The District Management Group, better known as the DMG, is the general management cadre of Pakistan's civil services. The officers of this cadre act as the managers at the District level, later at the provincial level and finally at the policy-making levels in the highest echelons of the Federal bureaucracy. In this respect, the term DMG appears to be a misnomer, since it only reflects the opening few years of the career of the officer. It is often said that if the CSS officers are the cream of the nation, the DMG officers are the top crust of the layer of cream.
The DMG is the successor service of the famous Indian Civil Service (ICS), a cadre service of civil service officers, that was created by the British to administer the British India. At the time of independence and partition in 1947, the division of India into two countries necessitated the bifurcation of the Civil Service and the Armed Forces. The Pakistani cadres were initially named as the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS). In 1950, the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) took its place. In the 1973 administrative reforms, the CSP was abolished and the DMG was born. Today, CSP has become a generic term which is used for referring to any CSS-qualified officer belonging to any of the 12 occupational groups that constitute Pakistan’s federal bureaucracy.
Initially constituted in February 1974 through an Office Memorandum (OM) of the Establishment Division, the DMG drew its primary membership from the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) besides some elements drawn from a host of sources and services (Para of the OM 2/2/74/ARC dated 17 February 1974).
The CSP was a subsisting All-Pakistan Service, established in November 1950 in pursuance of an inter-provincial agreement, and had subsumed Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), the short lived successor to the Erstwhile Indian Civil Service (ICS) that had in turn incorporated some elements of what was known to be the General Administrative Reserve (GAR) raised during Second World War in addition to listed post holders from the Provincial Civil Service (Executive Branch). All these elements had been integrated into one unified cadre in 1947. In late 1981,Tribal Areas Group, earlier constituted in October 1973, also through an OM, as an All Pakistan Service Group, was merged with the 1974 version of the DMG to compose the present second generation service entity. The TAG was composed of CSP officers inducted from the armed forces in yesteryears, provincial political & Revenue services officers from Balochistan and the NWFP. The 1949 agreement was enforced through an 8th November 1950 Cabinet Resolution (no F.25/4/50-Ests(SE1). Thereafter, extensive consultations ensued amongst the federating units and a formal framework was developed and epitomized as constitutional Rules, notified by the Establishment Division in the Cabinet Secretariat vide No.F.25/12/51-SE1 on 21 June 1954, in terms of the enabling provisions of Section 241 of the 1935 Act. At the relevant time, the latter had the status of Provisional Constitution of the newly born state adopted on 12 August 1947, with certain adaptations. The agreement could be modified with the consent of the federating units, but was not open to challenge by or before any forum except a signatory competent to invoke the advisory jurisdiction of the Federal, later Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The concept design of the DMG is thus rooted in the CSP, one of the two subsisting All-Pakistan Services, the other being the PSP, composed and created as fiction of the Constitution in pursuance of two inter-provincial agreements arrived at the Premier's Conference held on 26 December 1949, later ratified by the federal and provincial Cabinets. It needs to be noted that the Objectives Resolution was also approved at the same conference. A major in-road into provincial autonomy incorporated in the 1935 Act had thus been agreed to, and willingly sanctified by the successive constitutions, including the unanimously approved 1973 constitution (Explanation to Article 240). Until August 1973, all matters relating to structures of service institutions as well the terms and conditions of its membership were regulated by the principles laid down by constitution itself; no statute had been enacted for that purpose. The CSP Resolution/Agreement also covered both the structure of the Service as well as basic terms & conditions of service; unlike the ICS, it was contemplated as centralized service. Its substantive covenants entrusted day to day administration & management to the Governor General(GG), later President, on behalf of the provinces to which the officers would be assigned for performing the agreed functions. However, as per the relevant federal cabinet decisions, the title of the Service was determined with prior consultations with the service membership. Key principles to regulate methods & sources of appointments on domicile-based merit determined on the basis of country-wide equal opportunity competitive examinations, had been clearly laid down. All matters spelt out in the agreement excepting the rules regulating training, probation & seniority, were to be determined with mutual consultations of the contracting parties. In line with the above, the then Pakistan Public Service Commission (now Federal Public Service Commission) conceived as an autonomous constitutional agency was designated to advise Federal Government in all matters relating to appointments, whether by initial recruitment, transfer or promotions against specified & defined posts described in the schedule appended to the Agreement, the disciplinary matters of service membership, as also determination of litigation expenses incurred by an officer in service related litigation. A perusal of 759 posts specified for CSP, as amended in 1966, would show the extent to which the federating units had voluntarily surrendered their Autonomy; the CSP agreement also contemplated significant departures from the concepts of 'Division of Powers' and 'Separation of Powers'. With some specified exceptions, the schedule posts were required to be manned by Service membership. There was however a quid pro quo: being custodian of the Service, the GG was expected to uphold the substantives covenants for rule-based management for good governance, in public interest. The service membership was drawn from a number of sources, without compromising its merit. Within carefully crafted structures, the core group strength was derived from top selectees from the FPSC annual examinations whereas officers from the two Provincial Civil services (Judicial and Executive branches), members of the Bar and officers from the armed forces were also appointed to it; specific quota had been prescribed from every source. The Service membership thus blended offered its best from at least five sources with such a varied background, from within regularly constituted services as well as open market. The numbers of posts, and the sources of filling the vacancies through initial recruitment, transfer and promotion besides temporary assignments not exceeding one year, had been specified, with no room for any ambiguity or backdoor entry. In 1965, following a decision in a 1956 Writ Petition filed by a PCS officer asserting his right to appointment as a District Judge, Act XXI was enacted on the initiative of the Supreme Court and High Court dully endorsed by the executive and legislative branches at the federal and Provincial levels to operationalise the constitutional command with respect to selection and appointment of High Court Judges: The CSP was notified as the Service qualifying for such appointments from one of the three sources described by Article 78 of the 1962 Constitution. In 1967, Act XVI was promulgated, to empower the President to determine the principles for apportionment of Provincial posts amongst the members of the Service and Provincial Executive & Judicial Civil Services. No doubt could be entertained on the rights & obligations flowing from the basic agreement, much less those impinging upon the eligibility for judicial appointments. Excluding the periods of constitutional deviations, generally, till late August 1973, the federating units generally observed their respective constitutional obligations. Attempts made to bye-pass the FPSC mechanism were frustrated and contained. However, beginning, 21 August 1973, and despite constitutional & statutory recognition of the service institution, to date, the Establishment Division at that time, made significant moves to undermine the CSP cadre. The core membership was demoralized nay humiliated since March 1969 as summary dismissals and arbitrary removals became order of the day. Fundamental covenants were also modified without regard to attendant implication for future of the federation without reflecting any sensitivity to the self respect or professional standing of the service membership. The agreement was unilaterally tempered & amended through subservient rule making powers derived from the Civil Servants Ordinance, introduced on 15 August 1973. During this phase, Office Memoranda became to be the norm to create new All Pakistan Service entities. The 1974 OM on DMG is one such executive instrument. By mid-September 1973, the Service Nomenclature was also substituted with APUG, a title shared with the PSP similarly treated at least till October 1985 when its substantive title and structures were restored. The situation did not change much after the 1977 military take over. On the other hand, in 1981, Act XVI of 1967 was repealed without any justification, to generate an unending confusion with respect to sharing of provincial posts between the DMG and provincial services.
The starting point for the DMG officers at the District level used to be the Assistant Commissioner of a subdivision. Since the Devolution System of 2001, even the nomenclature of the posts has undergone a change. The DMG Officers can still enter as Assistant Commissioners in Islamabad and the Northern Areas, Assistant Political Agents in the Tribal Areas, Deputy District Officers (Revenue) in Punjab and Sind, as Assistant Coordination Officers (ACO) in NWFP and as Assistant District Administrative Officers (ADAO) in Balochistan. The are entrusted with general management, administration of the State land, revenue matters, coordination between the government departments and (except in Punjab and Sind) law and order. They may rise upto the level of District Coordination Officer (DCO) who is the top public servant, and as such the principal representative of the State, in the District. He is the head of the District bureaucracy.
At senior levels, a DMG Officer may become Secretary of any of the various Government departments like the Education Secretary, Finance Secretary and the like in the provincial governments. The horizontal mobility of the DMG officers ensures wide experience and exposure to the officers who are posted to various command and staff appointments at the Secretariat, at the attached departments and Directorates or even in the field. To give an example, at one time, the Director General of the Parks and Horticulture Authority as well as that of the Sewerage Authority of Lahore, were DMG Officers.
At the summit of his or her career, the DMG Officer becomes Secretary or equivalent ranks in the Federal Government of Pakistan or the Chief Secretary in a province. The DMGs like to call themselves "specialist generalists" who serve the nation in the highest traditions of the civil service.
The community of 800 or so DMG officers, are also distinguished for their espirit de corps and their fraternal bonds with each other. The DMG fraternity is distinguished for the officer-unity which is the secret of their strength. The DMG is another name for leadership, for excellence and for integrity. As they say, it is not a Service, it is a Tradition.





