Government of Punjab, India

Seat of Government	Chandigarh
Legislative branch
Assembly	Punjab Vidhan Sabha
Speaker	Kultar Singh Sandhwan[1]
Deputy Speaker	Jai Krishan Singh
Members in Assembly	117
Executive branch
Governor	Banwarilal Purohit
Chief Minister	Bhagwant Mann
Deputy Chief Minister
Chief Secretary	Anurag Verma,[2] IAS
Judiciary
High Court	Punjab & Haryana High Court
Chief Justice	Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia (acting)

The Government of Punjab, India, also known as the State Government of Punjab or locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Punjab and its 23 districts. It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Punjab, a judiciary and a legislative branch.

Like other states in India, the head of state of Punjab is the Governor, appointed by the President of India on the advice of the Central government. The post of governor is largely ceremonial. The Chief Minister 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.^[3]

The present Legislative Assembly of Punjab is unicameral, consisting of 117 Member of the Legislative Assembly (M.L.A). Its term is 5 years, unless sooner dissolved.^[4]

Cabinet Ministers

By Minister

Portfolio	Minister	Took office	Left office	Party		Ref
Chief Minister Civil Aviation Cooperation General Administration Home Affairs & Justice Housing and Urban Development Industries & Commerce Jails Legal & Legislative Affairs Personnel and Training Science Technology & Environment Vigilance Other departments not allocated to any Minister	Bhagwant Mann	16 March 2022 (2022-03-16)	Incumbent		AAP	[5]
Economic & Statistical Organisation Excise & Taxation Finance Planning Programme Implementation	Harpal Singh Cheema	21 March 2022 (2022-03-21)	Incumbent		AAP	[6]
Employement Generation and Training Governance Reforms and Public Grievances New and Renewable Energy Sources Printing & Stationery	Aman Arora	5 July 2022 (2022-07-05)	Incumbent		AAP	[7]
Social Justice, Empowerment & Minorities Social Security and Development of Women and Children	Baljit Kaur	21 March 2022 (2022-03-21)	Incumbent		AAP
Sports and Youth Services	Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer	21 March 2022 (2022-03-21)	Incumbent		AAP
Administrative Reforms NRI Affairs	Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal	21 March 2022 (2022-03-21)	Incumbent		AAP
Elections Health and Family Welfare Medical Education and Research	Dr. Balbir Singh	7 January 2023 (2023-01-07)	Incumbent		AAP
Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Water Supply & Sanitation	Brahm Shankar Jimpa	21 March 2022 (2022-03-21)	Incumbent		AAP
Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Forest and Wild Life Preservation	Lal Chand Kataruchakk	21 March 2022 (2022-03-21)	Incumbent		AAP
Rural Development & Panchayats Transport	Laljit Singh Bhullar	21 March 2022 (2022-03-21)	Incumbent		AAP
Higher Education and Languages School Education Technical Education & Industrial Training	Harjot Singh Bains	21 March 2022 (2022-03-21)	Incumbent		AAP
Power Public Works	Harbhajan Singh ETO	21 March 2022 (2022-03-21)	Incumbent		AAP
Conservation of Soil and Water Defence Services Welfare Freedom Fighters Horticulture Information & Public Relations Mines & Geology Water Resources	Chetan Singh Jauramajra	5 July 2022 (2022-07-05)	Incumbent		AAP
Hospitality Investment Promotion Labour Tourism & Culture Affairs	Anmol Gagan Maan	5 July 2022 (2022-07-05)	Incumbent		AAP	[7]
Local Government Parliamentary Affairs	Balkar Singh	31 May 2023 (2023-05-31)	Incumbent		AAP
Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Animal Husbandry, Fisheries & Dairy Development Food Processing	Gurmeet Singh Khudian	31 May 2023 (2023-05-31)	Incumbent		AAP

By departments

An alphabetical list of all the departments of Punjab Government with terms :^[8]

Legislative branch

The legislature comprises the governor and the Punjab Legislative Assembly, which is the highest political organ in the state. The governor has the power to summon the assembly or to close the same. All members of the legislative assembly are directly elected, normally once in every five years by the eligible voters who are above 18 years of age. The current assembly consists of 117 elected members. The elected members select one of its own members as its chairperson who is called the speaker of the assembly. The speaker is assisted by the deputy speaker who is also elected by the members. The conduct of a meeting in the house is the responsibility of the speaker.

The main function of the assembly is to pass laws and rules. Every bill passed by the house has to be finally approved by the governor before it becomes applicable.

The normal term of the legislative assembly is five years from the date appointed for its first meeting.^[9]

In the Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly, 92 members of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party form the treasury benches. The main opposition party in the assembly is Indian National Congress with 18 seats. The other parties which are in opposition are the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and independents. AAP MLA, Kultar Singh Sandhwan was announced as the speaker of the assembly.^[10]

History

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann took the oath of office on 16 March at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of Bhagat Singh. Inderbir Singh Nijjar took the oath as Protem Speaker. On 17 March Nijjar administered the oath of office to all the 117 legislators of the Sixteenth Punjab Legislative assembly.^[11] Other 10 cabinet ministers of the Mann ministry, took oath on 19 March.

On 22 June 2022, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan announced that the Punjab legislators will get answers on all issues that they raise during the Assembly debates. The answers would be provided during the Zero Hour. This was done for the first time in the history of Punjab Assembly.^[12]

Operation Lotus

Aam Aadmi Party, the ruling party in Punjab, accused BJP of spending ₹1375 Crore in Punjab to bribe the AAP MLAs as part of Operation Lotus. Punjab's Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said in a press conference, "Our MLAs have been approached with offers of up to Rs 25 crore to break away from AAP. The MLAs were told: “bade bau ji se milwayenge”. These MLAs have also been offered big posts. They were told that if you get more MLAs along, you would be given upto Rs 75 crore,"^[13][14]

AAP government called a special Session of the Assembly on 22 September to bring a "confidence motion". Governor Banwarilal Purohit refused to allow permission for the special session. AAP said that Governor was acting on the behest of BJP in cancelling the 22 September session so that Operation Lotus can succeed. Business Advisory Committee of the Assembly has representatives of all the parties and it decides the legislative business that occurs in the Assembly.^[15] The opposition parties Congress, SAD and BJP hailed governors decision to prevent the special session from occurring.^[16] CM Mann said that "Gov/Presi consent before any session of Legislature is a formality. In 75 years, no Presi/Gov ever asked list of Legislative business before calling session. Legislative business is decided by BAC (Business Advisory Committee of the House) and Speaker. Next Gov will ask all speeches also to be approved by him. Its too much." On 25 September, Purohit agreed to summon the special session of the Assembly.^[17]

Leaders

Title	Name	Portrait	Since
Constitutional Posts
Governor	Banwarilal Purohit		31 August 2021
Speaker	Kultar Singh Sandhwan[18]		21 March 2022
Deputy speaker	Jai Krishan Singh[19]		30 June 2022
Leader of the House (Chief Minister)	Bhagwant Mann		16 March 2022
Leader of Opposition	Pratap Singh Bajwa		9 April 2022
Political posts
Leader of AAP legislature party	Bhagwant Mann		16 March 2022
Leader of INC legislature party	Pratap Singh Bajwa		9 April 2022
Leader of SAD legislature party	Manpreet Singh Ayali		April 2022

Judiciary

Punjab and Haryana High Court is the common High Court for the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh based in Chandigarh, India. Sanctioned strength of Judges of this High Court is 85 consisting of 64 Permanent Judges and 21 Additional Judges including Chief Justice. As of 14 September 2023, there are 58 Judges working in the High Court, comprising 36 Permanent and 22 Additional Judges.^[20]

The court building is known as the Palace of Justice. Designed by Le Corbusier, it and several of his other works were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in July 2016.^[21][22]

Departments and agencies

• Departments of Government of Punjab, India
• Punjab Police