The Government of Kerala

About The Government of Kerala

The Government of Kerala

Kerala Government has three organs namely the legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. Each organ has its own functions to perform.

The Legislature

The Legislature is the law making body and Kerala has the Unicameral Legislature form. It has only one house for state legislature namely the Legislative Assembly. Its members are elected directly by the people. All citizens who have completed the age of 18 can vote in the election. A citizen who is not below the age of 25 can contest in the election. The term of office of the State legislature is generally five years. All the laws pertaining to the State are presented and passed in the form of bills. The members of the legislative assembly elect one of its members as its Speaker and another as Deputy Speaker. The Speaker presides over the meetings of the House. The Deputy Speaker performs the functions of the speaker in his absence. The Governor appoints the leader of the majority party in the Legislative Assembly, as the Chief Minister. The other ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister is the real Head of the State Government. The council of ministers is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly.

The Executive

The Executive of the State consists of the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers and the Departments. The Governor is appointed by the President of India. Governor's term of office is five years. The Governor appoints the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers. Governor summons prorogues and dissolves the Legislature. Governor can dissolve the Legislative Assembly on the recommendations of the Chief Minister.

The Governor

The present Governor of Kerala is Hon. Shri. Raghunanthanlal Bhatia. He was born on 3^rd July 1921 in Amritsar, Punjab. His father is Arooramal Bhatia and the mother is Lal Devi Bhatia. He was graduated from the Punjab University and LLB from the University at Lahore. Mr. Bhatia was first elected to Lok Sabha in 1972 from Amritsar Parliamentary Constituency. He has been re-elected to Lok Sabha from the same constituency in the years, 1980, 1985, 1992, 1996, and 1999. He was the Minster of State for External Affairs, Government of India in July 1992. He served as the Chairman of the Committee of petitions in Lok Sabha in 1983. He was a member of the selection committee constituted in 1992 for the amendment of the constitution. He has been the member of several consultative committees of Parliamentary such as Ministry of Home Affairs, Education, Railways, Information and Broadcasting, Law and Justice and Company Affairs. He has also visited the following countries either as leader or member of delegation of the AICC like China, Soviet Union, Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, USA, Cambodia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Japan and UK.

Council of Ministers

Shri. V.S Achuthanandan	Chief Minister
Shri. M.A. Baby	Minister for Education and Culture
Shri. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan	Minister for Home, Tourism
Shri. A. K.Balan	Minister for Electricity, SC/ST Development
Shri. Benoy Viswom	Minister for Forest and wild life
Shri. C.Divakaran	Minister for Food and Civil Supplies
Shri. P.K.Gurudasan	Minister for Labour & Excise
	Minister for Public Works
Shri. Elamaram Kareem	Minister for Industries
Shri. Mathew T. Thomas	Minister for Transport
Shri. Paloli Mohammed Kutty	Minister for Local Self Government
Shri. N. K. Premachandran	Minister for Water Resources
Shri. K. P. Rajendran	Minister for Revenue and Land Reforms
Shri. Mullakkara Ratnakaran	Minister for Agriculture
Shri. S. Sharma	Minister for Fisheries
Smt. P. K. Sreemathi Teacher	Minister for Health and Social Welfare
Shri. G. Sudhakaran.	Minister for Co operation
Dr. T. M. Thomas Issac	Minister for Finance
Shri. M. Vijayakumar	Minister for Law, Sports and Youth affairs, Parliamentary Affairs

The Chief Minister

The present Chief Minister is Shri. V.S. Achuthanandan. Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan,is a Communist politician, Polit Bureau member of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) since 1985. He is popularly known as "Comrade VS". He has been elected from Malampuzha Constituency.

Portfolios: General Administration, All india services, Planning and Economic Affairs, Science, Technology, Scientific Institutes, Personnel & Administrative Reforms, Elections, Administration of Civil & Criminal Justice, Information Technology, Sainik Welfare, Distress Relief, State Hospitality, Airports, Inter State River Waters, Information and Public Relations, Non-Resident Keralites Affairs, Subjects not mentioned elsewhere.

The Speaker

The present Speaker is Shri. Radhakrishnan K.

The Opposition Leader

The present Opposition Leader is Shri. Oommen chandy.