ADM or SDM... who has more power? See the report card yourself.
Indiaemploymentnews January 13, 2025 01:39 PM

Along with the youth who are dreaming of becoming an officer by passing the UPSC and PCS exams, it becomes necessary for every citizen of the country to know about the posts of these officers. ADM and SDM are such officers, from whom the general public has to work at some time or the other. In such a situation, today we are going to tell you the difference between ADM and SDM. What are the works of ADM and SDM and who is more powerful among them, you will be able to know this in this article.

Who is SDM

SDM means Sub Divisional Magistrate. This is the biggest administrative post below the district level i.e. at the tehsil level. After the training of an IAS officer, the first posting is mostly as SDM. However, PCS rank officers with good merit (below 20) also get posted on SDM posts. This post is made for administrative responsibilities in small towns or at tehsil level. SDM is responsible for a revenue division or subdivision, it is a post below ADM and takes administrative action as per the orders of ADM. SDM is also posted in many big cities, but he follows the orders of DM and ADM.

This is the power of ADM.

ADM is the post of an IAS officer who is also called Additional District Magistrate. However, a senior officer of the state civil service can also be posted on the post of ADM. SDM is posted in those cities where the area and population are more. Collector i.e. DM is not enough to handle such areas, so the government provides ADM as his assistant, who runs a district as per the orders of the collector. ADM is the second highest administrative officer after the District Magistrate in any district. In the absence of the DM, he discharges all administrative duties.

All the Tehsildars in the sub-division of the SDM work under the SDM. The SDM is considered to be the link between the Tehsildar and the DM. The SDM has many responsibilities such as revenue work, marriage registration, renewal of driving license, issuing certificates like domicile, etc. However, the SDM is not responsible for the entire district, while the ADM is responsible for the entire district.

Disclaimer: This content has been sourced and edited from abplive.com. While we have made modifications for clarity and presentation.

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