Uttarakhand Council of Ministers

The Uttarakhand Council of Ministers (Hindi: उत्तराखण्ड मन्त्रिपरिषद्) is the executive wing of Government of Uttarakhand and headed by Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, who is the head of government and leader of the state cabinet. The term of every executive wing is for 5 years. The council of ministers are assisted by department secretariescouncil of ministers are assisted by department secretaries attached to each ministry who are from IAS Uttarakhand cadre. The chief executive officer responsible for issuing orders on behalf of Government is Chief Secretary to the State Government. The current Chief Secretary is Shatrughna Singh who took charge from outgoing Rakesh Sharma on 16 November 2015.

Constitutional requirement

For the Council of Ministers to aid and advise Governor

According to Article 163 of the Indian Constitution,

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There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his function, except in so far as he is by or under this Constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion. If any question arises whether any matter is or is not a matter as respects which the Governor is by or under this Constitution required to act in his discretion, the decision of the Governor in his discretion shall be final, and the validity of anything done by the Governor shall not be called in question on the ground that he ought or ought not to have acted in his discretion. The question whether any, and if so what, advice was tendered by Ministers to the Governor shall not be inquired into in any court.

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This means that the Ministers serve under the pleasure of the Governor and he/she may remove them, on the advice of the Chief Minister, whenever they want.

For other provisions as to Ministers

According to Article 164 of the Indian Constitution,

“

The Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister, and the Minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor: Provided that in the States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, there shall be a Minister in charge of tribal welfare who may in addition be in charge of the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and backward classes or any other work. The Council of Minister shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly of the State. Before a Minister enters upon his office, the Governor shall administer to him the oaths of office and of secrecy according to the forms set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule. A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the Legislature of the State shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister. The salaries and allowances of Ministers shall be such as the Legislature of the State may from time to time by law determine and, until the Legislature of the State so determines, shall be a specified in the Second Schedule.

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Chief Minister

Like any Indian state, Chief Ministers of Uttarakhand is the real head of the government and responsible for state administration. He is the leader of the parliamentary party in the legislature and heads the state cabinet. The current Chief Minister is Harish Rawat.

State Cabinet

As per Indian Constitution, all portfolios of state government is vested in Chief Minister, who distribute various portfolio to individual ministers whom he nominates to the State Governor. The state governor appoints individual ministers for various portfolios and departments as per advice of Chief Minister and together form the State Cabinet. As the original portfolios are vested with CM, who delegates to others upon his/her wish, actions of individual ministers are part of collective responsibility of the state cabinet and Chief Minister is responsible for actions of each minister. The state cabinet along with Chief Minister, prepares General policy and individual department policy, which will be guiding policy for day-to-day administration of each minister.

Current Cabinet

This is the current Cabinet of Uttarakhand headed by the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat:^[1]

S No.	Name Portfolio (Constituency)	Departments & Works Allotted (Ministries)		Age	Party
1	Harish Rawat Chief Minister Dharchula	Good Governance, Corruption Eradication and Civil Services Intelligence Personnel and Establishment of All India Services Thematic Working State Government Judicial/Legal Field Nominations/Appointments Vigilance General Administration State Assets Information Industrial Development Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Agricultural Education Parks Horticulture	Transportation Information Technology Environmental and Solid Waste Management Minority Welfare Remote Areas Development Sub-Divisional Development and Management Sheep and Goat Husbandry Social Welfare Rural Water Reservoirs Development Food Processing Silk Development Veterans Welfare Rain Water Conservation Consolidation in Hills Villages Bio Technology	69	Indian National Congress
2	Indira Hridayesh Cabinet Minister Haldwani	Finance Commercial Tax Stamps and Registration Entertainment Tax Parliamantary Affairs Legislative Affairs	Elections Census Languages Protocol Higher Education Planning	75	Indian National Congress
3	Yashpal Arya Cabinet Minister Bajpur	Revenue and Land Management Irrigation Flood Control Co-operatives	Technical Education Rural Engineering Services Rural Roads and Drainage Indo-Nepal-Uttarakhand River Projects	64	Indian National Congress
4	Surendra Singh Negi Cabinet Minister Kotdwar	Medical Services Family Welfare Ayush Ayurvedic and Unani Education	Science and Technology Sugarcane Development and Sugar Industries Paramilitary Welfare	62	Indian National Congress
5	Pritam Singh Cabinet Minister Chakrata	Food and Civil Supplies Minor Irrigation Rural Development	Panchayat Raj Home Backward Areas Development	58	Indian National Congress
6	Dinesh Dhanai Cabinet Minister Tehri	Tourism Culture Management of Pilgrimage and Religious Fairs Women Empowerment and Child Development	Renewable Energy Youth Welfare External Aided Programmes	45	Independent
7	Dinesh Agrawal Cabinet Minister Dharampur	Sports Forests and Wild Life	Law and Justice	67	Indian National Congress
8	Mantri Prasad Naithani Cabinet Minister Devprayag	School Education Adult Education Sanskrit Education	Drinking Water and Sanitation Students Welfare	59	Independent
9	Pritam Singh Panwar Cabinet Minister Yamunotri	Urban Development Rajiv Gandhi Urban Housing Scheme Animal Husbandry Fisheries	Fodder and Meadows Development Civil Defence and Homeguards Prisons	48	Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P)
10	Harish Chandra Durgapal Cabinet Minister Lalkuan	Labour Employment Micro and Small Enterprises	Khadi and Village Industries Dairy Development Industrial Training	75	Independent

See also

• Government of Uttarakhand
• Governor of Uttarakhand
• Chief Minister of Uttarakhand
• Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly
• Speaker of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly
• Chief Justice of Uttarakhand

References

1. Cabinet of Uttarakhand. Retrieved on 16 May 2016.