District Collector - Page 4

The district collector does report to the Chief Minister even though all IAS officers are technically under the Department of Personnel in the Central Govt. It is the state government that is responsible for the postings and transfers of DCs and other IAS officers belonging to the state cadre and working in the State.

After a certain seniority the officer can be requisitioned by the Centre to work in Delhi or send him on deputation to other agencies, including agencies abroad.

A chief minister is perfectly within his rights to speak to the DC. Normally the CM's office would call him up but if the CM knows the DC from previous interactions , he might want to talk to him directly. Every state government has its favourite IAS officers who get plum postings. Other officers get transferred over and over. Ashok Khemka, a Haryana cadre officer who exposed Robert Vadra has been transferred 45 times by successive state governments.

Whenever a state government changes almost the first thing it does is to reshuffle the DCs and other IAS officers. Mayawati, akhilesh Yadav and Jayalalitha are known for wholesale transfers of DCs so they can pick and choose officers of their choice.

The DC does not directly report to CM. There are several officer in between in hierarchy. DC reports to Divisional Commissioner.

I agree that IAS officers are appointed by central Government, but once they are posted to any state, they report into respective state Government.

The DIvisional Commisioner is senior to Dc because he is boss of a division. The DC may report to him in certain matters but he is accountable to the Chief Minister and reports to him during critical times. During a law order disturbance or a communal riot he directly sends a report to the state government headed by the CM.
The CM holds meetings of collectors and gives
them specific instructions on the work he expects in the districts. He can monitor the development work or a law and order situation in a specific district too.

The DC's independence has been severely eroded in recent years. But even today he is king of his district and can independently take decisions on virtually anything concerning the district.

You might be surprised to know that the DC has the powers to call the army in a riot situation. Though I was stunned to hear this, this was told to me by an IAS officer who was telling me how powerful the collector really is but how this post has lost its value because of political interference and punitive transfers.

Perhaps only people working with the government will understand the hierarchy and importance of protocol. The articles on internet or news on specific events do not give actual picture. Chief Minister will contact his Minister (dealing with the concerned department) if he requires any information or to give any direction.

I'd be grateful for people not to make assumptions. I speak here from dealing professionally with the law courts, politicians and governments.

I only quote news reports from the internet because sometimes it is easier to explain a point this way than by just putting across an opinion.

And when I cite an example by way of illustration I already know about it which is why i find it easy to locate the news.

There is a lot of difference between a theoretical chain of command and what happens in reality.

Russhmee is correct. Chief Ministers do inaugurate new districts. I wouldn't have said this normally, but since my knowledge is repeatedly questioned, only recently I was with a state Chief Minister at one such inauguration where the DC was introduced in his presence.

If anybody has doubts my knowledge and wants to know what is it that I do, they can PM me. Alchemist is right in saying that we should treat BV as just a drama and not get serious about the inaccuracies. But when people on the forum are misled by what they see and gain incorrect impressions from certain portrayals, i feel obliged to come in.

And I write what I know with my official work - people may believe or not - it is not in my hand. I do not question anybody's knowledge - I just said what is the practice - even a secretary of one department reports directly to the concerned Minister and not to Chief Minister.