Local Self Government Department, Kerala
In 1957, while the Balwant Roy Mehta Committee was still working, an administrative reform committee in Kerala, chaired by the then Industries Minister, prepared a draft bill, but the process could not continue after the dissolution of the cabinet. Many such experiments were carried out from 1959 to 1978. Preparation of bills, changes in each cabinet, abolition of ministries, suspension of panchayat elections, etc. were carried out. The same panchayat committees continued for 16 years. All this completely paralyzed the panchayat system in Kerala. In 1979, the District Administration Act was passed. Subsequently, many suggestions and amendments were accepted in 1987 to facilitate its functioning. District council elections were held in 1991-92. By 1993, the procedures for the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments had begun. The Kerala Panchayat Raj Act under the 73rd Constitution came into force on 23 April 1994 and the Kerala Municipality Act under the 74th Constitution came into force on 30 May 1994. The elected governing bodies came into power on 2 October 1995. Today, the local self-government system in the state of Kerala consists of 941 Gram Panchayats, 152 Block Panchayats, 14 District Panchayats, 87 Municipalities and 6 Corporations. The Local Self-Government Department is responsible for coordinating the activities of these 1200 local bodies.
Local Self-Government Institutions
Local self-government institutions function with the objectives of decentralization and people-centered planning. Rural areas are divided into three-tier panchayats and urban areas are divided into municipalities or corporations. Local self-government institutions are divided into wards and the governing bodies are formed through elections held once every five years on the basis of adult suffrage. Grama Panchayats (941), Block Panchayats (152), District Panchayats (14), Municipalities (87) and Municipal Corporations (6) are the local self government institutions in kerala.
Departments of Local Self Government Administration
LSGD - Principal Directorate
The LSGD Principal Directorate is a recently set up office that aims to bring together five services that are currently under Local Self Government Department - Panchayat, Rural Development, Urban Affairs, Local Self Government Engineering and Urban-Rural Planning - in order to form a single, unified Local Self Government Department. The primary objectives of the Principal Directorate are to are to set the stage for the consolidation of the above services, to finalize the draft laws that the Local Government Commission submitted and present them to the government.
With the enactment of the Kerala Panchayat Act, 1960, the department that runs the local bodies was divided into the Panchayat Department and the Municipal Department for administrative convenience. The Panchayat Department came into existence on 19 January 1962. Shri. R. Kesavan Nair was the first Chairman. After the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act came into force, there has been a significant increase in the activities of the Gram Panchayats. The speed in the daily affairs of the Gram Panchayats due to the expansion of activities brought about by decentralization of power has led the Gram Panchayats to enhance their capacity related to local government institutions and to discharge the responsibilities of the local government. One of the main responsibilities assigned to the Panchayat Directorate is to provide support in these activities. Today Panchayat Directorate is one of the major departments of Local Self Government Administration. The Director of Panchayat is the State level administrative officer for this department.
Directorate of Urban Affairs
The Department of Municipal Administration was formed in 1962 by separating the erstwhile "Department of Local Bodies" into Department of Municipalities and Department of Panchayats. After the 74th Amendment Act of 1992, the Urban Affairs department came into force since April 1993. This act provides the structure, composition and powers of Municipal Government. Urban Affairs department was now called as Directorate of Urban Affairs and is now working under the control of the LSGD of Kerala Government. This Department is concerned with the administration of all urban local bodies in the state (i.e, 87 Municipalities and 6 Municipal Corporations).
Commissionerate of Rural Development
As part of the decentralization of the administration of the Rural Development Department, the Rural Development Commissionerate started functioning in Kerala on 24th January 1987. With this, many of the duties that were being performed in the Secretariat were transferred to the Commissionerate. The implementation of rural development projects is vested in the Rural Development Commissioner. There are 152 development blocks under the Rural Development Department in Kerala. The district with the highest number of development blocks is Thrissur. 17 blocks. The district with the lowest number of development blocks is Wayanad. 3 blocks. In addition, 14 District Poverty Alleviation Cells are functioning in 14 districts. The Project Officers with the rank of Deputy Development Commissioner are the chief officers of each of these. A Rural Information Bureau is functioning in Thiruvananthapuram to create awareness among the public about the activities of the Rural Development Department. This bureau publishes a bi-monthly magazine called Grama Bhoomi. Grama Bhoomi often contains in-depth articles detailing various programmes of the Rural Development Department.
Department of Town and Country Planning
The Department of Town Planning started functioning in 1957 with headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram, mainly to ensure planned development of urban settlements in the State. Later the department started the planning of the rural settlements as well. Accordingly, in 1999, this Department was renamed as the 'Department of Town and Country Planning'.
Local Self Government Engineering Wing
LSGD has a strong Engineering Wing. This wing is established in 2008 by grouping technically qualified officials of Water Works Department, Public Works Department, Kerala State Rural Roads Development Agency, Poverty Alleviation Units and the engineering staffs of Panchayat Department, Municipalities and Corporations.
Allied Institutions of Local Self Government Department
■ Kerala State Planning Board
■ Information Kerala Mission
■ Local Government Commission
■ Kudumbashree
■ KILA
■ Suchitwa Mission
■ Kerala Local Government Service Delivery Project
■ Kerala Rural Employment and Welfare Society
■ Ombudsman For LSGI
■ Clean Kerala Company
