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Development of District Council

Development of District Council

Development of district councils:

Through the evolution of the century, at the district level, local government institutions have come to be known as District Boards, District Councils, District Boards, etc., and today they have been established as District Councils.

The introduction of the Permanent Settlement Act in 1793 created the zamindar class and entrusted them with the task of collecting revenue and maintaining peace and order in the village. This system is somehow considered as local government.

Realizing the need for local institutions, the Chowkidari Panchayat Act was introduced in 1870. The main function of the panchayat was to collect taxes and maintain law and order. Panchayat members were nominated by the government.

In 1879, the Bengal Road Cess Act proposed by Lord Mayo was passed. This is the first attempt to establish local autonomy at the district level. The district magistrate was the chairman of this committee. Its main function was to determine the rate of cess, determine the purpose of income and expenditure. This committee worked under the direct control of the government.

In 1885, the Bengal Local Self Government Act was passed. The Act constitutes a three-tier local autonomous government: the District Board, the Local Board and the Union Committee. District boards are formed in each district. Until 1925, the District Magistrate was the ex-officio member and chairman of the District Board. The board was formed for three years. The vice chairman would be elected from among the members. In 1886 the funds and activities of the District Cess Committee passed under the Board and the Committee was dissolved. Although the law provided for the election of board members, all members were nominated and district magistrates had all the powers.

In 1919, the Bengal Village Self Government Act was passed. The Act constituted a three-tier local government called District Board, Local Board and Union Board. In 1920, the election of the chairman was allowed. At that time the activities of the district board were communication system, health and sewerage system, water supply, preservation of birth and death registrar, charitable clinic and preservation of Dak Banglow. In addition to the previous source of income, tax was collected from ferri and part of the tax revenue on motor vehicles was paid to the district board.

Until 1936, all district board elections were indirect. In 1936, the Bengal Local Self Government Act 1885 was amended. Local boards were abolished. Under this amendment, two-thirds of the members were elected and one-third were nominated. Among the nominated members were also government and private members. Voters must be 21 years of age and must be a local resident. He had to pay 8 anna cess and 6 anna chowkidari tax and educational qualifications. There was no voting system for women. This system was completely undemocratic.

During the rule of Pakistan, universal suffrage was arranged for local government bodies. A committee was formed on this subject and the committee submitted its report in 1956. But before its implementation, military rule was introduced in the country.

The Basic Democracy Order of 1959 changed the local government system for the third time. The name of the district board was changed as district council. Until 1962, the council was governed by government employees and appointed members. The deputy commissioner was the chairman of the district council and the private members were elected as vice chairman. In this order the program of the District Council was extensive. Some jobs were compulsory and some jobs were optional. The number of required tasks was 28 and the number of optional tasks was 70. In addition to government grants, council funds were formed through income from 29 sources such as taxes, tolls, fees, etc. The members of the council were 50% government officials, 25% appointed representatives, 25% chairman union council and town committee. This council was more organizationally undemocratic than the District Board Committee. Then in 1962 50% were elected and 50% were government members. All aspects of the election were indirect. In all cases the Deputy Commissioner played a major role as Chairman.

After the independence of Bangladesh, the President issued Ordinance No. 7 in 1972, breaking the previous system. In this order the name of the district council was changed to district board. The Deputy Commissioner was the Chairman and Member of the Board. The Assistant Director of Rural Development appointed by the district administration was the secretary of the district board.

In 1976, the District Board was renamed as Zila Parishad through the Local Government Ordinance. Although the ordinance provides for elections, no actual election has taken place since the ordinance was issued. So this council continues as before.

The military government issued the Local Government Ordinance in 1976 to restructure local government institutions. Union Parishad, Thana Parishad and Zila Parishad are the three levels of local government. The members of the council were elected, government officials and women. There was 1 chairman and 1 vice chairman. The term of the council was 5 years. This ordinance was comparatively more democratic than before. But the rules of the ordinance were not implemented as the election was not held. That is why the district council has not become a local government institution in a democratic way.

In 1985, a workshop was held at the National Institute of Local Government on the future of district councils. A meeting was held in 1986 under the chairmanship of the President to form the Zila Parishad and the Administrative Reorganization Committee was given the responsibility of guiding the future direction of the Zila Parishad.

The Local Government (District Council) Act of 1988 was passed. This law mentions 12 essential functions of the district council, 69 optional and only 6 sources of income.

Under the 1986 Act, district councils were formed in the remaining 61 districts except 3 hill districts. In this Act the Government nominates the Chairman. The members of the council were government officials, nominated members and nominated female members. The nominated chairmen were given the rank of Deputy Minister. This arrangement was in place till December 1990.

The government collapsed in the 1990 mass movement. After the fall of the government, the government gave the power to the Deputy Commissioners under Section 11 of the Local Government (District Council) Act, 1988 (Act No. 29 of 1988) in the memorandum no Projei-4 / ZP -50/90/1904. The district nominated the interim chairman of the district council and issued a notification. This arrangement was valid till June 1991.

In accordance with the Memorandum No. Projei-4 / ZP-50/90/739 (61) dated 13-06-91 of the Ministry, the Deputy Commissioners were relieved from the post of Chairman and the Secretaries of the own District Councils were given the responsibility to conduct the day to day work of the District Council till the Chairman is appointed.

The Memorandum No. 4 / ZP-18/91/139 (122) dated 21-08-91 of the Ministry has been convened by the District Council and the Deputy Commissioner has been summoned by the 3-member "Payable Bill Payment Committee" to pay the outstanding bills of the project contractors and others. For the other two members were Secretary, District Council and Assistant Engineer, District Council.

In the memorandum No. Prajei-4 / Budget-1/93/955 dated 09-08-94, the Ministry canceled the debt bill payment committee issued earlier and gave the power to the secretaries of the district councils to pay the debt bill.

On July 6, 2000, the Zila Parishad Act, 2000 was passed with amendments, repealing the Zila Parishad Act. In this Act, (1) the council shall consist of the following members, namely- (a) a chairman (b) fifteen members (c) five women members of the organized constituency. (2) The Chairman, members and women members shall be elected by the vote of the electorate constituted under section 17. (3) The Chairman, members and women members shall enjoy the prescribed remuneration, special rights, leave and other benefits. Term of the Council - Subject to the provisions of Section 61, the term of the Council shall be five years from the date of its first meeting. Provided, however, that in spite of the expiration of such term, the Council shall continue to function until the newly elected Council meets at its first meeting.

In order to implement all the activities of the Zila Parishad, the Zila Parishad Development Coordination Committee was formed on 12-04-2005 through Memorandum No. JEPSHA / ZP-25/93/1206 (500) of the Local Government Department.

Chief Executive Officer, District Council,  Barishal (Concerned District Council) ------------ Convener,

Secretary, District Council,  Barishal ---------------- ------------------------ Member,

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (Concerned Upazila) ------- ---------------- Member,

Deputy Director, Local Government Department (concerned district) ----- Member, Executive Engineer, LGED (Concerned District) ------------------ ----------Member,  Executive Engineer, Department of Public Health Engineering (Concerned District) ------------------- -Member,

District Education Officer (Concerned District) -------------------------------Member, Assistant Engineers, (Concerned District) ----------------------------------- Member,

Subsequently, the local government department's memorandum dated 15-12-2010 stha-sabi / jepsha / miscellaneous-01/2007/3306 was included in the upazila chairmen as members of the committee. This committee will be responsible for conducting all the activities of the district council till the formation of the full-fledged district council as per the District Council Act, 2000.

As there is no chairman of the district council, the secretary and chief executive officer of the district council are carrying out the day-to-day functions of the district council and the responsibilities assigned to them by the powers given by the orders issued by the government from time to time.

The present government has appointed 61 administrators in 61 Zila Parishads in accordance with Section 82 (1) of the Zila Parishad Act, 2000 (Act No. 19 of 2000) through a notification dated 01 Poush 1418 BS, 15 December 2011.