
DCOs had similar administrative powers and duties which deputy commissioner and commissioners used to have. DCO was the Principal accounting officer of the district and answerable to the provincial assembly public accounts committee. However, the land revenue appellate powers of the Commissioner were decentralized/devolved from division to district and were handed over to the newly created post of EDOR i.e Executive District officer (Revenue) and district land collector power of Deputy Commissioners were handed over to the new post of DOR i.e District officer (revenue). Subsequently, the power of Assistant commissioner/Assistant collector was handed over to DDOR i.e Deputy District Officer (Revenue). The EDO(revenue) grade BS19, DO(revenue) BS18 and DDO(revenue) BS17 were the same officers of Provincial or Federal civil services i.e PMS/PCS or CSP/DMG/PAS.
DCO was the in charge of all departments/group of offices of the district including revenue, finance and planning, health, education, literacy, information technology, agriculture & livestock, works & services, forests, community development, municipal services etc. All these departments/group of offices were headed by respective EDOs who than reported to the DCO. DCOs and Revenue officials were entrusted with the magisterial powers also from time to time.[7] DCO was directly reporting to the Chief Secretary of the province for administrative matters and Cheif Minister.[8] whereas in their district the policy making was done in consultation with the District Nazim/Mayor,[9] who was an elected representative and the chief executive of the district.
Restoration of the Divisional Governments and office of Divisional Commissioners
In 2008, after the presidency of President General Pervaiz Musharraf, provincial governments of Pakistan again established the third tier of government i.e divisional governments through constitutional amendments and the post of Divisional Commissioner (BS20/BS21) was again initiated.[10] Divisional Commissioners report directly to the Chief Secretary of the province.
Restoration of the office of Deputy Commissioner
Soon after appointment of Divisional Commissioners, junior officers were posted as DCO[11] [12]and they started working under supervision of Divisional commissioners, later on the post was officially downgraded to BS19 as before 2001. [13]Though the District Nazim/Mayors initially resisted this change but to no avail and the local governments were made dysfunctional.[14] In 2011 and 2017, the term DCO was also re named as Deputy Commissioner in Sindh and Punjab province respectively[15][16] [17]
The appellate powers of land revenue are now again with the Divisional Commissioner and the post of EDO(revenue) is abolished. The post of deputy commissioner has now the powers of land collector as before thus post of District Officer (Revenue) is also abolished.[18] Deputy District officer (Revenue) is now the assistant commissioner.
Responsibilities
District are now under control of deputy commissioners, who are responsible for law and order, collection of revenue, developmental program coordination and common welfare of people in their respective districts.[19]
List of officers as District Coordination Officers D.C.O. In past
Currently serving Deputy Commissioners and Divisional Commissioners are --> Deputy Commissioner (Pakistan)
Following are the names of District Coordination Officers (DCO) who served in post devolution era during 2001 to 2008 in Pakistan :[as of?]
Punjab
| District | Name of DCO |
|---|---|
| Attock | Bashir Ahmad Farooqi (2006-2008)
Babar Khan Nasir PCS (2003-2006) Syed M. Javed DMG (14Aug2001-2003) |
| Bahawalnagar | Tariq Feroz DMG
Muzaffar Mahmood |
| Bahawalpur | Muhammad Ashraf |
| Bhakkar | Bashir Ahmad Chaudhry (2004-2008) |
| Chakwal | Babar Khan Nasir PCS |
| Chiniot | Syed Masood Noman PAS |
| Dera Ghazi Khan | Pervez Khusro Malik (2004-2006) |
| Faisalabad | Maj (Retd.) Azam Suleman (2006-2008).
Athar Hussain Khan Sial DMG (2004-2006). Tahir Hussain (2001-2004) |
| Gujranwala | Capt. (R) Fazeel Asghar.
Manzer Hayat |
| Gujrat | Chaudhry Saadat Ali PCS (2003-2008).
Capt(rtd)AghaNadeem DMG (2001-2003). |
| Hafizabad | Rana Saleem Ahmad |
| Jhang | Muhammad Arif Khan |
| Jhelum | Mirza Mahmood ul Hassan |
| Kasur | Babr Yaqoob Fateh |
| Khanewal | Kausar-A-Ghaffar
Muhammad Khan Khichi |
| Khushab | Dr. Muhammad Saleh Tahir |
| Lahore | Mian Muhammad Ijaz (2005 - 2008)
Capt. (R) Khalid Sultan (2002 - 2005) Shahid Najam (14 Aug 2001 - 2002) |
| Layyah | Ch. Ghulam Sarwer. |
| Lodhran | Qazi Muhammad Ashfaq |
| Mandi Bahauddin | Waheed Akhtar Ansari. |
| Mianwali | Babar Shafi (2007-2008)
Saqib Aleem (2006-2007) Zulfiqar Ali Toor (2005-2006) Rana Naseer Ahmad DMG (2003-2005) Salim Sher Afghan Kiani PCS (2001-2003) Khusro Pervez Khan DMG(14 Aug 2001-Oct 2001) |
| Multan | Iftikhar Babar |
| Muzaffargarh | Akhter Nazir Waraich(2007-2008)
Tariq Najeeb Najmi (2006-2007) Ch. Muhammad Azhar(2004-2006) Shamsher Ali Khan Sial (2003-2004) Muhammad Azam Saleem (2002-2003) Sajjad Saleem Hotiana DMG (14Aug2001-2002) |
| Narowal | Nabeela Irfan |
| Nankana Sahib | Capt. (Retd) Fazeel Asghar |
| Okara | Maryam Khan |
| Pakpattan | Babar Shafi |
| Rahim Yar Khan | Dr Khurram Shahzad |
| Rajanpur | Samiullah Abid |
| Rawalpindi | Sqn. Ldr (Rtd) Irfan Elahi (2006-2008).
Lt Cdr (R) Hamid Ali Khan (2003-2006). Sqn. Ldr (Rtd) Amjad Ali Toor (2001-2003) Shahid Khan DMG (14Aug2001-14Dec2001) |
| Sahiwal | Inaam ul Haq PCS
Hameed Amjad Warraich PCS |
| Sargodha | Hameed Amjad Warraich PCS
Dr Sajid Yousafani DMG |
| Sheikhupura | Zafar Iqbal Sheikh.
Tariq Najeeb Najmi. |
| Sialkot | Tahir Raza.
Capt. (R) Zahid Saeed |
| Toba Tek Singh | Karim Bakhsh Abid.
Nawazish Ali |
| Vehari | Capt. (R) M. Khurram Agha. |
References
- ^ "District coordination officer job description". Archived from the original on 2013-04-30.
- ^ "Local government in Pakistan - Wikipedia". en.m.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
- ^ "Roles of District Governments" (PDF).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Karachi Division", Wikipedia, 2021-08-23, retrieved 2021-08-27
- ^ Hanif, Intikhab (2003-08-01). "Budget for Mandi Bahauddin rejected". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
- ^ "An assessment of Pakistan's 2001 Local Government Ordinance" (PDF).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Hanif, Intikhab (2006-07-13). "Executive officers get magisterial powers: Price control". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
- ^ Hanif, Intikhab (2006-06-11). "Appointments: DCOs asked to consult MPAs". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
- ^ "District Nazim meeting with DCO and EDO".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Hanif, Intikhab (2008-11-13). "Punjab appoints nine division commissioners". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
- ^ "Provincial bureaucracy: 31 of 36 DCOs are junior officers". The Express Tribune. 2011-01-22. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
- ^ "At the helm: Double MA bureaucrat made new DCO". The Express Tribune. 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
- ^ Amir, Intikhab (2013-01-15). "Low-grade officers continue as deputy commissioners in KP". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
- ^ Quarrel of Zila Nazim Attock with DCO Attock, retrieved 2021-08-28
- ^ Reporter, A. (2017-01-02). "Old commissioner system back in vogue". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
- ^ Newspaper, From the (2011-07-11). "DCs for five Karachi districts appointed". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
- ^ "Dunya News: Pakistan:-Commissionerate system restored in KPK..." dunyanews.tv. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
- ^ Newspaper, From the (2011-03-08). "Punjab to end district govts' revenue role". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
- ^ "DCO Functionalities in Pakistan".