How Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma Seeks To Overhaul State Administration

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is known for his administrative acumen, is spearheading a massive overhaul of the state administration to make babus more responsive and responsible. 

Sarma has already prepared a concept note that will be fine-tuned by senior faculty at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), India’s top training school for IAS recruits.

The final plan will be discussed at the next conference of deputy commissioners (the administrative chiefs of districts) scheduled for May 12 to 14.

According to the chief minister’s plan, the deputy commissioners (DCs) will no longer function in the conventional way by signing on files while sitting in their offices. 

The DCs will, from now on, focus on improving the GDP of their respective districts, improving GST collections from their districts, attracting investments by ensuring an industry-friendly environment and raising the per capita income in their districts. 

Other areas of responsibility include increasing crop diversification, raising agricultural output, creating industrial land-banks and ensuring seamless delivery of services as well as efficient and transparent implementation of all government schemes and projects. 

“Each DC will have to act as the chief secretary of his or her district. My plan is to decentralise powers and make every district an economic unit. Districts will be made the focal point of the state administrative machinery and we will ensure a fixed tenure for every DC,” Sarma told Swarajya. 

A major departure from the present practice will be to ensure the availability of officers in all posts in a district throughout the year so that administrative work does not suffer. 

This means that the DC will have to ensure a suitable replacement for an officer proceeding on a long leave (two months or more) or on deputation before sanctioning the leave. 

“This will ensure that all posts are manned throughout the year. Right now, posts remain vacant for months when senior district officers go on long leave or deputation. And as a result, the common man suffers” said the chief minister. 

“From now on, IAS, ACS (Assam Civil Service) and ALRS (Assam Land Revenue Service) officers posted in the districts will be granted long leave by their administrative heads only after suitable replacements are found from the pool of officers of the same service and seniority,” said chief minister Sarma. 

Also, a comprehensive assessment will be made on the number of additional DCs, sub-divisional officers (SDOs) and assistant commissioners required for each district based on its size, requirement and complexities. 

Another major step is to establish extensions of DC offices in each legislative assembly constituency (LAC). Each such office will be under the administrative control of an additional DC. 

“Each district has a number of LACs and DCs cannot pay adequate attention to works in every LAC in their respective district. There are 126 LACs in Assam under the administrative control of 30 DCs. The DC extension offices in each LAC to be headed by an additional DC will be responsible for a whole range of activities ranging from collecting land tax, land mutation, issuing no-objection certificates to issuing trade licences and building permissions. This will take the administration much closer to the people and will result in decentralisation of powers that are now concentrated in DC offices,” explained Sarma. 

The chief minister said that the concept of LAC-wise DC offices will put an end to rising demands for new subdivisions and districts from people of many areas. 

“Such demands are raised when people find it difficult to access offices of the DC or SDO for routine work. But once DC (extension) offices come up in each LAC, all government services will be easily accessible to all people and they will not feel the need to demand creation of new districts and subdivisions,” the chief minister said. 

The chief minister said that the performance of DCs will be assessed on the basis of fixed objective parameters that can be assessed transparently.

“40% weightage will be given to their (DCs) performance on increasing GDP and GST collections, raising per capita incomes and other fixed parameters. Other assessments of personal attributes, like innovation and initiatives by them, will carry 30% weightage while their functional capacity will carry 30% weightage,” said Sarma. 

This assessment, said senior administrative officers, will keep DCs on their feet, make them think out of the box and innovate, and spur them to take personal initiatives to solve problems. 

Assam, it may be mentioned, is the first state to initiate such wide-ranging administrative reforms and overhaul.