The Government of Punjab or locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Punjab, India and its 23 districts. It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Punjab, a judiciary and a legislative branch Punjab State.
Like other states in India, the head of state of Punjab is the Punjab Governor, appointed by the President of India on the advice of the Central government. The post of governor is largely ceremonial. The Chief Minister of Punjab is the head of government and is vested with most of the executive powers. Chandigarh is the capital of Punjab, and houses the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) and the secretariat. Chandigarh also serves as the capital of Haryana, and is a union territory of India. The Punjab & Haryana High Court, located in Chandigarh, has jurisdiction over the whole state.
The present Punjab Legislative Assembly is unicameral, consisting of 117 Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA). Its term is 5 years, unless sooner dissolved.
Cabinet Ministers
History In April 1952, the Punjab State Legislature consisted was bicameral, divided into a Vidhan Sabha (lower house) and Vidhan Parishad (upper house). In 1956, the Vidhan Parishad was expanded from forty to forty-six seats, further being expanded to fifty-one seats in 1957. After Punjab underwent trifurcation in 1966, its Vidhan Parishad was reduced to forty seats while its Vidhan Sabha was increased to 104 seats. On 1 January 1970, the state's legislature became unicameral with the abolishment of the Vidhan Parishad. The present legislature consists of 117 members whom are elected from 117 single-seat constituencies. The term for every legislative assembly in Punjab is five years unless the legislature dissolved earlier.
Legislative branch
Judiciary
Departments and Agencies Departments of Government of Punjab, India Punjab Police
List of State Public Sector Undertakings 1. Punjab State Power Corporation Limited
Divisional administration
The state of Punjab has the following civil administrative set-up regarding subdivisional levels of governance:
Divisions (5) - headed by a Divisional Commissioner Districts (23) - headed by a Deputy Commissioner or District Magistrate Sub-district level Sub-divisions (93) - headed by a Sub Divisional Magistrate Tehsils (93) - headed by a Tehsildar Sub-tehsils (87) - headed by a Naib Tehsildar Development blocks (150) - headed by a block development and panchayat officer (BDPO), an executive officer of Block Samiti, and chairman of the blocksamiti Settlements, comprising of villages (12,581), towns, and cities, managed by panchayats (Panchayat samiti and Gram panchayat), improvement trusts, municipal corporations, etc.
Districts are officially divided among five administrative divisions: Faridkot, Ferozepur, Jalandhar, Patiala, and Ropar. There are currently twenty-three districts in Punjab. Each district is under the administrative control of a Deputy Commissioner (DC), an IAS officer. The DC functions as the Collector for land revenue administration and as the District Magistrate (DM) for maintaining law and order in the district. The DC is assisted by Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) at collectorate. The district magistrate or the deputy commissioner are also assisted by officers of the Punjab Civil Service and other state services. Policing for each district is the responsibility of a Senior Superintendent of Police who belongs to the Indian Police Service. Furthermore, each district has a division forest officer who is appointed from the Indian Forest Service to manage forests, wildlife, and the environment of the district, being assisted by officers belonging to the Punjab Forest Service and other environment-related officials. Also at the district level are district heads of the respective branch of the Public Works Department, Agriculture, Health, Education, and Animal Husbandry departments. These departments consist of officers who belong to various state services. The districts are subdivided into subdivisions and tehsils, headed by Sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs, selected from the State Civil Services/Punjab Civil Services) and Tehsildars (a revenue officer). As per Sunita Kaler, Punjab is a state in which there is little or no difference between tehsils and sub-divisions as they share the same boundaries as one another, unlike some other Indian states where these two terms refer to distinct administrative schemes. In India, the tehsil and talukas are important for land records and land revenue. The districts are subdivided into 93 tehsils, which have fiscal and administrative powers over settlements within their borders, including maintenance of local land records comes under the administrative control of a Tehsildar. Each Tehsil consists of blocks which are total 150 in number. Each block comprises of a block development and panchayat office (BDPO Office/BDO) and Block Samiti, headed by a block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) and executive officer of Block Samiti. Elected politically is a chairman of the blocksamiti. These blocks consist of Revenue Villages. There are total number of revenue villages in the state is 12,278.
There are 23 Zila Parishads, 136 Municipal Committees and 22 Improvement Trusts looking after 143 towns and 14 cities of Punjab. The local government institutions such as Panchayats looking after the governance of rural areas and municipalities looking after the governance of urban areas.
See also Emblem of Punjab List of ministers in the Government of Punjab, India Punjab Remote Sensing Centre Punjab State Human Rights Commission
References
External links