Introduction:
Sir Thomas Manron, the great administrator said “ In India whoever regulates
the assessment of land, really holds in his hand the main spring of the
country”. This is true till this day.
Initially, the main duty of the revenue department was to collect land revenue,
which was the main source of income of the state. Besides, the department looks
after the general administration of the district, having control over other
sister departments. Maintenance of Law & Order is one of the most important
function of the department.
It may not be an exaggeration to say that in implementation of many
socio-economical schemes of the Government, Revenue Department is second to
none.
ADMINISTRATIVE SET-UP OF REVENUE DEPARTMENT AT VARIOUS
STAGES:
The administrative set-up
of Revenue Department may be classified in to 4 stages viz;
- At the time of Independence .
- In the erstwhile Bombay State.
- After 1956
- The present set-up
Brief description of
these stages is as noted below:
I.At the time of
Independence .
The area now included in Karnataka state had been distributed over 14 native
states in addition to the 2 states of Hyderabad and Mysore and the British
Provinces of Madras, Bombay and Coorg. Of the 14 native states, Sandur merged
in Bellary district of the Madras state between 1947 and 1950 and the states of
Jamakhandi, Mudhol, Ramdurg, Savanur, Aundh, Jath, Kurundwad Senior, Kurundwad
Junior, Sangli, WadiJagir, Kolhapur and Miraj Senior and Miraj Junior merged in
the Bombay state and some of the territories belonging to these states are
found in the districts of Balgaum, Bijapur and Dharwad of Bombay Karnataka.
II.
In the Erstwhile Bombay State.
In the Bombay state the administrative hierarchy was as shown below. This
description applies to the set-up immediately before 1st November, 1956 when
the new state came into existence.
III.
After 1956 (From 01-11-1956 to 10-04-2003 )
The new reorganised state was divided in to 4 divisions like
Belgaum which had earlier been the headquarters of the Southern Division under
the Bombay Presidency (In 1878) was made a Division and divisional
administration was entrusted to the Divisional Commissioner.
From 08-09-2005 after the creation of the now redisgnated post of Regional
Commissioners offices at each divisional headquarters, the administrative
set-up in Revenue Department is as shown below;
Role
of the then “Commissioner, Southern Division”, “Divisional Commissioner” and
the present “Regional Commissioner” and their Powers and Functions.
Powers and Functions
of the Divisional Commissioner:
1. The Commissioner discharged the duties
conferred under the Land Revenue Code and also any other law that governed the
division.
2. He was the controlling, supervising and
co-ordinating officer at the divisional level, the appellate authority,
who heard appeals against Collector’s decision and enjoyed the power of
revision.
3. The Commissioner had to supervise the
proper execution of Government policies in the actual administration of the
districts committed to his charge.
4. The Commissioner was the channel of
communication between the District and the Government.
5. The Commissioner was in charge of the
General Administration of the Division and exercised control over all the Revenue
Officers and Revenue Courts in the division.
2.The
Divisional Commissioner, Belgaum Division
The post of Divisional
Commissioner was created under Section- 4 of the Bombay Land Revenue Code 1879,
for smooth administration and co-ordination in the districts. The main
functions were to giving uniform administration to the districts
through unified co-ordination, to guide district Collectors
and to suggest Government in the administration and in policy matters.
The post continued till 1950 and was abolished till 1956 in the erstwhile
Bombay Karnataka area. Upon reorganization of States, Government thought it fit
to revive the post of Divisional Commissioner for the reasons of increased
tempo of developmental activities and need of good administration
and co-ordination among different departments. As a result of which 4
posts of Divisional Commissioners along with supporting staff were created
under Government Order No:SS:4817:917:SRD :2:56:2 dated:24-10-1956. Right from
01-11-1956 to 31-03-2003 (46½ years) the Divisional Commissioner office was
functioning till its abolition again w.e.f 11-04-2003.
Powers
and Functions of the Divisional Commissioner:
The Divisional Commissioner as the
head of the Revenue Administration played a pivotal role in the General
Administration of the district in respect of both revenue and functioning of
various other departments in the division.
1. Divisional Commissioner acted as a link
between the State Government and the district authorities.
2. He was the Chief Revenue Officer of the
division.
3. He exercised overall supervision of the
local bodies within his jurisdiction.
4. He was the main channel through whom
the Deputy Commissioner had to send all proposals pertaining to revenue
matters, development programmes, municipal administration etc. to the State
Government.
5. As the administrative head of the
division he was responsible for distributing and re-appropriating budget grants
to lower offices.
6. The Divisional Commissioner was the
appellate authority above the Deputy Commissioner in matters of revenue
administration both in regard to laws and disciplinary proceedings relating to
the revenue staff.
7. Main functions were; maintenance of
record of rights, recovery of land revenue and all other kinds of Government
dues, conducting of Jamabandi, maintenance of law & order,
supervision of elections to Parliament, State Legislature and Local
Authority Constituencies, conducting of census etc.
In
a nutshell, his functions were Supervisory, Controlling, Co-ordinating and
Appellate.
3.The
Regional Commissioner, Belgaum Division
After abolition of the post of Divisional Commissioner, the post was
revived back as Regional Commissioner vide Government Order
No:RD:09:BMM:2003 dtd:8-9-2005 . Regional Commissioner’s office, Belgaum is
functioning w.e.f 14-11-2005.
Though the post of Regional Commissioner is newly created, it is the same to
that of the then Divisional Commissioner post in a new form.
The Powers and Functions of the Regional Commissioner as per Government Order
dated:08-09-2005 are as noted below;
·
Maintenance
of staff, development, training and human esources of the Revenue
Department.
·
District,
Subdivision, Taluka, Hobali and Village level Revenue accounts,
maintenance of audited accounts, annual inspection, surprise inspections
and compulsory annual Jamabandhi.
·
The powers
of Divisional Commissioner previously exercised under various Rules and
Sub-Rules. (Appeal and Revision)
·
Stamps
and Registration fee, Land survey and Land records,
Supervision of works related to administration of
Endowment offices.
·
Inspecting
Authority - Inspection of subordinate offices as regards
their functioning as per Law, Government instructions and related
orders.
·
Supervision
of natural disasters and drought relief works and their control besides
crop harvest experiments and waving of land revenue.
·
Supervision
of all types of elections in the division.
·
Land
sanction, Land acquisition, Land improvement, Collection of land
tax, Measurement of lands and Supervision of Computerization of Revenue
Department.
·
Release
of grants to District offices, Sub-Divisions and Taluka offices,
Annual budget preparation, preparing answers to Legislative
Assembly/Council questions and making reports to Sub-Committees of
Legislation and Inspection of cases pending in Courts.
·
Review
of Inspection of all developmental works of all Government offices coming
under their jurisdiction at least once in a month.
·
To
initiate action for non achievement of financial and physical target and
discuss the same with concerned Head of the Depts., Secretaries and
Principal Secretaries to take suitable action to achieve the targets
·
In
addition, Inspection of Development Departments, vestigations and review
if necessary.
On abolition of the post
of Development Commissioner, Northern Karnataka, Belgaum,
Government have also assigned the duties of the Development Commissioner
relating to 7 districts of Belgaum division, under their Notification
NO:SPD:70: HKDB:2005, dated:09-12-2005 to the Regional
Commissioner.
Apart from the administrative powers mentioned above, Government have given
statutory powers under 16 Acts/Rules.
Government under their Notification No:RDP:20:ZPS:2006 dated:28-04-2007
have empowered the Regional Commissioners to take up the inspections of
Zilla Panchayat.
Government Under Government Order NO
RD:227.Samiti 2007 Dated 05-12-2007 have declared Regional Commissioner as
Major Head of the Department.