Uttarakhand Council of Ministers

The Uttarakhand Council of Ministers 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 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 Radha Raturi who took charge on 1 February 2024.^[1]

Constitutional requirement

For the Council of Ministers to aid and advise Governor

According to Article 163 of the Constitution of India,

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.

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 Constitution of India,

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.

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 Pushkar Singh Dhami.

State Cabinet

As per the Constitution of India, 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, Pushkar Singh Dhami:^[2]^[3]^[4]

Colour key for parties
Bharatiya Janata Party

№	Name	Constituency	Departments		Party
Chief Minister
1	Pushkar Singh Dhami	Champawat	Confidential (Council of Ministers) Establishment of Personnel and All India Services Alertness, Swaraj, Corruption Elimination and Public Service Secretariat Administration General Administration Planning State Property Information Homes, Prisons, Citizen Protection and Home Guard, Military Welfare Revenue Industrial Development (Mining) Industrial Development Labor Information Technology Science Technology	Drinking Water Energy and Alternative Energy Ayush and Ayush Education Excise Justice Environment Conservation and Climate Change Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Civil Aviation Social Welfare Minority Welfare Student Welfare Transport Small and Micro Medium Enterprises Khadi and Village Industries	BJP
Cabinet Ministers
2	Satpal Maharaj	Chaubattakhal	Public Works Department Panchayati Raj Rural Construction Tourism Minor Irrigation	Culture Watershed Management India-Nepal River Projects Irrigation Charity	BJP
3	Premchand Aggarwal	Rishikesh	Finance Commercial, Stamp and Registration Urban Development Housing	Parliamentary Affairs Census Reorganisation	BJP
4	Ganesh Joshi	Mussoorie	Agriculture	Agricultural Marketing Agricultural Processing Agricultural Education Plantation and Horticulture Silk Development Bio Technology Sainik Welfare Rural Development	BJP
5	Dhan Singh Rawat	Srinagar	Education	Primary Education Secondary Education Sanskrit Education Cooperative Higher Education Medical Health [1] Medical Education	BJP
6	Subodh Uniyal	Narendranagar	Forest Elections Technical Education Language		BJP
7	Rekha Arya	Someshwar	Women and Child Development Food and Civil Supplies [2] Consumer Affairs	Sports Youth Welfare	BJP
8	Saurabh Bahuguna	Sitarganj	Animal Husbandry Milk Development Fisheries	Sugarcane Development Sugar industry Protocol Employment	BJP

References

^ Singh, Kautilya. "NHAI chairman Sukhbir Singh Sandhu made new chief secretary". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
^ Cabinet of Uttarakhand. Retrieved on 5 July 2021.
^ "Trivendra Singh Rawat sworn in as Uttarakhand CM". 18 March 2017.
^ http://www.uttara.gov.in/upload/announcements/Announcement-256.pdf (PDF)

[1] Singh, Kautilya. "NHAI chairman Sukhbir Singh Sandhu made new chief secretary". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 August 2021.

[2] Cabinet of Uttarakhand. Retrieved on 5 July 2021.

[3] "Trivendra Singh Rawat sworn in as Uttarakhand CM". 18 March 2017.

[4] ttp://www.uttara.gov.in/upload/announcements/Announcement-256.pdf (PDF)

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