Haryana was created as an independent state of India on 1 November, 1966. It was carved out of the erstwhile PEPSU, which had the areas of Punjab and Haryana as its essential components. The state has emerged as one of the best states in terms of governance. We shall briefly study the administrative set up and polity of the state in this chapter.
The state of Haryana has a population of 21,082,989 persons as per Census (2001). It has 11,327, 658 males and 9,755,331 females as its citizens. The population density of the state is 477 persons per square kilometre. Its Capital is Chandigarh. The Punjab and Haryana High Court (at Chandigarh) has the Jurisdiction over the entire state. There are 21 districts in the state. The information and data about the same can be read in the chapter on Districts in this book.
There are 51 sub-divisions, 71 tehsils, 44 sub-tehsils, 119 blocks and 6,955 villages in the state. The state legislature is unicameral; there is no Legislative Council operating in the state. The strength of Legislative Assembly is 90.
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The Union Territory of Chandigarh is the Joint Capital of Punjab and Haryana. The Governor of Haryana lives in Haryana Raj Bhawan. The Secretariat of the state of Haryana is located close to the Raj Bhawan. The office of the Chief Minister as well as those of other ministers is located in the Raj Bhawan. Close to the Secretariat, the Vidhan Sabha and the High Court have been located to ensure smooth administration of the state.
In order to manage the state in an effective manner, the same has been divided into divisions or zones refer map shown below. The administrative officer of the division is the Commissioner. The administrative officer of the district is the Deputy Commissioner. He is responsible for the actual administration of his district. He also ensures peace, law and order in his district.
The police Commissioner and other officials of the district assist the Deputy Commissioner. Collection of land revenue of each district is the responsibility of the Deputy Commissioner. In this task, the patwari kanungo, tehsildar and sub-divisional officer, of the district give him all types of assistance and support.
The Deputy Commissioner also provides relief measures of all types to the resident on his district at the time of deluge, drought, famine etc. He also ensures that elections are held in a fair manner in his district. He also directs his juniors in respect of various tasks related to development that may be going on in his district.
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There are 51 sub-divisions in the entire state. The administrative officer of each sub-division is Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM). Panchayats look after the land disputes of their respective villages. Some disputes are sorted out in District Courts. The Sessions Judge or District Magistrate is the top-ranking official of the district. He ensures law and order in his district. The court cases related to revenue are sorted out by the Deputy Commissioner and SDM.
There are government hospitals or health centres in all the major cities and tehsils of the state. Besides, some villages also have primary health centres. There are primary, middle, high and senior secondary schools (run by the government) throughout the state.
The Block Education Officer and Sub-Divisional Education Officer look after these schools in their respective areas. All the schools in a district are looked after by a District Education Officer. This officer also works according to the instructions of the Deputy Commissioner.
Executive engineers have been appointed in the State to look after the vital public works like irrigation, road construction, building construction, electrical power, water supply etc. These executive engineers also give assistance and advice to the Deputy Commissioner of their district.
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Besides the aforementioned officials, there are many other officials working in each district. They are district agriculture officer, district industry officer, district public relations officer, district welfare officer, district adult education officer, district forest and district Pisces (development) officer etc. These officers are engaged in the tasks of development in their respective districts. They also apprise their seniors about such tasks and their progress.