District administration

At a glance

1. 1The Collector and the District Magistrate are one officer: under the Land Revenue Act he is the district's Collector and its Land Records Officer; under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 he is the District Magistrate, to whom all Executive Magistrates of the district are subordinate.
2. 2Order of subordination (section 24 of the Land Revenue Act): Commissioner, Collector, Sub-Divisional Officer, Tehsildar, Naib Tehsildar; every revenue officer of a division is subordinate to its Commissioner.
3. 3Under sections 15 and 16 of the Act the State Government creates, abolishes or alters divisions, districts, sub-divisions, tehsils and sub-tehsils by notification in the Gazette.
4. 4Divisions were dropped from the Act in 1962 (Rajasthan Act 8 of 1962) and restored, with Divisional Commissioners, from 31 January 1987 (Rajasthan Act 10 of 1987).

Levels of administration

The counts include the notifications of 31 December 2025 that moved tehsils between Barmer and Balotra districts; the number of districts stayed 41. For the list of districts and divisions, see the page on Rajasthan's location and districts.

Divisional Commissioner

District Collector and District Magistrate

• Revenue: section 20 of the Land Revenue Act provides for a Collector in each district. He has all the powers of a Sub-Divisional Officer, an Assistant Collector and a Tehsildar (section 27).
• Magistracy: the State Government appoints Executive Magistrates in every district and makes one of them the District Magistrate (section 14 of the Sanhita). The DM, an SDM or a specially empowered Executive Magistrate may issue a written order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger (section 163); it lasts at most two months, and the State Government may extend it by up to six months.
• Disaster management: he is the ex officio chairperson of the District Disaster Management Authority, which the State Government sets up for every district under section 25 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The elected representative of the local authority is its ex officio co-chairperson; where a Zila Parishad exists, its chairperson (the Zila Pramukh) is the co-chairperson.
• Elections: under section 13AA of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 the Election Commission, in consultation with the State Government, designates a government officer as District Election Officer for each district.

An Additional Collector may be appointed to a district or to two or more districts together (section 20 of the Land Revenue Act). Under the Sanhita the State Government may make any Executive Magistrate an Additional District Magistrate, with such of the DM's powers as it directs.

Superintendent of Police

Under section 16 of the Rajasthan Police Act, 2007 (Act 14 of 2007) the State Government may appoint a District Superintendent of Police for a police district. Control, supervision and direction of the district's police force vest in him, subject to the overall control of the Director General of Police. Subject to the All India Services rules he has a minimum tenure of two years; the section lists the only grounds for earlier removal, such as conviction, a major penalty, suspension, incapacity, his own request or an administrative exigency recorded in writing.

In a metropolitan area the post is called Deputy Commissioner of Police. Additional, Deputy or Assistant Superintendents of Police may be appointed to assist him.

SDO, Tehsildar and Naib Tehsildar

• Sub-Divisional Officer: the Assistant Collector the State Government places in charge of one or more sub-divisions of a district (section 20); he has all the powers of an Assistant Collector and a Tehsildar (section 27). Under section 14 of the Sanhita the Executive Magistrate in charge of a sub-division is the Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM).
• Tehsildar: section 20 provides for a Tehsildar in each tehsil. He exercises the powers given by the Land Revenue Act, the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955 and other laws (section 25), and has all the powers of a Naib Tehsildar (section 27).
• Rajasthan Tehsildar Service: Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars form this cadre, under the Rajasthan Tehsildar Service Rules, 1956; a branch of the Board of Revenue, Ajmer handles their appointment, seniority and transfers. All Tehsildar posts are filled by promotion, mostly of Naib Tehsildars. Half the Naib Tehsildar posts are filled by direct recruitment through RPSC's competitive exam and half by promotion of inspectors.
• Naib Tehsildar: the State Government may appoint as many to a tehsil as it thinks fit; a Tehsildar or a Naib Tehsildar is placed in charge of a sub-tehsil (section 20). The State Government may give a Naib Tehsildar all or any of the powers of a Tehsildar (section 26).

Land records: Patwari to Director

• Patwari: one for each patwar circle; he keeps and corrects the circle's annual registers and records and collects the rents, revenue and other dues of its landholders and tenants (section 31). The Director of Land Records forms the circles with the State Government's prior sanction (section 30).
• Girdawar Qanungo (Land Records Inspector): one for each land records inspection circle, to supervise the keeping and correction of its registers and records (section 33). The Director of Land Records forms these circles (section 32).
• Sadar Qanungo: one or more in each district, supervising the Girdawar Qanungos and Patwaris (section 34).
• Director of Land Records: appointed by the State Government for the whole state (section 19); in charge of survey and of preparing, revising and maintaining land records (section 25).

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