{{Short description|Administrator of a division of a state in India}} {{Use Indian English|date=February 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox official post | post = Commissioner | body = Division | native_name = <!--{{native name||}} --> | insignia = | insigniasize = | insigniacaption = | insigniaalt = | flag = Flag of India.svg | flagsize = | flagalt = | flagborder = | flagcaption = Flag of India | incumbentsince = | department = | style = | type = Administrator of a division of a state in India | status = | abbreviation = D.C. or C.D. | member_of = *Indian Administrative Service *State Civil Services | reports_to = | residence = | seat = Commissioner office | nominator = | appointer = Respective Government of Indian State and Union Territories | appointer_qualified = | termlength = | termlength_qualified = | constituting_instrument = | precursor = | inaugural = | formation = {{start date and age|1829|df=y|p=y}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Bengal Revenue Commissioners Regulation, 1829 (Act 1 of 1829) |url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/150243008/?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=12 September 2025 |website=IndianKanoon.org}}</ref>{{AI-retrieved source|date=March 2026|checked=no}} | first = | last = | abolished = | superseded_by = | succession = | unofficial_names = | deputy = | salary = ₹1,44,200-1,82,200 and various other allowances and facilities | website = <!-- {{url|example.com}}--> | footnotes = }} A '''Divisional Commissioner,''' also known as '''Commissioner of division''', is a career civil servant and a member of Indian Administrative Service who serves as the administrator of a division of a state in India. The post is referred to as '''regional commissioner''' in Karnataka and as '''revenue divisional commissioner''' in Odisha.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.regional-commissioner-belgaum.gov.in/english/rcpower.html|title=Power & Functions of Regional Commissioner|website=Office of the Regional Commissioner, Belagum|access-date=August 15, 2017|archive-date=17 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220617202156/https://regional-commissioner-belgaum.gov.in/english/rcpower.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
The division is constituted to oversee land revenue administration in the districts under its jurisdiction, along with other administrative functions. The Divisional Commissioner supervises land revenue administration and also oversees functions such as elections, disaster management, and inter-departmental coordination.
Office-bearers are generally either of the ranks of secretary to the state government, or principal secretary to state government.
The role of a divisional commissioner's office is to act as the administrative head of all the state government offices situated in the division. A divisional commissioner is given the direct responsibility of administering the land revenue collection, canal revenue collection and law & order maintenance of a division. The divisional commissioner also presides over Local government institutions in the division. Officers are transferred to and from the post by the state government. This post exists in many states of India. Divisional commissioners are responsible for general administration of the division and planned development of the districts under his control and also act as ''appeal adalat'' for revenue cases.
==History of divisional commissioner== The division as an administrative level came into being in 1829 by the East India Company to facilitate the administration of far flung districts as a result of an increase in the scope of operations corresponding to the expansion of British territories. Each division was put under the charge of a divisional commissioner. The position was also known as '''Commissioner of Revenue and Circuit Division''' because he was the presiding officer of circuit court, it had appellate jurisdiction over sessions court.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://arc.gov.in/15threport.pdf|title=Second Administrative Reforms Commission - Fifteenth Report - State and District Administration|date=April 2009|website=Second Administrative Reform Commission, Government of India|page=43|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601185542/http://arc.gov.in/15threport.pdf|archive-date=1 June 2010|url-status=dead|access-date=September 11, 2017}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Indian Administration|last=Maheshwari|first=S.R.|publisher=Orient Blackswan Private Ltd.|year=2000|isbn=9788125019886|location=New Delhi|pages=563–572 |edition=6th }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book|title=Revenue administration in India: A case study of Bihar|last=Singh|first=G.P.|publisher=Mittal Publications|year=1993|isbn=978-8170993810|location=Delhi|pages=26–129}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title=Governance in India|last=Laxmikanth|first=M.|publisher=McGraw Hill Education|year=2014|isbn=978-9339204785|location=Noida|pages=5.1–5.2 |edition=2nd }}</ref> The post was created by then the Bengal government.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> The institution of divisional commissioner was created by Lord William Bentinck.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" />
The appointment of commissioners in the subsequently acquired provinces of Punjab, Burma, Oudh and the Central Provinces followed in due course. The commissioner had intermediary role between district collector and board of revenue.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" />
The Royal Commission for Decentralisation, 1907 recommended its retention. The issue, however, continued to crop up again and again, particularly at the time of constitutional reforms of 1919, 1935, and 1947. After independence, the state governments merely tinkered with traditional revenue set-up and the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Gujarat abolished the posts of divisional commissioners but later revived them except in Gujarat.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://landrevenue.rajasthan.gov.in/content/dam/landrevenue/revenuedepartment/pdf/Acts/THE%20RAJASTHAN%20DIVISIONAL%20COMMISSIONER.pdf|title=THE RAJASTHAN DIVISIONAL COMMISSIONER (OFFICE ABOLITION) ACT, 1962 (Raj Act No. 8 of 1962)|date=1962|website=Department of Revenue, Government of Rajasthan|access-date=September 13, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://revenuedepartment.gujarat.gov.in/collectorate|title=Collectorate|website=Department of Revenue, Government of Gujarat|access-date=September 11, 2017|archive-date=14 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614164515/https://revenuedepartment.gujarat.gov.in/collectorate|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/india-2/role-and-functions-of-divisional-commissioner/46672/|title=Role and Functions of Divisional Commissioner|website=Your Article Library|date=6 January 2015 |access-date=August 20, 2017}}</ref>
==Role of divisional commissioner== The roles and powers of commissioners vary from state to state but there is a general precedent. The divisional commissioner performs a variety of roles in regional administration. Today, district magistrates are quite junior officers, needing the guidance and supervision of a seasoned administrator like the divisional commissioner. During the British period, a member of the Indian Civil Service was normally appointed a collector of the district in his twelfth year of service. Today a member of the IAS becomes a district collector after putting in 5 or 6 years of service. With his or her insufficient administrative experience, a district collector of today necessarily needs guidance. The divisional commissioners, therefore, are a necessary part of the governmental machinery.<ref>http://103.1.174.97/newcms/attachments/article/233/Divisional%20Commissioner-%20Power%20and%20Function.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205555/http://103.1.174.97/newcms/attachments/article/233/Divisional%20Commissioner-%20Power%20and%20Function.pdf |date=3 March 2016 }} {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://commissionerjalandhar.gov.in/jdcr.aspx|title=Commissioner's Role|website=Office of the Divisional Commissioner, Jalandhar|access-date=August 15, 2017|archive-date=16 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816011715/http://commissionerjalandhar.gov.in/jdcr.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jabalpurdivision.nic.in/main.asp?p1=about_div.htm|title=About us - Role of the Commissioner|website=Office of the Divisional Commissioner, Jabalpur|access-date=August 15, 2017|archive-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809151921/http://www.jabalpurdivision.nic.in/main.asp?p1=about_div.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Exception== The states and union territories in India that do not have divisions and thus do not have divisional commissioners are as follows:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Divisional administration of the states and union territories of India | doi=10.1177/002085237704300307 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002085237704300307?journalCode=rasb}}</ref> * Kerala * Goa * Tamil Nadu * Andhra Pradesh * Telangana * Gujarat * Manipur * Mizoram * Sikkim * Lakshadweep (Union Territory) * Chandigarh (Union Territory) * Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Union Territory) In these areas, administrative divisions are not established, and hence the role of a divisional commissioner, who typically oversees revenue administration at the divisional level, does not exist. The district administration reports to the revenue department of the government.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== {{Refbegin|30em}} * {{Cite book|title=Revenue administration in India: A case study of Bihar|last=Singh|first=G.P.|publisher=Mittal Publications|year=1993|isbn=978-8170993810|location=Delhi}} * {{Cite book|title=Indian Administration|last=Maheshwari|first=S.R.|publisher=Orient Blackswan Private Ltd.|year=2000|isbn=9788125019886|location=New Delhi |edition=6th }} * {{Cite book|title=Governance in India|last=Laxmikanth|first=M.|publisher=McGraw Hill Education|year=2014|isbn=978-9339204785|location=Noida |edition=2nd }} {{Refend}}
Category:1829 establishments in India Category:Indian Administrative Service officers