CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Government's Department of Administrative Reforms, which existed only on paper without any officers or staff, was being headed by Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal for the past 21 months. Opposition parties have criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government, questioning its commitment to governance.
Dhaliwal, who now retains only the NRI Affairs portfolio, responded to the controversy, saying, “The Chief Minister can answer that better. I am a soldier of the party and have carried out every duty assigned to me.”
A gazette notification dated February 21, issued by the Cabinet Affairs Branch of the Punjab Government, stated: “In partial modification of Punjab Government notification dated September 23, 2024, regarding allocation of portfolios amongst the ministers, the Department of Administrative Reforms earlier allotted to Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Cabinet Minister, is not in existence as on date. Therefore, on the advice of the Chief Minister of Punjab, the Governor of Punjab is pleased to make the following amendment: With effect from February 7, 2025, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal will hold the charge of NRI Affairs Minister.”
Previously, Dhaliwal was in charge of the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare portfolio, but he was relieved of this responsibility during a cabinet reshuffle in May 2023.
He then retained the NRI Affairs Department and was also assigned the Administrative Reforms Department. In another reshuffle in September 2024, he continued to hold both portfolios, but it has now emerged that the Administrative Reforms Department did not exist.
Sources within the government revealed that no staff was ever allocated to the minister for this department, no meetings were held, and no secretary was appointed.
The department had been established years ago but had become defunct over time, though it remained on paper. One official noted, “There have been no meetings or any programmes related to the Administrative Reforms Department.”
Further sources disclosed that Dhaliwal had raised concerns about the lack of clarity regarding the department’s existence after he was assigned the portfolio. He reportedly asked the government about the absence of a secretary but continued to hold the department nonetheless.
Dhaliwal, the fifth senior-most minister in the Punjab Cabinet after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, New and Renewable Energy Minister Aman Arora, and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dr Baljit Kaur, was recently in the news for handling US deportees landing in Amritsar as the Minister for NRI Affairs.
An official stated, “There is a Department of Good Governance and Information Technology that is working to improve efficiency by introducing IT tools for internal governance.”
Opposition parties took a dig at the AAP government over the issue. Punjab Congress chief and Ludhiana MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring wrote in a post: “What a ‘Badlaav’!”
SAD leader and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal also criticised the government, saying, “Governance @AAPPunjab style. Allocate non-existent departments to ministers who themselves are ignorant of the portfolios they hold. All this is happening because ministers have no role in governance as the government is being run with remote control from Delhi.”
Punjab BJP General Secretary Subhash Sharma remarked, “It shows the government's mental bankruptcy that a department, which is not in existence, has been allocated. Neither those who allotted it, nor those who had been allotted the department, were aware that it did not exist.”