No more joint collectors in Telangana

Hyderabad: Ahead of the district collectors’ conference, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has initiated reforms in the administration and revenue departments. Mr Rao has removed the age old joint collector’s system and replaced it with the additional collector’s system. There will be no joint collectors in the district administration now.

The Telangana government has appointed 47 additional collectors to the districts. In some districts the existing joint collectors have been re-designated as additional collectors.  In some districts the state government has posted two additional collectors, one to look after revenue matters and the other to look after local bodies.  

Two additional collectors have been appointed in 10 districts. IAS officers and non cadre officers have been appointed as additional collectors in some districts. The removal of the joint collector’s post and creation of additional collectors is part of the proposed revenue reforms of the Chief Minister.

The collectors’ conference will be held on Tuesday. The CM is expected to explain the proposed revenue reforms and the new revenue bill to be introduced in the Assembly in the ensuing Budget session.

At the district level, mandal revenue officers and revenue divisional officers are likely to lose some powers as per new Revenue Act. Though some revenue employees’ associations have opposed the reforms, the CM is very keen on the reforms and will explain their importance to the district collectors.

In any government, the revenue department is the most corrupt, as several surveys have shown, and the CM hopes to make this department corruption free by introducing the reforms.