State and District Administration in Rajasthan

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, Paper III (General Studies III), Unit II - Concepts, Issues and Dynamics of Public Administration, under the heading “State & District Administration”:

• State Administration: Governor, Chief Minister, Council of Ministers, State Secretariat, Chief Secretary, Role of Directorates. Police Administration, Revenue Board, State Election Commission, State Human Rights Commission, Lokayukta.
• District Administration: District Collector, Law and order Administration, Revenue Administration, Development Administration.

Topics in detail

Governor

• Appointment, term and removal (Articles 155, 156); executive, legislative, judicial and financial powers
• Discretionary powers (Article 163); assent to bills and reservation for the President (Article 200); ordinances (Article 213)
• The Governor's report under Article 356; the Governor as Chancellor of state universities

Chief Minister and Council of Ministers

• Appointment (Article 164), collective responsibility to the Assembly; size limited to 15% of the Assembly's strength
• The Chief Minister's role as head of government, chair of the Cabinet, link with the Governor (Article 167)
• Cabinet committees and the Cabinet Secretariat in Rajasthan

State Secretariat, Chief Secretary and Directorates

• Secretariat: departments headed by Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries; policy-making role; tenure system
• Chief Secretary: head of the state civil service, secretary to the Cabinet, coordinator of departments, link with the Centre
• Directorates: executive heads of departments who carry out policy through field offices; line agencies
• Relation between the Secretariat (policy) and the Directorates (execution); merger of the two in some departments

Police administration

• Police as a state subject; Director General of Police; ranges, districts under the Superintendent of Police, circles and police stations
• Police commissionerates in Jaipur and Jodhpur
• Rajasthan Police Act, 2007, after the Supreme Court's directions in Prakash Singh (2006): state security commission, police establishment board, accountability authorities
• Issues: workload, community policing, cyber crime, crimes against women, use of technology

Board of Revenue

• Board of Revenue for Rajasthan at Ajmer: the highest revenue court of the state
• Appellate, revisional and supervisory jurisdiction under the Rajasthan Tenancy Act and the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act (see Land Laws of Rajasthan)
• Control over revenue courts and the land records administration

State Election Commission, State Human Rights Commission, Lokayukta

• Rajasthan State Election Commission (Article 243K): elections to panchayats and municipalities; independence of the State Election Commissioner
• Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993: composition, functions, powers, limits
• Lokayukta: the Rajasthan Lokayukta and Up-Lokayuktas Act, 1973; appointment, jurisdiction over public servants, powers of inquiry, recommendatory nature, comparison with the Lokpal

District administration

• Evolution of the office of District Collector; divisions under Divisional Commissioners
• The Collector as District Magistrate, Collector of land revenue, District Election Officer and chair of the District Disaster Management Authority
• Subdivisions (Sub-Divisional Officer), tehsils (Tehsildar and Naib Tehsildar), land record staff down to the Patwari
• Camp-based delivery of services, such as the Prashasan Gaon Ke Sang campaigns

Law and order administration

• District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police: their relationship; Executive Magistrates
• Preventive powers under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (such as orders in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger)
• Management of fairs, festivals, protests and communal tension; intelligence and peace committees

Revenue administration

• Assessment and collection of land revenue; maintenance of land records (jamabandi, khasra, maps)
• Mutation of land records, revenue courts, disputes and appeals
• Relief in drought, famine and floods; digitisation of land records

Development administration

• Zila Parishad with its Chief Executive Officer, Panchayat Samitis and Block Development Officers
• District Planning Committee (Article 243ZD); implementation of central and state schemes
• Coordination of line departments by the Collector; monitoring and review