Keeping in line with the recommendations of the second administrative reforms commission, the Bihar government has taken away some of the financial powers of the district magistrates (DM), directing them to play only a regulatory and supervisory role. Their focus will be primarily on law and order, social and communal harmony and ending corruption.

The idea is to rationalise the role of a DM, who on any given day is involved in myriad policy decisions ranging from sanctioning development funds to selection of contractors and builders for development works. 

Apart from being the head of 15 functional areas including licensing, disaster management, elections, food and civil supplies, etc, a district magistrate is also the chairman of a number (35 to 50) of committees at the district level.

In a circular dated September 19, the government said, the welfare schemes will now be implemented under the direct supervision of the head of the particular department under which the scheme originated.

What it means is, if a scheme related to the forest department is to be implemented, it will be done by the district forest officer, with the DM playing the supervisory role. 

“A department can hand over a central scheme to a DM only after seeking due permission from the state government. In other cases, no department can directly hand over any scheme to a DM,” reads the circular.

In all the state has 634 development and welfare programmes with over two lakh schemes averaging 5,263 schemes each district.

The initiative to take load off the DMs is another unique step taken by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in the direction of administrative reforms.

Earlier, his government had scrapped the MLA local area development fund and had also directed all government officials to declare their assets.

Reacting to the directive, a senior IAS official posted in the state said, it was a welcome move by the state government. “A DM is caught up unnecessarily in a number of unnecessary works. Tell me why should a DM be on district statue committee,” said the officer on condition of anonymity.

Former chief secretary, Bihar, G S Kang, however, said, a DM should learn to multitask and if he manages his time properly there should not be any problem.

“I have been DM of districts like Singhbhum, which is considered a difficult district, but I never had any problem juggling variety of roles. However I must admit delegation of power is necessary for the effective administration of a district,” he said.

Recognising the debilitating effect of burdening a DM with all kinds of jobs, the second administrative reforms commission formed in 2005 had said, “Such widespread functions without well defined roles result in lack of clarity and diffusion of the collector’s responsibilities. Also after the the establishment of PRIs/ULBs as the third tier of government, there is no need to assign any role to the collector in respect of activities which are are transferred by the state government to these bodies.”