A chief commissioner is a

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

of a high rank, usually in chief of several commissioners or similarly styled officers.

Colonial

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

the gubernatorial style was chief commissioner in various (not all) provinces (often after being an entity under a lower ranking official), the style being applied especially where an elected assembly did not exist, notably: *

Ajmer-Merwara Ajmer-Merwara, also known as Ajmir Province and as Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri, was a former province of British India in the historical Ajmer region. The territory was ceded to the British by Daulat Rao Sindhia by a treaty on 25 June 1818. It was u ...

1 April 1871 – 15 August 1947 (the last date being the independence of India as a dominion, ending the colonial

British raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

) *

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...

1872 – August 1945 *

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

1912 – 3 January 1921 * Baluchistan 19 June 1877 – 3 October 1947 * Central Provinces and Berar 13 March 1854 – 17 December 1920 * Coorg 10 April 1834 – 15 August 1947 *

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

1912 – 15 August 1947 *

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followin ...

9 November 1901 – 18 April 2010 *

Panth-Piploda Panth-Piploda was a province of British India. It is located in present-day Ratlam district of Madhya Pradesh state of central India. Panth-Piploda was British India's smallest province, with an area of , and a population of 5267 (male 2666, ...

May 1942 – 15 August 1947 sole incumbent Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Walter Fendall Campbell KCIE (1894-1973) *

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

(first 1 April 1849 – 1853 under a board of administration) till 1 January 1858 (only sole incumbent John Laird Mair Lawrence)

Independent Commonwealth nations

Australia

On two occasions in the late 20th century, local elected government in the City of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

was temporarily replaced by panels of commissioners headed by a chief commissioner. Chief commissioner is also a rank used by

Scouts Australia Scouts Australia is a trading name of The Scout Association of Australia, which is the largest scouting organisation in Australia, with an estimated 55,038 youth participants in 2021, and a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movemen ...

for the Adult Leader with operational control of Scouting in each State and Territory Branch. There is also a Chief Commissioner of Australia, a position which is more prestigious, although it carries less power. Also in the state of Victoria, the head of police force is, unlike all the other states and territories, a 'chief commissioner' – as opposed to a 'commissioner'. The reason for this is, during Victoria's pre-federation history, there was more than one commissioner in the colony, one metropolitan and one for the goldfields, hence an additional degree of seniority was introduced. The office of chief commissioner has remained since.

Mauritius - Rodrigues

The island of Rodrigues which is part of the

Republic of Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

has a chief commissioner since 12 October 2012 when the island was granted autonomy status. He/she is the head of the Rodrigues Regional Assembly.

India

In India the post of chief commissioner is in

Indian Revenue Service The Indian Revenue Service (IAST: ), often abbreviated as IRS, is an Indian government agency that is primarily responsible for collecting and administering direct and indirect taxes. As a central civil service under Group A of the executiv ...

(IRS) i.e. Central Excise & Customs Department & Income Tax Department. Usually the chief commissioner is above 3 or 4 commissioners of C&CE or IT

Sources and references

WorldStatesmen

References

Gubernatorial titles {{Job-stub