The implementation of the commissioner system has evoked mixed response from former officials and teachers of public administration. Considering many districts in the State are going through a law and order situation in the wake of anti-CAA-NRC protests, the decision acquires all the more significance.
Harsh Mander, who worked in the Indian Administrative Service before turning to social activism, said it undermines the position of the District Magistrate, particularly in a law and order situation. “My experience as a District Magistrate suggests that the dual system provided for a check and balance at the district level,” he told The Hindu.
Retired super cop Maxwell Pereira said the commissioner system is known for providing “quickness of action” but it makes a single authority responsible for action, good or bad.
Mirza Asmer Beg, who teaches public administration at Aligarh Muslim University, said quickness of action is crucial when you are fighting a “foreign enemy” or providing civic amenities. “Not when you are up against your own people exercising their democratic right to dissent.”
