LAHORE – The Punjab government has taken a quantum leap towards centralisation of power by abolishing the posts of executive district officer (EDO) (Revenue) and deputy district officer (DDO) and reviving the offices of additional commissioner, additional collector, assistant commissioner and collector, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The Punjab government on Tuesday issued a notification to abolish 427 posts of EDOs, district officer (Revenue) and DDO while the notification of creation of 334 posts of additional commissioners, additional collectors, assistant commissioners, collectors and registrar has also been issued. Moreover, in the city district government of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan and Gujranwala, the post of DCO has been downgraded from BPS-21 to BPS-20 and the posts of EDO (Literacy), EDO (Revenue), EDO (Law) and EDO (IT) have been abolished in all 36 districts of Punjab.
The notification will come into effect from April 20. According to the notification, all matters pertaining to revenue have been taken out of the ambit of the district governments and transferred to the Board of Revenue (BoR) under the provincial government and the required amendments in the Punjab Local Government Ordinance (PLGO) have also been made. The relevant clause of the PLGO in which all the divisional and regional offices had to cease their work has also been omitted.
According to details, 36 posts of DO (Revenue) (one in each district), 135 posts of DDO (Revenue) (one each in sub-division), 36 posts of DDO (General) (one each in district) and 10 posts of DDO (Colonies) (one each in Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Toba Tek Singh, Bahawalpur, Sargodha, Jhang, Pakpattan, Bhakkar, Khushab and Chiniot), relating to land revenue and estate will stand abolished from April 20. Around 14 posts of DDO (Consolidation) (one each in Lahore, Kasur, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Attock, Sargodha, Mianwali, DG Khan, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Multan, Sahiwal and Jhang) and 52 posts of DDO (Registration) (six in Lahore, one in Kasur, two in Sheikhupura and Ferozwala, one each in Nankana Sahib, Hafizabad, Narowal, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat, Chakwal, Attock, Jhelum, Sargodha, Khushab, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Jhang, Chiniot, Toba Tek Singh, Lodharan, Vehari, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Okara, DG Khan, Rajanpur, Layyah, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan, two each in Sialkot and Bahawalpur, three each in Gujranwala, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad will be abolished. One post of additional commissioner (Revenue) and one additional commissioner (Consolidation) has been created in Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur while one post of additional commissioner (Revenue) in Sahiwal, Sargodha and DG Khan each.
Around 36 posts of additional collector of the district (one in each district), 135 posts of assistant commissioners (one in each sub-divisions), 36 posts of collector (one in each district), 36 posts of general assistant revenue in the office of the collector of the district (one in each district) and 10 posts of colony assistants in the office of the collector of the concerned district have also been created.
Around 14 posts of collector consolidation and 52 posts of sub-registrar have also been created, reads the notification issued by the government. Senior government officers told Pakistan Today that the move is another step towards the centralisation of administrative power.
“Taking the revenue hierarchy out of the ambit of the districts means that now the people have to go to divisions for appellate matters, which was within their reach in the district in the office of the EDO (R). The move is a step towards the revival of the colonial system of administration,” a senior government officer said.
