Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday announced that now every Zila Parishad (district council) will have an independent Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to work exclusively for the Zila Parishad.

Earlier, Deputy Commissioners, Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) or Sub Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) were given additional charge of CEOs of Zila Parishads.

Presiding over the first meeting of inter district council at Panchkula, the CM made several significant announcements to further strengthen the democratic system at the grassroot level in the state by decentralization of powers to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Local Bodies and also to ensure their active participation in the development process.

He also announced that ADC and CEO, Zila Parishad would not be a single officer and appointed separately. They would draw their salaries from the account of Zila Parishad. The Chairman, Zila Parishad would write the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of CEO and it would be accepted by the State Government on the basis of the feedback given by the people.

Khattar said that till now, Chairman Zila Parishad is appointed as the Chairman of District Rural Development Authority (DRDA) and ADC as its CEO. Now, ADC would not be appointed as CEO, DRDA.

The CEO Zila Parishad would act as CEO, DRDA. Similarly, the Deputy Commissioners would no longer be the Co-Chairman of DRDA. With this, the members of Zila Parishad would be able to prepare schemes in consultation of CEO, he added.

The CM said that an arrangement of Rs 20 Crore has been made for the Zila Parishads from today only and they could spend it according to the requirement. Similarly, the government is considering appointing a single officer to coordinate with all urban local units in the district.

He also announced that Zila Parishads would have their independent offices in the districts. At present, only seven districts have the offices of Zila Parishad. Apart from this, the office of DRDA would also be set up in the same building.

While describing today as a historic day, Khattar said that the State Government has constituted the Inter District Council to ensure that the gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zila parishads work as a ruler and not beggar where they could get required funds and power automatically.