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Average tenure of district magistrates goes up to 18 months in Uttar Pradesh
A fixed and longer tenure provides an opportunity to implement the programmes that the officers may visualise in their districts when posted as district magistrates.
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The average tenure of district magistrates (DMs) is going up in Uttar Pradesh from about six months a decade ago to 18 months now. It, however, still remains below the suggested tenure of two years for them.
A fixed and longer tenure provides an opportunity to implement the programmes that the officers may visualise in their districts when posted as district magistrates.
Although there have been instances when the district magistrates have remained posted in a district for more than five years, the shortest tenures may have been in days in certain districts of Uttar Pradesh.
P Wyndom is often quoted as the district magistrate having the longest- ever tenure of 13 years in Mirzapur during the British regime (1900 to 1913). A popular tourist spot, Wyndom Falls in Mirzapur, and a development block, Wyndomganj in neighbouring district of Sonbhadra (which was part of Mirzapur till 1989), stand testimony to his association with the region.
“Yes, many officers have had more than a five-year tenure as district magistrate. Mirzapur had P Wyndom as district magistrate for nearly 13 years during the British period (1900-1913). Wyndom agreed to his transfer from Mirzapur only when the government decided to send him as divisional commissioner in the hills,” said Rohit Nandan, former IAS officer, who also once worked as chairman and managing director of Air India.
An increase in the average tenure of district magistrates and district police chiefs is now a point of discussion in the corridors of power.
“Yes, we have average tenure of 18 months now against nearly 10- and-a-half months during the Samajwadi Party regime,” said a senior officer. Those aware of developments in the state home department said the average tenure for the district police chiefs has gone up to nearly two years against the average of one year during the Samajwadi Party rule.
Most officers attribute the increase in average tenure to stability on the political horizon.
“This is an outcome of the strong will of chief minister Yogi Adityanath. There must be political pressure from politicians even now. But it is for the chief minister whether to succumb to pressure or ignore them,” said Professor SK Dwivedi, former head of the department of political science, Lucknow University.
Generally, three-year tenure is given to employees and officers on most of the posts. In case of district magistrates, a two- year period was considered when the state government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court about 10 years ago. Yet, successive governments continued to transfer officers before completion of their tenure on various posts in the name of public interest.
A Civil Service Board was set up about a decade ago to make recommendations on the transfer of officers and examine factors responsible for premature transfers in an obvious bid to ensure that all the officers holding posts of district magistrates and district police chiefs get a two-year term.
“The Civil Service Boards were set up to ensure that the officers got their complete two-year tenure and were not unnecessarily transferred. An improvement in average tenure of officers is welcome. We hope the average tenure will reach two years soon,” said former chief secretary Alok Ranjan.
