Deputy commissioner (popularly abbreviated as "DC") is a chief administrative, land revenue officer/collector and representative of government in district or an administrative sub-unit of a division in Pakistan. The office-holder belongs to the commission of Pakistan Administrative ServiceFederal Public Service Commission erstwhile DMG/CSP or the Provincial Management Service erstwhile Provincial Civil Service.
The deputy commissioner is assisted by additional deputy commissioners (general, revenue, finance, and planning) and assistant commissioners and district monitoring officer, deputy director development and General assistant revenue.
Divisional commissioner is assisted by additional commissioners (revenue, consolidation, coordination) and assistant commissioners (general, revenue) and director development.
In absence or transfer of the commissioner, deputy commissioner of division headquarter holds the acting charge, normally.
List of the serving Deputy Commissioners As of 27 June 2025, following are the names of serving DCs in Pakistan:
Islamabad Capital Territory Deputy Commissioner ICTIncumbent namePredecessorIslamabadIrfan Nawaz Memon
Punjab Province District Incumbent DCPosting datePosted from (District) Attock Rao Atif Raza5 February 2023None Bahawalnagar Muhammad Abbas27 March 2023Bhakkar Bahawalpur Syed Hassan Raza4 December 2025Narowal Bhakkar Ihsan Ali Jamali2 December 2025NoneChakwalMs. Sarah Hayat8 April 2025NoneChiniotAyesha Rizwan2 December 2025None Dera Ghazi Khan Muhammad Usman Khalid 2 October 2024 Faisalabad Capt Nadeem NasirAugust 2024Sargodha, Chiniot Gujranwala Naveed Ahmad 2 October 2024None Gujrat Noor ul Ain Qureshi18 July 2025None Hafizabad Abdul Razzaq20 August 2024None Jhang Ali Akbar BhinderOctober 2024Bhakkar Jhelum Mir Reza OzgenSeptember 2025Nowshera Kasur Asif Raza4 December 2025 Chiniot, Hafizabad Khanewal Maleeha Rashid2 December 2025None Khushab Jahanzaib Labar Kot Addu (Dysfunctional District) Bilal Saleem5 December 2025None Lahore Syed Musa RazaAugust 2024Bhakkar, Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan Layyah Asif Ali2 December 2025None Lodhran December 2024None Mandi Bahauddin Faisal SaleemAugust 2024None Mianwali Muhammad Asad Abbas MagsiAugust 2025None Murree Zaheer Abbas SheraziSeptember 2023Khanewal, Lodhran, MuzaffargarhMultanNoman Siddique4 December 2025NoneMuzaffargarhUsman Tahir18 July 2025None Narowal Tayyab Raza4 December 2025None Nankana Sahib Tasleem Akhar RaoAugust 2024None Okara Ahmed Usman JavaidOctober 2024None Pakpattan Asif Raza18 July 2025None Rahim Yar Khan Zaheer Anwar JappaOctober 2025Bahawalpur Rajanpur Shafqatullah MushtaqAugust 2024Bahawalnagar Rawalpindi Dr Hassan Waqar CheemaFebruary 2023Attock Sahiwal Capt SamiMuzaffargarh, Jehlum Sargodha Capt Muhammad WaseemAugust 2024Bahawalnagar Sheikhupura Shahid Imran MarthAugust 2024Mandi Bahauddin Sialkot Saba Asghar AliApril 2025Narowal Talagang (Dysfunctional District) Ayyan Shahid Taunsa (Dysfunctional District) Toba Tek Singh Umar Abbas MelaOctober 2025None Vehari Khalid Javed Goraya2 December 2025Mianwali Wazirabad (Dysfunctional District)
Balochistan Province +#DistrictIncumbent DCPredecessor1MastungSobhan Saleem2KalatMunir Ahmed Durrani3SurabSahibzada Najeebullah4KhuzdarYounas5AwaranAqeel Baloch6HubIsmail Ibrahim7BarkhanSaeed ur Rehman8ChagaiJehanzeb Baloxh9ChamanHabib Ahmed Bangulzai10Dera BugtiMuhammad Riaz Khan11DukiMuhammad Naeem Khan12GwadarNaqeebullah Kakar13HarnaiHazrat wali kakar 14HubIsmail Ibrahim15JafarabadKhalid Khan16Jhal Magsi17Kachhi18KechMajor R Bashir Ahmed19KharanMunir Soomro20Kohlu21LasbelaHumera Baloch22LoralaiHaseeb Shuja23Musakhel24NasirabadZulfiqar Ali25NushkiMuhammad Hussain26PanjgurJehanzeb Baloch27PishinQazi Mansoor Ahmed (PAS)28QuettaMeharullah Badini (PAS)29Qila AbdullahMunawar Hussain30Qilla SaifullahSagar Kumar31SheraniHazratvWali32SibiMajor R Ilyas Kibzai33SohbatpurFareeda Tareen34WashukMajeed35ZhobArif Zarkoon36ZiaratAbdul Qadoos Achakzai37BarshoreKhalid Shams
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province # District Incumbent DCPredecessor1 Abbottabad Nadeem NasirKhalid Iqbal2 Allai 3 Bajaur Muhammad Anwar-ul-HaqFayyaz Khan4 Bannu Mohammad Khan Bangash5Battagram6BunerHamid Ali7 Charsadda Saad Hussain8 Central Dir District 9 Dera Ismail Khan Nasrullah Khan10 Hangu Irfan Ullah11 Haripur 12 Karak Sharukh Ali Khan13 Khyber Capt(R) Sanaullah Khan14 Kohat Roshan Mehsud15 Kolai Palas Fazal Hussain16 Kurram 17 Lakki Marwat Iqbal Hussain18 Lower Chitral Muhammad Ali Khan19 Lower Dir Muhammad Fawad20 Lower Kohistan 21 Malakand Shahid Khan Mohmand22 Mansehra Bilal Shahid Rao23MardanHabibullah Arif24MohmandMr. Arifullah Awan25 North Waziristan Manzoor Ahmed Afridi26 Nowshera 27 Orakzai Mr Muhammad Khalid28 Peshawar 29 Shangla 30 Upper South Waziristan Mr. Ashfaq Khan31 Lower South Waziristan Mohammad Nasir Khan32 Swabi Gohar Ali Khan33 Swat 34 Tank 35 Torghar Zia-ur-Rehman Marwat36 Upper Chitral Mr. Muhammad Irfan Uddin37 Upper Dir Gohar Zaman Wazir38Upper Kohistan
Sindh Province # District Incumbent DCPosted from1 Badin 2 Dadu Syed Murtaza Ali Shah3 Ghotki Dr. Syed Muhammad Ali4 Hyderabad Bilal Memon5Jacobabad6Jamshoro7 Karachi Central Taha Saleem8 Karachi East Altaf Sheikh9 Karachi South Altaf Hussain Sario10 Karachi West Ahmed Ali Siddiqui11 Kashmore 12 Keamari Mukhtiar Ali Abro13 Khairpur Syed Ahmed Fawad Shah14 Korangi Saleemullah Odho15 Larkana Tariq Manzor chandio (since 2019)16 Malir Saeed Leghari17 Matiari 18 Mirpur Khas Zain Ul Abideen Memon19 Naushahro Feroze Muhammad Arslan Saleem20 Qambar Shahdadkot Sajjad Haider Qadri21 Sanghar 22 Shaheed Benazirabad Kanwal Nizam Shaikh23Shikarpur24Sujawal25 Sukkur 26 Tando Allahyar 27 Tando Muhammad Khan Dharmoon Bhawani28 Tharparkar Muhammad Nawaz Sohoo29 Thatta 30 Umerkot
List of serving Commissioners in divisions
Islamabad, ICT, federal capital Chief commissioner ICTIncumbent CommissionerPredecessorIslamabad Lt (r) Sohail Ashraf Muhammad Ali Randhawa
Punjab Province # Division IncumbentPosted from1 Bahawalpur Musarrat Jabeen2 Dera Ghazi Khan Ishfaq Ahmed3 Faisalabad Raja Jahangir Anwar Bahawalpur4 Gujranwala Naveed Shirazi5 Gujrat Naveed Shirazi 6 Lahore Maryam Khan Faislabad, Multan7 Multan Aamir Karim Khan8 Rawalpindi Aamer Khattak Multan9 Sahiwal Asif Tufail10 Sargodha Jahanzeb Awan
Balochistan Province # Division IncumbentPosted from1 Kalat Muhammad Naeem Bazai2 Loralai Saadat Hassan3 Makran Dawood Khan Khilji4 Naseerabad Moin ur Rahman5QuettaMohammad Hamza Shafqaat6RakhshanMujeeb Ur Rehman Qambrani7 Sibi Zahid Shah8 Zhob Zeeshan Javed
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province # Division IncumbentPosted from1 Bannu Parwaiz Sabatkhel2 Dera Ismail Khan Amir Latif3 Hazara Aamir Sultan Tareen4 Kohat 5Malakand Abid Khan Wazir6Mardan7 Peshawar Riaz Khan Mehsud
Sindh Province # Division IncumbentPosted from1 Hyderabad Bilal Memon2 Karachi Syed Hassan Naqvi3 Larkana Ghulam Mustafa Phull4 Mirpur Khas Faisal Ahmed Uqaili5Shaheed BenazirabadSyed Muhammad Sajjad Hyder6SukkurFayaz Hussain Abbasi
History
Post devolution Local Government Reforms (2001 to 2008) During the presidency of Pervaz Musharraf, the office of deputy commissioner was replaced with district coordination officer, except in Islamabad. Also, the office of divisional commissioner was abolished. After his presidency, provincial governments of Pakistan again established this office through constitutional amendments.
However the office of deputy commissioner is deprived of its previous powers of as a district magistrate. Subsequently, additional deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners does not execute the role of additional district magistrate and sub-divisional magistrate, respectively. Magisterial powers are now executed by judicial officers and judges.
Post-independence of Pakistan
The district continued to be the unit of administration after Indian partition and independence of Pakistan in 1947. Initially, the role of the district collector remained largely unchanged, except for the separation of most judicial powers to judicial officers of the district.
Pre-independence District administration in Pakistan is a legacy of the British Raj. District collectors were members of the British Indian Civil Service and were charged with supervising general administration in the district.
Warren Hastings introduced the office of the district collector in 1772. Sir George Campbell, lieutenant-governor of Bengal from 1871 to 1874, intended "to render the heads of districts no longer the drudges of many departments and masters of none, but in fact the general controlling authority over all departments in each district."
The office of a collector/DC during the British rule in Indian subcontinent held multiple responsibilitiesas collector, he was the head of the revenue organization, charged with registration, alteration, and partition of holdings; the settlement of disputes; the management of indebted estates; loans to agriculturists, and famine relief. As district magistrate, he exercised general supervision over the inferior courts and in particular, directed the police work. The office was meant to achieve the "peculiar purpose" of collecting revenue and of keeping the peace. The superintendent of police (SP), inspector general of jails, the surgeon general, the divisional forest officer (DFO) and the chief engineer (CE) had to inform the collector of every activity in their departments.
Until the latter part of the nineteenth century, no native was eligible to become a district collector, but with the introduction of open competitive examinations for the British Indian Civil Service, the office was opened to natives. Anandaram Baruah, an eminent scholar of Sanskrit and the sixth Indian and the first Assamese ICS officer, became the third Indian to be appointed a district magistrate, the first two being Romesh Chandra Dutt and Sripad Babaji Thakur respectively.
Responsibilities The responsibilities of deputy commissioner vary from province to province. In Pakistan, these responsibilities changed with the passage of time. However, now the local government law of all provisional governments is similar to a large extent to the law of Punjab Province. Below some of the duties of a deputy commissioner are given: To supervise and monitor the discharge of duties by the Assistant Commissioners in the district. Coordination of work of all the sister offices and public facilities in the district. Efficient use of public resources for the integrated development and effective service delivery. To supervise and coordinate the implementation of the government policies, instructions and guidelines of the Government. To support and facilitate the offices and public facilities in the district. May convene a meeting for purposes of maintaining public order and public safety and safeguarding public or private properties in the District; and, the decisions taken in the meeting shall be executed by all concerned accordingly. Deputy commissioner is able to hold court sessions in criminal cases as justice of the peace, and monitors the performance of the assistant commissioner within the district.
See also Chief secretary Commissioner Assistant commissioner Punjab public service commission Pakistan Administrative Service
References