Government of Bihar
Bicameral
Seat of GovernmentPatna
CountryIndia
Legislative branch
Assembly
Speaker, Bihar Vidhan SabhaAwadh Bihari Choudhary
Deputy Speaker, Bihar Vidhan SabhaMaheshwar Hazari
Members in Assembly243
CouncilBihar Legislative Council
Chairman of Bihar Vidhan ParishadDevesh Chandra Thakur
Deputy ChairRam Chandra Purve
Members in Council75 (63 Elected + 12 Nominated)
Executive branch
GovernorRajendra Arlekar
Chief MinisterNitish Kumar
Deputy Chief MinisterTejashwi Yadav
Leader of the Opposition, Bihar Vidhan SabhaVijay Kumar Sinha
Judiciary
High CourtPatna High Court
Chief JusticeK. Vinod Chandran
Seat53

The Government of Bihar or Bihar Government is the state government of the Indian state of Bihar and its 9 divisions which consist of 38 districts . It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Bihar, a judiciary and legislative branches.

Like other states in India, the head of state of Bihar is the Governor, appointed by the President of India on the advice of the central government. The head of state is largely ceremonial. The Chief Minister is the head of government and is vested with most of the executive powers. Patna is the capital of Bihar.

The Patna High Court, located in Patna, has jurisdiction over the whole state. The present legislative structure of Bihar is bicameral. The Legislative houses are the Bihar Vidhan Sabha (Bihar Legislative Assembly) and Bihar Vidhan Parishad (Bihar Legislative Council). Their normal term is five years, unless dissolved earlier.

Executive

Governor

The Governors of the states of India have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the President of India at Union level. Governors exist in the states while lieutenant governors or administrator exist in union territories. According to the Constitution of India, the Governor is a state's head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. The governor acts as the nominal head whereas the real power lies with the Chief ministers of the states and his/her councils of ministers. The Governor of a State is appointed by the President of India. The factors based on which the President evaluates the candidates is not mentioned in the Constitution.[1] In his ex-officio capacity, the Governor of Bihar is Chancellor of the universities of Bihar (at present 12) as per the Acts of the Universities.

Chief Minister

In the Republic of India, a chief minister is the elected head of government of the each state out of 28[2] states and sometimes a union territory (currently, only the UTs of Delhi and Puducherry have serving Chief Ministers). Following elections to the Bihar Legislative Assembly, the governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given that he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister's term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.[3]

In 1946 First Cabinet of Bihar formed; consisting[4] of two members, Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha as first Chief Minister of Bihar and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha[5] as Bihar's first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance[6] Minister (also in charge of Labour, Health, Agriculture and Irrigation). Other ministers were inducted later. The cabinet served as the first Bihar Government after independence in 1947. From 1946, 23 people have been Chief Minister of Bihar. The inaugural holder was Sri Krishna Sinha of the Indian National Congress, he also has the longest incumbency. The current incumbent is Nitish Kumar who is having incumbency since 22 February 2015.

Deputy Chief Minister

Despite being not mentioned in the constitution or law, the Deputy-Chief minister office is often used to pacify factions within the party or coalition. It is similar to the rarely used Deputy-Prime minister post in Central government of India. During the absence of the Chief minister, the deputy-CM may chair cabinet meetings and lead the Assembly majority. Various deputy chief ministers have also taken the oath of secrecy in line with the one that chief minister takes. This oath has also sparked controversies.[7][8]

Ministry

The government is headed by the governor who appoints the chief minister and his council of ministers. The governor is appointed for five years and acts as the constitutional head of the state. Even though the governor remains the ceremonial head of the state, the day-to-day running of the government is taken care of by the chief minister and his council of ministers in whom a great deal of legislative powers is vested.. The secretariat headed by the secretary to the governor assists the council of ministers. The council of ministers consists of cabinet ministers, ministers of state and deputy ministers. The chief minister is assisted by the chief secretary, who is the head of the administrative services.

Legislature

State governments in India are the governments ruling states of India and the chief minister heads the state government.[9] Power is divided between union government and state governments.[10] State government's legislature is bicameral in 6 states and unicameral in the rest.[11] Bihar is one of the six states where bicameral legislature exists. Other states are Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The Bihar Legislative Council is Vidhan Parishad serves as the upper house and Bihar Legislative Assembly is Vidhan Sabha serves as the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Bihar. Lower house is elected with 5 years term, while in upper house 1/3 of the total members in the house gets elected every 2 years with 6-year term.

Vidhan Sabha

The Vidhan Sabha is also known as Legislative Assembly. The Bihar Legislative Assembly first came into being in 1937 and not a permanent body and subject to dissolution. The tenure of the Legislative Assembly is five years from the date appointed for its first sitting unless dissolved sooner. Members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected by the people. There are three sessions (Budget session, Monsoon session, Winter session) every year. The Sessions of Legislative Assembly are presided by Speaker. The Speaker certifies that whether a bill is ordinary bill or money bill. Generally he does not participate in voting but he casts his vote in the case of tie. The current strength of the House is 243.

Vidhan Parishad

The Vidhan Parishad is also known as Legislative Council. Bihar Legislative Council is a permanent body and not subject to dissolution. But as nearly as possible, one-third of the members thereof retire as soon as may be on the expiration of every second year. Members are now elected or nominated for six years and one-third of them retire every second year. The presiding officers of Vidhan Parishad are now known as chairman and Deputy Chairman. Members of the upper house, the Legislative Council are indirectly elected through an electoral college. There are 27 Committees which are, at present, functional in the council. Besides, there are three Financial Committees consisting of the members of the two Houses of the State Legislature.

Judiciary

High Court

The Patna High Court (Hindi: पटना उच्च न्यायालय) is the High Court of the state of Bihar. The Patna High Court is the principle civil courts in Bihar. However, a high court exercises its original civil and criminal jurisdiction only if the subordinate courts are not authorized by law to try such matters for lack of pecuniary, territorial jurisdiction. High courts may also enjoy original jurisdiction in certain matters, if so designated Specially in a state or federal law It was established on February 3, 1916, and later affiliated under the Government of India Act, 1915. The court is headquartered in Patna, the administrative capital of the state. A proclamation was made by the Governor-General of India on 22 March 1912. The foundation-stone of the High Court Building was laid on 1 December 1913 by the late Viceroy and Governor-General of India, Sir Charles Hardinge of Penshurst. The Patna High Court building on its completion was formally opened by the same Viceroy on 3 February 1916. Hon. Sir Justice Edward Maynard Des Champs Chamier was the first Chief Justice of Patna High Court. This High Court has given two Chief Justices of India: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha, the 6th C.J.I., and Hon. Mr. Justice Lalit Mohan Sharma, the 24th C.J.I..Hon. The Chief Justice Mr. Sanjay Karol is the current Chief Justice of Patna High Court. . Patna High Court has are 53 Judges which includes 40 permanent and 13 additional judges.

District Courts

The District Courts of India are the district courts of the State governments in India for every district or for one or more districts together taking into account of the number of cases, population distribution in the district. They administer justice in India at a district level. Bihar has total 37 district courts.[12]

The Civil Court District Court is judged by District and Sessions Judge.This is the principal court of original civil jurisdiction besides the High Court of the State and which derives its jurisdiction in civil matters primarily from the code of civil procedure. The district court is also a court of sessions when it exercises its jurisdiction on criminal matters under the Code of Criminal procedure. The district court is presided over by a district judge appointed by the state governor with on the advice of chief justice of that high court. In addition to the district judge there may be a number of additional district judges and assistant district judges depending on the workload. The additional district judge and the court presided have equivalent jurisdiction as the district judge and his district court.[13]

Elections and Politics

India has a quasi-federal form of government, called "union" or "central" government,[14] with elected officials at the union, state and local levels. At the national level, the head of government, the prime minister, is appointed by the president of India from the party or coalition that has the majority of seats in the Lok Sabha. The members of the Lok Sabha (Center) and Bihar Vidhan Sabha are directly elected for a term of five years by universal adult suffrage through a first-past-the-post voting system. Members of the Rajya Sabha, which represents the states, are elected by the members of State legislative assemblies by proportional representation, except for 12 members who are nominated by the president. In Bihar Vidhan Parishad, 1/3 of the total members in the house gets elected every 2 years with 6-year term.

As of 2023, there are two main political formations: the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which comprises Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian People's Party), Lok Janashakti Party (Ram Vilas) (LJP (RV)) and Rashtriya Lok Janashakti Party (RLJP); and a second alliance between Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD, National People's Party), Hindustani Awam Morcha, Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal and Indian National Congress (INC). There are many other political formations. The Communist Party of India had a strong presence in Bihar at one time, which has since weakened.[15] The Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) and CPM and All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) have a minor presence, along with the other extreme leftist parties.[16]

Administration and Local governments

Local governments function at the basic level. It is the third level of government apart from union and state governments. It consists of panchayats in rural areas and municipalities in urban areas. They are elected directly or indirectly by the people. Structurally Bihar is divided into divisions (Pramandal), districts (Zila), sub-divisions (Anumandal) & circles (Aanchal).The state is divided into 9 divisions, 38 districts, 101 subdivisions and 534 circles.[17] 17 municipal corporations, 84 Nagar Parishads and 151 Nagar Panchayats,[18][19][20][21][22] for administrative purposes.

India
Bihar
Divisions
Districts
Blocks
(Tehsils)		Municipal Corporations
(Nagar Nigam)		Municipal Councils
(Nagar Parishad)		Town Council
(Nagar Panchayat)
Villages
(Graam/Gau'n)		Wards

Government agencies

See also

References

  1. ↑ "article 155, Constitution of India" (PDF).
  2. ↑ "States and Union Territories". knowindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017.
  3. ↑ Durga Das Basu. Introduction to the Constitution of India. 1960. 20th Edition, 2011 Reprint. pp. 241, 245. LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa Nagpur. ISBN 978-81-8038-559-9. Note: although the text talks about Indian state governments in general, it applies for the specific case of Bihar as well.
  4. ↑ S Shankar. "The Sri Babu-Anugrah babu government". website. Archived from the original on 2013-05-27. Retrieved 2005-04-08.
  5. ↑ Kamat. "Anugrah Narayan Sinha". Kamat's archive. Archived from the original on 2006-11-09. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
  6. ↑ Dr. Rajendra Prasad's Letters to Anugrah Narayan Sinha (1984). First Finance cum Labour Minister. Rajendra Prasad's archive. ISBN 9788170230021. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
  7. ↑ Dhananjay Mahapatra (27 December 2017). "Deputy CM: Not in Constitution, yet a post with a long history". Times of India. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  8. ↑ S. Rajendran (13 July 2012). "Of Deputy Chief Ministers and the Constitution". The Hindu. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  9. ↑ Prasad, R. C. (1980). "Local Government and Development in India". International Political Science Review / Revue Internationale de Science Politique. 1 (2): 265–279. doi:10.1177/019251218000100210. JSTOR 1600996. S2CID 145673733.
  10. ↑ Jagannadham, V. (1947). "Division of Powers in the Indian Constitution". The Indian Journal of Political Science. 8 (3): 742–751. JSTOR 42743171.
  11. ↑ de Miñón, Miguel Herrero (1975). "The Passing of Bicameralism". The American Journal of Comparative Law. 23 (2): 236–254. doi:10.2307/839106. JSTOR 839106.
  12. ↑ "Bihar/District Court in India | Official Website of District Court of India". districts.ecourts.gov.in. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  13. ↑ "District Courts of India - official website". Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  14. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ↑ "State Wise Seat Won & Valid Votes Polled by Political Parties" (PDF). Election Commission of India. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 April 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  16. ↑ "The Decline of Communist Mass Base in Bihar: Jagannath Sardar". 25 September 2011. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  17. ↑ "Indexing Gender Parity and Estimation of Child Marriage: A comprehensive study of 534 Blocks in Bihar". Archived from the original on 2017-09-25.
  18. ↑ "Bihar Civic elections likely in May 2017". Archived from the original on 2017-03-31.
  19. ↑ "बिहार : नगर विकास एवं आवास विभाग की पहल, पुनर्गठन से नगर परिषदों की बढ़ जायेगी संख्या". Archived from the original on 2017-03-24.
  20. ↑ "पहली बार कोई महिला बनेगी पटना नगर निगम की मेयर". Archived from the original on 2017-03-24.
  21. ↑ "Ward delimitation begins in Chhapra". Archived from the original on 2017-02-27.
  22. ↑ "छपरा को निगम बख्तियारपुर को मिला नगर परिषद का दर्जा". Archived from the original on 2017-03-24.
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