A dungkhag ( dz, དྲུང་ཁག་ ''drungkhak'') is a sub-district of a

dzongkhag The Kingdom of Bhutan is divided into 20 districts ( Dzongkha: ). Bhutan is located between the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and India on the eastern slopes of the Himalayas in South Asia. are the primary subdivisions of Bhutan. They ...

(district) of

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

. The head of a dungkhag is a ''Dungpa''. As of 2007, nine of the twenty dzongkhags had from one to three dungkhags, with sixteen dungkhags in total.

History

Under Bhutan's first government Act of decentralization, the Dzongkhag Yargay Tshogdu Chathrim of 2002 Dungpas were given a non-voting seat on the Dzongkhag Yargay Tshogdu. Under the Local Government Act of 2007, dungkhags provided general administration and coordination for two or more gewogs. As a result, some gewogs within a given district were directly subordinate to dungkhags while others are directly subordinate to

s. Dungkhag Administrations guided and supported their constituent Gewog Administrations and implemented the decisions of the Dzongkhag Tshogdu. Dungpas were administrative executives that reported directly to the Dzongkhag administration. The Dungpa was empowered to attend the meetings of the Gewog Tshogdes as a non-voting member. In addition to administrative functions,

Dungkhag Court The Dungkhag Court (sub-district court) is the court of first instance of the Royal Court of Justice in 6 of the 20 Dzongkhags of Bhutan which have Dungkhag administrative divisions; in the remaining 14 Dzongkhags, the Dzongkhag Court is the court ...

s were codified under the Judicial Act of 2007 and Constitution of 2008 as a court of first instance within the

judicial system of Bhutan The judicial system of Bhutan is the purview of the Royal Court of Justice, the judicial branch of the government of Bhutan under the Constitution of 2008. The judicial system comprises the Judicial Commission, the courts, the police, the penal c ...

. These courts are subordinate to

Dzongkhag Court The Dzongkhag Court exists in each of Bhutan's 20 Dzongkhags, and is the court of first instance of the Royal Court of Justice in 14 of the 20 Dzongkhags of Bhutan. In the remaining 6 Dzongkhags there exists a further subdivision, Dungkhag, which ...

s. Under the Local Government Act of 2009, the administrative status of dungkhags is eschewed, and Dungpas are not specified to attend meetings of the Dzongkhag Tshogdu. The repeal of the Local Government Act of 2007 means that although dungkhags are no longer legal administrative divisions, they remain

judicial The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudication, adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and app ...

and

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...

jurisdictions under the Constitution.

List of dungkhags

The internal territorial divisions of Bhutan, including dungkhags and their constituent gewogs, are subject to alteration by the

Government of Bhutan The Government of Bhutan has been a constitutional monarchy since 18 July 2008. The King of Bhutan is the head of state. The executive power is exercised by the Lhengye Zhungtshog, or council of ministers, headed by the Prime Minister. Legislat ...

through creation, transfer, and merger. For example, in 2002, there were 199 gewogs in the 20 dzongkhags; by 2005, there were 205. In 2007, Lhamoizingkha Dungkhag was formally transferred from Sarpang Dzongkhag to Dagana Dzongkhag, affecting the town of Lhamoizingkha and three constituent gewogs – Lhamoizingkha, Deorali and Nichula (Zinchula) – that formed the westernmost part of Sarpang and became the southernmost part of Dagana. Such changes are reflected in the list below. As of 2007, there were 16 dungkhags among nine of twenty Bhutanese

References

{{Bhutan topics Subdivisions of Bhutan Types of administrative division

History

List of dungkhags

See also

References