Re: Info Tehsil
Roseanne Gennett
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, a newer unit called mandal (circle) has come to replace the [tehsil system]. It is generally smaller than a tehsil, and is meant for facilitating local self-government in the panchayat system.[3] In West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, community development blocks are the empowered grassroots administrative unit, replacing tehsils.
Tehsil office is primarily tasked with land revenue administration, besides election and executive functions. It is the ultimate executive agency for land records and related administrative matters. The chief official is called the tehsildar or, less officially, the talukdar or taluka muktiarkar. Tehsil or taluk can be considered sub-districts in the Indian context. In some instances, tehsils overlap with "blocks" (panchayat union blocks or panchayat development blocks or cd blocks) and come under the land and revenue department, headed by the tehsildar; and blocks come under the rural development department, headed by the block development officer and serve different government administrative functions over the same or similar geographical area.[4]
Although they may on occasion share the same area with a subdivision of a revenue division, known as revenue blocks, the two are distinct. For example, Raipur district in Chhattisgarh state is administratively divided into 13 tehsils and 15 revenue blocks.[5] Nevertheless, the two are often conflated.
India, as a vast country, is subdivided into many states and union territories for administrative purposes. Further divisions of these states are known as districts. These districts (zila/zilla) are again divided into many subdivisions, viz tehsils or taluks. These subdivisions are again divided into gram panchayats or village panchayats.[6] Initially, this was done for collecting land revenue and administration purposes. But now these subdivisions are governed in tandem with other departments of government like education, agriculture, irrigation, health, police, etc. The different departments of state government generally have offices at tehsil or taluk level to facilitate good governance and to provide facilities to common people easily.[citation needed]
In India, the term tehsil is commonly used in all northern states. In Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, taluka or taluk is more common.[7] In Eastern India, instead of tehsils, the term Subdivision is used in Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand and West Bengal, as well as large parts of Northeast India (Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura). In Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, they are called circle.
Tehsil/tahsil and taluk/taluka and the variants are used as English words without further translation. Since these terms are unfamiliar to English speakers outside the subcontinent, the word county has sometimes been provided as a gloss, on the basis that a tehsil, like a county, is an administrative unit hierarchically above the local city, town, or village, but subordinate to a larger state or province. India and Pakistan have an intermediate level of hierarchy (or more than one, at least in parts of India): the district, also sometimes translated as county. In neither case is the analogy very exact.
Tehsildar is the chief or key government officer of each tehsil or taluka.[8] In some states different nomenclature like talukdar, mamledar, amaldar, mandal officer is used. In many states of India, the tehsildar functions as the executive magistrate of that tehsil. Each tehsil will have an office called tehsil office or tehsildar office at a designated place within tehsil area known as tehsil headquarters. Tehsildar is the incharge of tehsil office. This is similar to district office or district collector at district level.
Throughout India, there is a three-tier local body/Panchayat system within the state. At the top is the zila/zilla panchayat (parishad). Taluka/mandal panchayat/panchayat samiti/community development block is the second layer of this system and below them are the gram panchayats or village panchayats. These panchayats at all three levels have elected members from eligible voters of particular subdivisions. These elected members form the bodies which help the administration in policy-making, development works, and bringing grievances of the common public to the notice of the administration.
Pakistan inherited the territory comprising its current provinces from India following the Partition of India on 14 August 1947. Two days after independence, the Muslim-majority Murshidabad district in Bengal was moved out of the Dominion of Pakistan and put within the Dominion of India due to a boundary adjustment by the Radcliffe Commission which was aimed at keeping the Hooghly River entirely within India.[7][8] At its inception, Pakistan consisted of two wings, which were separated from each other by around 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) of Indian territory. The western wing consisted of a merger of the North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab, Sind Province, and Baluchistan CCP. The eastern wing consisted of East Bengal. What later became the Princely states of Pakistan chose at first to remain independent.
In 1948, Karachi was separated from Sind Province to form the Federal Capital Territory. In 1950, the North-West Frontier Province absorbed the princely states of Amb and Phulra while West Punjab (designated 'West' to distinguish it from India's Punjab in the east) was renamed to simply Punjab. In 1952, the four princely states in the southwest formed the Baluchistan States Union.
In 1955, the One Unit policy was launched by then-Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra, whereby all the provinces and princely states of the western wing were merged to form the provincial wing of West Pakistan, with Lahore serving as its provincial capital. Simultaneously, East Bengal was redesignated as East Pakistan, with Dacca serving as its provincial capital. The One Unit policy aimed to reduce expenditure and to eliminate provincial prejudices, but the military coup of 1958 brought difficulties when the first military President, Ayub Khan, abolished the office of the Chief Minister of West Pakistan in favour of Governor rule.
In 1970, the second military President, Yahya Khan, abolished the political structure of West Pakistan and established four new provinces: Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and the North-West Frontier Province. In 1971, the Bengali-majority wing of East Pakistan seceded from the Pakistani union following the Bangladesh Liberation War, consequently forming the independent People's Republic of Bangladesh. In 1974, the remaining princely states of Hunza and Nagar were abolished and their territories merged into the Gilgit Agency, following which the Northern Areas were formed. In 1975, portions of the districts of Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan were separated to form the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. In 1981, the region surrounding Islamabad was separated from Punjab province, and renamed to the Islamabad Capital Territory.
In August 2000, divisions were abolished as part of a plan to restructure local governments, followed by elections in 2001. Many of the functions previously handled at a provincial level had been transferred to individual districts and tehsils. In 2008, the government restored the former divisions and appointed commissioners.
In 2009, the Northern Areas were renamed to Gilgit-Baltistan, and retained its formal status as an autonomous territory.[11][12] In 2010, the North-West Frontier Province was formally renamed to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[13] In 2018, the National Assembly of Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly passed the historic FATA Merger Bill with the Twenty-Fifth Constitutional Amendment. On 31 May 2018, the final step in the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was completed, as then-President Mamnoon Hussain signed the 25th Constitutional Amendment Bill into law. The amendment's signing abolished the Federally Administered Tribal Areas as a separate political entity and merged them into the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[14][15][16]
The Provinces and administrative territories of Pakistan are subdivided into administrative "divisions", Divisional Commissioner is the administrative head of a division. Divisional Commissioner is appointed by the government of Pakistan from Pakistan Administrative Service
The District Coordination Officer is the administrative head of the District Administration. They have wide-ranging responsibility for overseeing, improving and directing the approved plans of the District Government.[17]
The Zila Nazim used to be the executive head of the District Administration until 2010 when the government gave their powers to the District Coordination Officers also. Their role is similar to district governor or prefect, with responsibility for implementing government strategy and developing initiatives arising out of it.[18]
In order to decentralize administrative and financial authority to be accountable to Local Governments, for good governance, effective delivery of services, and transparent decision making through institutionalized participation of the people at grassroots level, elections to the local government institutions are held after every four years on none party basis by the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan.
Among the three tiers of local government, tehsil government is the second tier. It is where the functions, responsibilities, and authorities of districts government are divided into smaller units, these units are known as "tehsils". The tehsils are used all over Pakistan except Sindh province where the word "taluka" is used instead, although the functions and authorities are the same. The head of the Tehsil government is "Tehsil Nazim" who is assisted by the tehsil Naib-Nazim. Every tehsil has a Tehsil Municipal Administration, consisting of a tehsil council, Tehsil Nazim, tehsil/taluka municipal officer (TMO), chief officer and other officials of the local council.[19]
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