DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DISTRICT COLLECTOR AND DISTRICT MAGISTRATE

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

The District Collector is the highest Officer of Revenue administration in the district. In revenue matters, he/she is responsible to the Government through the Divisional Commissioner and the Financial Commissioner (Revenue).

A district magistrate, often abbreviated to DM, is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who is the senior-most executive magistrate and chief in charge of the general administration of a district in India. The responsibilities assigned to a district magistrate vary from state to state.

Who is a District Collector

The highest officer of revenue administration in India is known as a district collector. DC is also known as District Commissioner. He is in charge of the complete management of the District, which is under their area considering all the departments.

The purpose of the functions of a district collector is to collect the land revenue or to supervise how to collect the rent land revenue, to maintain the order and law in the district, and to supervise the general administration. The collector’s judicial power was transferred to the district’s judicial officers, which happened after Independence.

Every district has a district collector or the chief deputy commissioner, which the state government appoints to look after the law, district administration, and order. The chief administrative head of the district is known as a collector.

Who is a District Magistrate?

The district magistrate is also termed as DC or DM of the district and is called the Deputy Commissioner or District collector. District Magistrate is an officer of the Indian Administration Services (IAS). From the organization of Indian Administrative Services, officers are posted by the government in different states or districts.

The members placed in IAS are either directly enrolled by the Union Public Service Commission, promoted further, or nominated by the state civil service (SCS) and the non-state civil service (Non-SCS), respectively. The state government transfers the district magistrate and the district collector from and to a place.

Some of the district magistrate’s responsibilities are, namely:

Coordination of police
Certification of capital punishment of superior judgment of conviction and the oversight of jails
Maintaining peace order and law
Matters which are related to child labor
The management of crisis during riots
Management of the state or district during natural calamities like floods or any other epidemics

The major differences between District Collector and District Magistrate are:

District Collector	District Magistrate
The district collector conducts the revenue of the court	The district magistrate maintains the order and law in the district
District collector tends to the indirect tax duty, Income Tax dues, and irrigation dues	The district magistrate has control over the action of the police and directs or supervises them
The district collector has to maintain the land records	The District Magistrate or the Deputy Commissioner is the chief head of the criminal administration
The District collector collects and maintains the land revenue	The District Magistrate or the Deputy Commissioner has control over jails in that district
The highest rank of revenue administration officer in India is known as a district collector	The most senior administrator Magistrate and the chief head in charge of India’s district, general administration is District Magistrate
The District collector issues several certificates such as OBC, SC/ST, Marriage, Domicile, and Nationality	District Magistrate tends to authorize or Grant permissions for arms and ammunition

CONCLUSION

The DC is also known as the highest-ranked officer in revenue administration. In contrast, the DM is referred to as a DM in an Indian Administration Service (IAS) The highest-ranked serviceman of a government revenue administration in India is a district collector. The Divisional Commissioner and the financial commissioner assign the DC in the matter of the revenues in the government. While on the other hand, the DM of a city is also referred to as the district magistrate. They are the highest officer in charge of the district general management in India and the senior-most administrator magistrate. The duties or responsibilities assigned to a DM differ from state to state.