The Deputy Commissioner's Office is headed by the Deputy Commissioner & District Magistrate ( Revenue Department ). He is in charge of the general administration of the entire district and he is responsible for maintaining law and order in the district. The Deputy Commissioner is assisted by the Head Quarters Assistant . He is the head of the Revenue district. Mysore Revenue district is divided into 2 sub-divisions headed by Assistant Commissioners. These sub-divisions are comprised of talukas headed by Tahsildars. Taluks are further divided into hoblis headed by Revenue inspectors. These hoblis are comprised of villages. Groups of villages are formed into Village Accountant circles. Village Accountants maintain revenue records and it is their duty to collect revenue and other dues. The Administrative Section directly assisting the Deputy Commissioner in his office is headed by the Office Assistant of the rank of Tahsildar.  The District is the Principal Administrative unit below the state level. It is a unit of administration covering most of the departments of Government. In the words of the study team on district administration constituted by the Administrative Reforms commission : The district is the most convenient geographical unit where the total apparatus of public administration can be concentrated, and where it comes into direct contact with the people. Most departments of the state government out-side the secretariat, have external services which are located in the district. The sum total of the activities of these departments and some others, which may also be connected with the affairs of the Central Government, together constitute the administrative machinery in the district.The Block and Village level bodies are generally executive in nature, while the district level body mostly has a co-ordinating and supervisory role.The Deputy Commissioner, being the head of the district administration, is perhaps the only officer who exercises powers under the largest number of laws both state and central.

The functions of the district administration can be briefly summarised as follows :

1. Law and Order and Magisterial Matters : The first group of functions relates to public safety and tranquility. Maintenance of Law and order is the joint responsibility of the Superintendent of Police, who head the Police force in the district, and the District Magistrate. The Deputy Commissioner of the District is also the District Magistrate. Though there is a separate department for the administration of jails, the district Magistrate exercises general supervision over the Jails in his district, citizenship matters/arms licences, cinema, NOC for petroleum bunks and storage for LPG cylinders.

2. Land Revenue : The second group of functions relates to revenue administration. While the most important component of this group is land administration including maintenance of land records, it also includes the assessment and collection of land revenue and other Government dues which are collected as arrears of land revenue. The Deputy Commissioner is a designated Revenue officer in various laws governing the land to deal with disputes arising out of land records and management of public lands and properties. The other revenue officers, namel y, the Assistant Commissioners, the Tahsildars and the Deputy Tahsildars also perform functions of dealing with land disputes under the overall supervision and control of the Deputy Commissioner.

3. Development Activities : Schemes like MPLAD, MLAD, Ashraya, Calamity Drought are being implemented by the Deputy Commissioner.

4. Election : The Deputy Commissioner is the District Election Officer. He is the Returning Officer for the Parlimentary Constituency, South Teachers Constituency/ South Graduate Constituency. All other elections namely, elections to the following :-

a. Assembly Constituency
b. Town Municpal Council
c. Town Panchayat
d. Zilla Panchayat
e. Taluk Panchayat
g. Grama Panchayat
h. APMC

are held under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner.

5. Census : The Deputy Commissioner is the District Incharge of the census operations conducted once in 10 years, further the Cattle Census, Agriculture Census, Irrigation etc are conducted.

6. Municipal Administration Matters : The Deputy Commissioner is generally responsible for the supervision and proper functioning of the urban local bodies. The implementation of various developmental and anti-poverty measures for the urban poor is monitored by the Deputy Commissioner. The most important of these programmes are the Swarnajayanthi Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), Urban Ashraya (Housing), Twelth Finance Commission development grants, SFC and the JNNRUM for mysore city.

7. Emergency Relief : In situations like floods, famines, accidental fires, earthquakes and other natural calamities, the entire district administration headed by the Deputy Commssioner, the Department like Police, Revenue, Health, PWD, Fire Force, Home Gaurds etc., formed Disaster Management Authority geared to meet the contingencies. General Public and the farmers can seek relief from the Revenue Department as per the the norms enclosed.
Norms for Payment of Compensation under natural calamities : http://www.ndmindia.nic.in/management/RevisedNorm2007.pdf

8. Land Acquisition matters : Acquisition of land for public purposes like construction of development projects, roads, bridges, irrigation channels, industries etc. is carried out by the Land Acquisition Officers under the control of the Deputy Commissioner.

9. Residuary functions : There are a number of executive functions of Government which have not been precisely defined and there is no separate representative of the Government to carry out such duties in the district. It is the DC, in his capacity as the chief representative of Government in the district, who has to deal with all residuary matters. This group of activities includes miscellaneous functions like Family Planning, Red Cross, District Social Welfare Schemes, Excise, Backward Class and Minority Schemes other Departmental Works. He is the inspecting authority for other department offices, except Police & Judiciary.

Assistant Commissioner

The Assistant Commissioners actually working in the Revenue Department (sub-Divisional Officers) are placed in charge of specific taluks in a district and they supervise both revenue and Development Departments. They are also Sub-Divisional Magistrates. In regard to revenue matters the Tahsildars are subject to the control and supervision of the sub-divisional officers. The Assistant Commissioners in charge of the sub-divisions have been vested with powers of the D.C. under many Sections of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 and also other state laws. The AC is the first appellate authority in respect of revenue matters handled by his sub-ordinates and he is also the lowest level at which powers of revision under section 56 of Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 are vested. The SDO normally handles the land acquisition work relating to his sub-division and is also the chairman of the Tribunals constituted under Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961 for the Taluks in his sub-division. Assistant Commissioner of the sub-division is the Electoral Registration Officer, for the voters of the Assembly Constituencies covered under the sub-division. The SDO is also the Returning Officer for one of the Assembly constituencies in his sub-division. He is also Assistant Returning Officer for the Parliamentary Constituency of the District.

Tahsildar

Taluks, more or less in their present form, were in existence in the areas governed by the British. In a Taluk, The Tahsildar is the most important Government functionary at the taluk level. He is immediately sub-ordinate to the Sub-divisional officer i.e Assistant Commissioner. The Tahsildar is responsible for the maintenance of land records, survey, collection of land revenue and other Governmnet dues. Village Accountants, Revenue inspectors, Deputy Thasildar will work under the control of the Thasildar. By virtue of his office, the Tahsildar is an Executive Magistrate under the Criminal Procedure code, Arms rules etc. He is the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer for his Taluk and also the Assistant Returning Officer for the Assembly Constituencies covering his taluk. He is also the member secretary of the Tribunals constituted under the Land Reforms Act, Land Grants, Aradhana, Encroachment Requralisation Committees etc.

Nad Office

Inorder to redress certain greiviances of the farmers and the public at the hobli level Nad Offices have been established at the hobli level delegating few powers of the tahsildars namely sanction of OAP, WP, PHP, Agricultrist Certificate, Issue of Certified Copies of the Revenue Records,Solvency Certificate etc., Deputy Tahsildar is the incharge of the NAD office.

Shirastedars

Shirastedars have been appointed in each taluk to assist the Tahsildar in various matters of the Department. Under Rules 43 and 67 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Rules, 1966, Shirastedar or any officer of Revenue Department equal or superior in rank to him can hear and pass orders in disputed cases arising out at the stage of preparation of record of Rights and also at the maintenance stage.

Revenue Inspectors

The Revenue Inspector is appointed for a circle. Depending on the size of the hobli,a Revenue Inspector heads 5 to 15 Village Accountants. His main function is to supervise the work of Village Accountants working under him, and furnish information, reports etc., to the Tahsildar as and when called for. He is the authority to accept the Katha Changes.Revenue Inspector is a vital link between the Village Accountant and the Tahsildar. He is required to be in constant touch with the Village Accountants and the Tahsildar. He is required to perform all the duties prescribed under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 and Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961 & in or under any other law for the time being in force.

Village Accountants

The Village Accountant is appointed for a Village or a group of Villages by the Deputy Commissioner, performs all the duties prescribed in or under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 or in under any other law for the time being in force. He has to keep all such registers and other records as are prescribed by Government. Whenever called upon by any Superior Revenue Officer of the Taluk or District, he prepares all records connected with the affairs of the Village. The Records may be notices, depositions, Mahajars or reports required by the State or the Public. The Village Account is directly under the supervision and control of the Revenue Inspector. The Village Accountant being an important functionary of Revenue Administration at the Village level, should reside in a central village of his hobli to be available to the villagers. The Headquarters of the Village Accountant is fixed by the Deputy Commissioners.The Village Accountant has therefore, a dual role to play. On the one hand, he is under the administrative control of the Tahsildar and is responsible for all matters of Revenue administration at this level. He collects revenue, makes crop entries, draws Mahazars, issued notices and carries out functions.The activities of the Revenue Department have increased over the years. Although collection of revenue continues to be one of the most important tasks of the village accountant he is playing an important role in the identification of the beneficiaries under the several programmes launched by the Government for the amelioration of the conditions of the rural population in general and the Weaker Sections in particular Viz OAP, PHP, WP, Distribution of House Site, Rations Cards, Sandhya Suraksha, Caste Certificate, Income Certificate etc.,He is the registrar for Birth & Death.

For Furthur Details :

Deputy Commissioner's office, Mysore District, Mysore. Phone : 0821 - 2422302, , Fax 0821 - 2429012 , email : dcmys-ka@nic.in