Download Structure of Government-Introduction to Public Administration-Lecture Handout and more Exercises Introduction to Public Administration in PDF only on Docsity!
LESSON 12
STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT
At the end of the lecture the students will be able to understand:
- The Concept of Rules of Business
- The structure of government which comprise ministries, divisions, attached department
- What are functions? An example of one of the ministry/division will be given explain functions of a ministry:
In the last lecture the structure of government was explained as per article 91(1) of the constitution. The cabinet is headed by the Prime Minister who is the Executive head of the government. It has been stated that the president is the Head of the State and the prime minister helps him in decision making and it is the Prime Minister who is responsible for running of government. Thus, the structure of government can be understood from Figure A and Figure B. Figure A shows the relationship of the Constitution with the legislature which comprise the National and Provincial assemblies and the Senate. That is the Constitution gives the structure, formations, functioning and methods of these institutions. Then, as shown in figure B the constitution also provides for the structure, functions and operations of the three branches of government i.e. legislature, judiciary and executive. It is mentioned here that while the Constitution provides broad framework of government, the operational level functioning are regulated by the specific Acts which have to be placed before the legislature and approved.
Structure of Government Figure A
Figure B
Constitution
National Assembly
Senate
Provincial Assembly
Constitution
National/Provincial Assemblies
Courts
The Executive
Organization Chart of Government As mentioned earlier that the president is the head of the State and Prime Minister (PM) is the head of Executive is shown in the Figure. The PM heads the Cabinet and the Cabinet comprises ministers. The number of Ministers keeps varying. Some time it is 29; sometime 16 and sometimes 39. These ministers head the ministries.
Rules of Business The question that can arise is, how ministries work. The Constitution of the country under Article 90-99 states the formulation of ‘Rules of Business’. This means that Rules have to be framed for the working of the ministries and divisions. What is Business? ‘Business’ means all work done by the Federal Government, and the Federal Government means all the ministries, divisions and attached departments and autonomous bodies etc. Thus Rules of Business explain the responsibilities of the Secretary who heads the division. It also delineates the ministries and the division/department under each ministry. Just as there are Rules of Business for the Federal government, there are Rules of Business for the provincial governments
Ministries of Federal Government (39) Although it has be stated that in 2004 there are 39 ministries, but only the list of few selected ministries is given below:
- Cabinet Secretariat
- Ministry of Commerce
- Ministry of Culture, Sports & Youth Affairs
- Ministry of Communication
- Ministry of Defence Production
- Ministry of Finance & Revenue
- Ministry of Information & Technology
- Ministry of Interior
- Ministry of Housing and Works
The Cabinet Secretariat, is the Secretariat of the Cabinet, which maintain all its paper work. Ministries cited above are indicative of the kind of work that government do.
Structure of Ministry It would be in the fitness of things to first define ministry A Ministry is Division or Group of Division. The Division is entrusted with one task: For example: Ministry of Finance has divisions. The division are shown in the Figure are Finance Division, Economic Affairs Division, statistics Division and Revenue Division.
President Head of the State
Prime Minister Chief Executive
Cabinet Comprising Ministers (39)
Figure 1
Figure 2
Attached Departments Secretary Finance sits in Islamabad, but the Ministry of Finance has its offices all over Pakistan. For example finance division military would be in Rawalpindi. The Central Directorate of Savings has its office all over the country.
An attached department is administratively under the control of Ministry of Finance. Some of the attached departments are as follows:
- Finance Division Military
- Office of the Controller General of Pakistan
- Auditor General of Pakistan
- Central Directorate of Savings
Autonomous Bodies under Ministry of Finance Following are the Autonomous Bodies of Ministry of Finance:
- Monopoly Control Authority
- Nationalized Commercial Banks
- Pakistan Security Printing Corporation
Autonomous bodies are not administratively controlled by the ministry. These bodies have their own Board of Governors. In this way they do not receive directives from the ministry
Minister for Finance
Secretary Finance
Secretary Revenue Division
Secretary Economic Affairs
Advisor
Special Assistant
Secretary Finance
Joint Secretary (Exp & Adm.)
Joint Secretary (Budget)
Joint Secretary (Finance)
Conclusion
By now structure for government should be fairly clear. The Federal executive branch comprises of ministers who head 39 ministries. The Federal Secretaries of the ministries assist the ministers in formulation of policies, execute the policy, write proposal for legislation to be submitted to the cabinet, and keep the minister informed. The Minister is responsible for the working of the Division and in the question answer sessions of the National Assembly he answers the questions raised on the working of the Ministry in the Assembly.
Concepts
Cabinet: A group of ministers working under the guidance of Prime Minister Rules of Business: Rules that explain the working of government Ministry: A group of more than one Division. Division: A unit assigned with a task e.g. Finance Division Functions: Work to be performed by the Division Autonomous Body: An organization that has its own Board of governors that sets policy for it. Autonomous Bodies are more independent in decision making.
