বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ তৃতীয় পত্র
CΗΑΡΤΕR ΙΙΙ
DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION
I.
What is District Administration?
The district is the fundamental primary unit of administration in Bangladesh. Its origin can be traced to the distant past. During the Hindu, Muslim & British periods of this sub-continent, district was the main unit of administration. It continues to be so even to-day. District Administration is an important arch in the edifice of the general administration of the country. Whether it be for the maintenance of law & order or the implementation of the plan schemes for development it is the district which is the unit of administration. Though the executive power rests ultimately with the Government functioning through its cabinet, supported by the Secretariat located in the capital, the mass of the people for whom the administration is carried on live in the districts. It is here that the majority of the people feel the impact of Government's policies which are spelt out at the higher levels of the Government. It is also here that the public grievances are more intensely felt. The impact of administration on the people in the Districts assumes particular importance when viewed against the fact that it is they who send the larger body of representatives to the legislature and determine its composition. The districts, are, therefore, not only the fields in which Government's policies, particularly in the welfare sphere, are in the main put into execution. They also are the major arbitor in the selection of those who formulate those policies.
Districts are the creature of the Government for administration convenience. Districts, therefore, have no independent existence of their own. Their boundaries are artificial and accordingly can be, and sometimes are altered. District administration, then, is the total action of Government in an area specified as a district by the government. The broad purposes of district administration are maintain law & order, administer justice, collect revenue and attend to the positive welfare of the people. Now-a-day more and more attention is given to developmental functions.
The district administration, designed to effect these purposes, consists of a number of agencies of government working at the district level, including the Deputy Commissioner and sub-ordinate revenue & magisterial staff, the District police, the District Judge & subordinate Judges, field representatives of various development & other departments, the district boards, the community development personnel, municipalities, Union Boards, Village Panchayets & other local authorities. These agencies each perform separate functions but, at the same time, attempt to coordinate their work in order to make the total action of government in the district both effective in terms of cost & time & meaningful to the people of the district which the district administration is designed to serve. This co-ordination is secured mainly through the Deputy Commissioner, the Chief official representative of Government in the district, who has wide powers & overall responsibility for directing all component parts of the district administration towards the common objective of government.
