District

From SikhiWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.


India

India's districts are local administrative units inherited from the British Raj. They generally form the tier of local government immediately below that of India's subnational states and territories. Where warranted, districts may further be grouped into administrative divisions, which form an intermediate level between the district and the subnational state (or union territory).

A district is headed by a Deputy Commissioner/ Collector, who is responsible for the overall administration and the maintenance of law and order. The district collector may belong to IAS (Indian Administrative Service). Other key responsibilities include the collection of revenue, and criminal prosecution in the district and sessional courts. Usually, the Deputy Commissioner/District Collector is conferred with magisterial powers under section 20 of Criminal Procedure Code, and designated as the District Magistrate. The official designations are, "Collector and District Magistrate" or "Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate".

Districts are most frequently further sub-divided into smaller administrative units, called either tehsils or talukas or mavattams, depending on the region. These units have specific local responsibilities, including in particular coordinating revenue collection. An intermediate level (the sub-division) between district and tehsil/taluka may be formed by grouping these units under the oversight of Assistant Commissioners or sub-collectors. Each district includes one or two cities (or large towns), a few smaller towns and dozens of villages. Most of the Indian districts have the same name as their main town or city.

As of June 2008, a total of 610 districts are defined in India, more than the number of parliamentary constituencies(545). In A.P.districts (23) are less than M.P.seats (42).

District revenue administration in A.P.

  • 1. District headed by collector
  • 2. A district is composed of four or five revenue divisions administered by R.D.O./sub collector,
  • 3. Revenue Divisions divided into taluks/mandals headed by tahsildars,
  • 4. Mandals composed of a ten or more villages administered by village revenue officers and village servants.


Tiers of administration

  • 1. Grama panchayath: sarpanch
  • 2. village clusters: M.P.T.C.
  • 3. Mandal/Taluk: M.P.P./Z.P.T.C.
  • 4. District: Z.P.Chairperson.