The District Disaster Management Authority and the District Plan

In one line

The district is where a disaster is actually managed, the Collector chairs the authority, and since 2025 the district plan is reviewed every two years instead of every year.

In the wording a student can write in an examination: section 25 of the Disaster Management Act 2005 requires every State Government to establish a District Disaster Management Authority for every district, consisting of the Collector, District Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner as Chairperson ex officio, the elected representative of the local authority as co-Chairperson, the Chief Executive Officer of the District Authority, the Superintendent of Police and the Chief Medical Officer ex officio, and not more than two other members appointed by the State Government; section 30 makes it the district planning, coordinating and implementing body; section 31 provides for the District Plan; section 33 gives it a power of requisition over district officers and departments; and section 34 gives it its powers in the event of a threatening disaster situation.

Section 25, the composition

The Chairperson. The Collector or District Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, of the district, ex officio.

The co-Chairperson. The elected representative of the local authority, ex officio. In the Tribal Areas referred to in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, the Chief Executive Member of the district council of an autonomous district is the co-Chairperson. And by sub-section (3), in a district where a zila parishad exists, its Chairperson is the co-Chairperson.

The other ex officio members. The Chief Executive Officer of the District Authority, the Superintendent of Police, and the Chief Medical Officer of the district.

And, as substituted in 2025, clause (f). Not exceeding two other members appointed by the State Government, who may be taken from other district level officers, disaster management experts and civil society organisations.

That substitution is small and worth a mark. Before 2025 the two additional members were district level officers. The amendment opened those two seats to experts and to civil society organisations, which is the only place in the whole Act where a non-governmental person may sit on an authority as of right rather than on an advisory committee.

The Chief Executive Officer. The State Government appoints an officer not below the rank of Additional Collector, Additional District Magistrate or Additional Deputy Commissioner to be the Chief Executive Officer, exercising the powers prescribed by the State Government and those delegated to him by the District Authority.

Sections 26 to 29. The Chairperson presides and exercises whatever the Authority delegates; in an emergency he may exercise all or any of the Authority's powers, subject to ex post facto ratification; and he or the Authority may delegate to the Chief Executive Officer by general or special written order. The Authority meets as and when necessary. It may constitute advisory and other committees, chaired from among its members. And the State Government provides officers, consultants and employees.