Devolution Plan-I-Introduction to Public Administration-Lecture Handout, Exercises of Introduction to Public Administration

Download Devolution Plan-I-Introduction to Public Administration-Lecture Handout and more Exercises Introduction to Public Administration in PDF only on Docsity! Introduction To Public Administration–MGT111 VU © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 142 LESSON 40 DEVOLUTION PLAN – I In the last lecture we discussed the office of Deputy Commissioner and the challenges it confronted due to increased population and concentration of power in one office. Today we shall examine the concept of devolution and local government and its structure. Country Information Pakistan has an area of 796,096 sq.km. Its estimated population is 145 million. It has four provinces, territory of Islamabad and federally administered tribal areas. There are over 100 districts in the country. Prior to devolution of services to the local areas, the administrative structure was divided into Province, Division and District. The real government functions were performed at the district level. The division was headed by Commissioner and district by the Deputy Commissioner. As we discussed in the last lecture the office of Deputy Commission was overloaded by work. The Deputy Commissioner became inaccessible. Therefore, there was need for devolving the services to the people’s representatives. We now examine the definition of devolution. Devolution Defined Devolution is defined as the transfer of resources and power (and often, tasks) to lower-level authorities which are largely or wholly independent of higher levels of government, and which are democratic in some way and to some degree (Manor, 1997). Encyclopedia Britannica: “Local Govt. means the authority which determines and executes measures within an area inside and smaller then the whole state.” Why Devolve? What is the need for devolution? There could be many reasons to devolve but the main reason is to: improve governance and public service delivery by increasing: 1. Allocative efficiency: through better matching of public services to local preferences. It means that instead the centre deciding to provide service the local people should identity their preferences for services. 2. Productive efficiency: through increased accountability of local governments to citizens, fewer levels of bureaucracy, and better knowledge of local costs. It is more efficient to provide services at local levels because people know their needs, they know at what cost services can be provided and there will be fewer levels of bureaucracy. Tiers or Level of Government In a democratically devolved government, there are three levels of governments. These levels are: 1. Central government at the centre 2. Provincial or state government 3. Local or devolved government Obligatory Functions Each level of government performs its own functions. For example the government at the Centre has the responsibility of defence, currency regulation foreign affairs. As you may recall the Constitution provides Federal Legislative List and Concurrent List, which defines the functions of federal government and both federal and provincial government. But no functions are given for local government. However, the Local Government ordinance provides certain obligatory functions that the local government must perform. Some of these functions are: docsity.com Introduction To Public Administration–MGT111 VU © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 143 1. Supply of wholesome water 2. Construction and maintenance of public streets 3. Lighting and watering public streets 4. Regulation trades 5. Maintenance and support of public hospitals 6. Establishing and maintenances of primary schools 7. Registration of births and death 8. Naming streets and numbering houses From these functions what we can infer is that these functions are very small in magnitude but very essential for local areas and local people. So it remains the responsibility of the local government to provide these services to local people. Discretionary Functions While the above are obligatory functions i.e. that local government must perform. There are functions that local government may or may not perform. These are called discretionary function. Some of the discretionary functions are:- 1. Security or removing dangerous building or places 2. Housing for low income groups 3. Promotion of welfare of municipal employees 4. Provision of transport facilities Local Government in Pakistan In 1947 the area that comprised Pakistan had not so developed systems of local government and the local government existed was under severe bureaucratic control of the deputy commissioner who played a crucial role in policy making. The Period 1958-1969 In 1958 the “Basic Democracies” system was introduced, which created 80,000 “basic democrats,” or union councilors in the country. These local leaders (union leaders at union council) constituted the Electoral College for presidential elections and for elections to the national and provincial legislature created under the constitution promulgated in 1962. Under the Basic Democracy Ordinance 1959 areas were defined under the jurisdiction of a municipal body.Town committees were set up for towns having population of less then 14000.Town committees were expected to perform 37 functions including promotion of social welfare, health etc. In urban areas each council elected a chairman amongst its member who served as executive head of town committee. Union council was also assigned 37 functions. The Tehsil council was to coordinate the activities of union council and union committees in its jurisdiction. But Tehsil councils had no taxation powers like union councils. Until 1969 this arrangement listed. A general election was held in 1970 and in 1973 new constitution was promulgated. Constitutional Provisions of Local Government The Constitution enforced on 14 August, 1973 by articles 175(3) that “Judiciary shall be separated progressively from the executive within 3 years from the commencing day”. Article 37(i) states that “The state shall decentralize government administration so as to facilitate expeditious disposal of its business to meet the convenience and requirement of the public”. But there was no formal article in the Constitution that would mention the Local Government Creation. As it is mentioned that governments from time to time established local government. In 1959 the Basic Democracy Ordinance was promulgated and in 1979 also Local Government Ordinance was announced under which local body elections were held. This Local docsity.com