Government of Puducherry is the union territorial government for the
union territory of
Puducherry,
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
. It is headed by the
Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry. Its capital is located at
Pondicherry.
Government and administration
Lieutenant Governor
The Lt. Governor is appointed by the
President for a term of five years. The executive and legislative powers lie with the
Chief Minister and his council of ministers, who are appointed by the President. The Governors of the
states and territories of India have similar powers and functions at the state level as that of the
President of India at Union level. Only Indian citizens above 35 years of age are eligible for appointment. Governors discharge all
constitutional functions such as the appointment of the Chief Minister, sending reports to the President about failure of constitutional machinery in a state, or with respect to issues relating to the assent to a
bill passed by legislature, exercise or their own opinion.
Dr.
Tamilisai Soundararajan is the present governor.
The Governor enjoys many different types of powers:
#Executive powers related to administration, appointments and removals.
#Legislative powers related to lawmaking and the state legislature.
#Discretionary powers to be carried out according to the discretion of the Governor.
The legislative branch comprises the governor and the legislative assembly, which is the highest political organ in 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 30 elected members and 3 members nominated by Central Government.The elected members select one of its own members as its chairman who is called the
speaker. The speaker is assisted by the deputy speaker who is also elected by the members. The conduct of meeting in the house is the responsibility of the Speaker.
The main function of the
assembly
Assembly may refer to:
Organisations and meetings
* Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions
* General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...
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. But while a proclamation of
state of emergency is in operation, the said period will be extended by
Parliament by Laws for a period not exceeding one year at a time.
The Puducherry Legislative Assembly election, last assembly election took place in May 2016.
Judiciary
The
Madras High Court is the court for this territory, which is the same for
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...
. It is a court of record and has all the powers of such a court including the authority to punish an individual for
contempt of court. Like all other
High Courts of India, this court also consists of a
Chief Justice and other judges who are appointed by the President of India. Every
judge including the Chief Justice is appointed by the President of India by Warrant under his hand and seal. Every permanent and additional judge will continue in office until the age of 62.
Executive
Like in other Indian states, the Executive arm of the state is responsible for the day-to-day management of the state. It consists of the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers. The Chief Minister and the council of ministers also have been appointed by the governor. Governor summons prorogues and dissolves the legislature. He can close the
legislative assembly on the recommendations by the Chief Minister.
Judiciary
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
has been separated from the executive in Pondicherry like other Indian states.
Chief Minister
The executive authority is headed by the
Chief Minister of Pondicherry, who is the
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...
head of the territory and is vested with most of the executive powers; the Legislative Assembly's majority party leader is appointed to this position by the President. Generally, the winning party decides the chief minister. In many cases, the party focuses a chief ministerial candidate during the election.
Departments
* Accounts and Treasuries
* Adi Dravidar Welfare
* Agriculture
* Animal Husbandry
* Arts & Culture
* Chief Vigilance Office
* Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs
* Commercial Taxes
* Co-operative Societies
* Economics & Statistics
* Elections
* Electricity
* Fire Service
* Fisheries & Fishermen Welfare
* Forestry & Wild Life
* Government Automobile Workshop
* Health & Family Welfare Services
* Higher & Technical Education
* Hindu Religious Institutions
* Industries & Commerce
* Information & Publicity
* Information Technology
* Labour
* Law
* Local Administration
* Personnel and Administrative Reforms
* Planning & Research
* Police
* Port
* Prisons
* Public Works
* Revenue and Disaster Management
* Rural Development
* School Education
* Science, Technology & Environment
* Social Welfare
* Stationery & Printing
* Tourism
* Town and Country Planning
* Transport
* Women & Child Development
Politics
Pondicherry is a Union territory currently ruled by the
All India N.R. Congress
All India N.R. Congress (abbr. AINRC) is a regional political party formed by the Chief Minister of Puducherry, N. Rangaswamy in the Indian union territory of Puducherry. He announced the party formation on 7 February 2011 in the party's he ...
and
BJP alliance. The state assembly has 33 seats out of which 30 are elected by the people. The
All India N.R. Congress
All India N.R. Congress (abbr. AINRC) is a regional political party formed by the Chief Minister of Puducherry, N. Rangaswamy in the Indian union territory of Puducherry. He announced the party formation on 7 February 2011 in the party's he ...
has 10 seats and its alliance partner
BJP has 6 seats, thus taking the government's majority to 16 seats.
DMK is the main opposition party with 6 seats. There are 6
independent candidates elected by the people. The remaining 3 candidates from Central Government (NDA) have been appointed by
Ministry of Home Affairs.
References
External links
Official Website of PuducherryOfficial website of Madras High Court
{{Government of India by state or territory